Am I the only one who thinks and experienced this?

I don't understand what you're asking about. Are you asking about North Springfield, or are you asking about this subreddit?

Your post meanders about and goes in several directions before deciding to go nowhere. It's like a meth-d out street walker on Division. Entertaining to watch, but nothing really to learn from besides "this is what not to do".

I live in north Springfield after many years living in the south side, and I have seen less crime and problems here on the north side. That been said, I recognize the statistics, and can see more areas of concentrated problems on the north side. There are plenty of good and bad neighborhoods and streets in both sides, but it's the north side for me all the way.

Lived right off division for the last seven years up until this summer if credentials are needed lol. But for me personally I would say I have no issue with people saying there’s more crime. I just don’t like people complaining about homeless people or drug addicts everywhere like they’re pretending they’re Norman reedus in the zombie show. Those people have a rough ass life with no dignity and grace afforded to them.

That post about the north side walmart is what I’m talking about.

I have been a northsider pretty much my whole life but I live in the suburbs out north of I-44 so does that really count? Don’t know many who actually live south of I-44. There are some rough neighborhoods and yeah the E Kearney Walmart I’ve heard the same things. Living out north in the suburbs isn’t bad at all though. Hillcrest just finished their renovation and it’s beautiful. Traffic isn’t bad out there. Easy drive downtown. Anything south side is 20 minutes away but really I sometimes go more than a week without driving to south side.

The posts that get downvoted to oblivion are the ones that exaggerate the problems, making it sound like there are roving bands of marauders constantly mixing it up with hordes of methadone zombies on every corner, in between nothing but trap houses and gutted buildings, when in reality, basically everybody keeps mostly to themselves. If you do have a run in with a crazy, it's usually so far out of the ordinary, which is why it sticks out and gets talked about.

The reality is that yes, there is more poverty on the north side, and yes, crime tends to follow poverty (shocking, I know), but acting like the North side is some Wild West lawless zone is absurdity. Part of the reason there is more poverty on the north side is the fact that it's older, the other part is the people up here generally have a bit more compassion and don't run people off or call the cops just for being poor and trying to get by. Plus, it's where most of the homeless resources are located.

Personally, I'd rather live up here where people tend to help each other out where they can than down on the south side where non-conformity gets you excluded.

I'm curious. Do you actually travel or live along division and see a lot of people walking around high on merh or are you just trying to use a metaphor you think will please this crowd? I ask because I grew up just off division and have lived between division and chestnut for 20 years as an adult and in nearly 40 years of traversing it on foot, bicycle, car, and flying over in airplanes I have never seen any of the drug fueled drama you kids seem to encounter. Maybe it's just that you guys run in a different crowd but I have to ask, where are you guys finding all the meth? Seriously, are you genuinely regularly running into meandering meth addicts in my neighborhood?

I definitely worked on the Northside in a hands on role with the public and I think poverty is really not the biggest problem I've dealt with I think about the majority of the people I've had these experiences with or under the influence of drugs and alcohol and the fact that majority of the pedestrians are in fact homeless people and their day to day life consist of where to get their drug fixed and how to get it and I can tell you that walking alone at night is not a good idea and that's why the homeless travel in groups. And that fair amount of the homeless are from outside of here from what my interactions have been with them. The people that live on the North side are quite honestly scared shitless of what the north side has become and cannot comprehend leaving their house without caring a firearm and that's just a fact I don't know how North North you live but if you consider the MSU area the north side then you're absolutely wrong.

And quite frankly and I think it really undermines the concerns that the people who actually live on the North side have to poo poo this as some sort of communal environment when it's really the closest thing to human connection a lot of the drug addicts have or are people using each other to use each other. And the fact is there's a lot of broken homes and there's a lot of broken people over on the North side and yes you see the facts of it through crime and drugs.

I actually saw a video on YouTube by someone who was a realtor in this area and the way he he downplayed the homeless problem was really horrifying and really shows you what the core of the problem is just at the absolute denial and lack of acceptance that this is a problem that there are a ton of poor people but instead they get all defensive and say no it's not that bad there is a few patches of good areas over the north side which I think these people may live

The same liberals that are trying to gentrify downtown are the ones who are going to pretend like North Springfield is not a bad area. Some people just don't like to hear that other areas are not as safe.

This right here. A lot of us either stuck around or came back north after growing up here because although this half of town is undeniably poorer, it's also been my experience that it's a significantly more diverse and tolerant area.

Imho I think it’s because on the north side people generally leave you alone unless you mess with them first. I don’t have much experience living on the south side, but people seem to be much more concerned with what their neighbor is doing.

The crime is usually either stuff like theft which is nonviolent and driven by poverty, or it’s directed at a specific individual/group. Unless you’re involved in that “circle” of people, it’s unlikely you’ll become a victim yourself

As someone whose neighbor had their bike stolen and sawed off at the middle of the night, I can confirm this. I've had a lot of homeless people come up to me and ask for food, water, money, etc. Usually at the gas stations in northern Springfield.

I would recommend walking somewhere else for a change of space.

I've lived in Springfield for over 20 years, on both sides of town, and I totally agree. Every time I hear about crime and statistics I always wanna know if it's crimes against strangers or not. That's the most important thing to me, and in my experience it's actually worse on the south side.

I lived on the north side many years. It definitely can be pretty rough.

There is more crime on the north side than on the south side.

Finally. Someone said it.

Literally nobody denies it.

North is bad, worked a dollar general around there, theft was a normal thing, some couple walked out with a cart full of stuff once lol

Have you even read the comments?

It’s not so much the north side as the intersection at olive and college street. My god the amount of things that happen there is unbelievable. Does anyone know why?

Yeah I don't think that confirms that division st is covered in meth fueled zombies. I don't know what to tell you, if you're hounded by poor people at gas stations, buy a tesla. Though unfortunately the good charging station is on north glenstone. If you don't like where you live then my suggestion would be to move. But your experience isnt universal. I grew up a few blocks away from Jefferson and division and never had any problems. My parents still live there and wouldn't trade their neighbors for the world.

I dated a Kickapoo girl once. Asked her why the whole family kept guns under their beds. Turns out their next door neighbor was Jon feeney. I'll take a stolen bike over that any day.

You clearly haven't.

You are not alone in that understanding OP. I lived on the north side for many years, and there is a reason I don't now. I get that there are people out there that have had a rough go at it, but I don't miss random dudes wandering down my street in tore up puff jackets and missing a shoe looking like they just came out of a 40 year desert march or wild eyed people coming to my door and telling me I was chosen by god because my door was red, my truck was white, and I have a biblical name.

I ain't going to convince the civic cheerleaders that live in some Springfield that I certainly never have and frankly they can have it. The only thing keeping me here are my parents and my friends.

Collective denial is absurdly powerful

I hated living on the north side. Meth head came to my front door in prod daylight and held out a bag,asking if I wanted to buy any, the balls on that man lol

It's kind of a mixed bag though. The term "North Side" implies the entire northern part of Springfield. When in reality, the further north you get from Division St., the better the neighborhoods are. There are also parts of what I would call central-western Springfield that are pretty rough.

The homeless also contribute to a lot of the crime. Residents in the norther parts of Springfield put up with them and generally let them be, South side of town is full of Karen's that want them gone.

There are pockets of better and worse on the Northside. Hell, north of Norton is decent. I’ve seen near 3rd world shacks north of Kearney and Chestnut.

I can prob talk to the drug addict down the street and reach a mutual agreement…but try doing that with an HOA Karen…

Fucking liberals and their woke mind disease thinking the poors need to be treated like human beings. If God wanted the poors to have a good life they would have been born rich, trying to change that is upsetting the natural order…God has a plan for all of us and the poors serve their role of giving the rest of us a feeling of superiority. And here you are trying to take my emotional support poors away from me. /s

Why are you so against small business men?

It's just sad that it prompted this long-winded of a cover. Says more than just an explanation.

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I worked at that Brown Derby for years, AMA.

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I met a friend at their mom's house just north of Norton once. I was surprised how nice the neighborhood was. Had no idea.

Finally someone said it. Thank you

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On the south side you just get the Karens trying to sell you pyramid scam stuff so I'd say it's a draw (only slightly kidding)

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My daughters attended Pipkin but we lived in Southern Hills. So I drove between the two areas a lot. It was rare to see a police patrol car where we lived, but they actively cruised the streets on the north side. Just an observation.

I used to deliver to the residents of the this great town of springfield for Amazon. The only difference between the criminals on the north side is they’re desperate people who usually have ended up on the short end of the stick, while south side you’ll have some grandma walking the neighborhood stealing packages, the difference is the people on north side are usually entangled with our homeless problem given the amount of people homeless walking around kearney. More often than not if I was delivering to the North side I’d probably have a house that left me a snack or a water, on the south side, I’m getting screamed at by grandma Karen for blocking her mailbox cause it was only place to park cause she’s having 20+ relatives over for a Sunday brunch. Fuck the stereotypes, but crime is rampant throughout springfield.

I’m a happy northsider. I’ve never had any issues here.

Same. I live out by the airport. Pretty calm Out here.

wait we all know to avoid the northside. everyone knows

A different flavor of predator.

I've lived in the north side for about 4 years now, in one of the sketchiest apartments and it's honestly not that bad. Just mind your own business, if a homeless guy starts screaming randomly in your direction just keep walking, and try to stay inside during night and you won't have any issues.

Kinda feel like anyone that's familiar with "city living" (I know Springfield isn't New York) should have little problems.

Suburbs don’t count. Northside is south of Norton, north of Grand/Walnut, IMO. The line tends to bounce between those two - there’s a large part of West Mount Vernon that is someplace I’d avoid after dark, but the MSU area is okay (except for, ya know, the students).

No need to speculate about crime. SPD uploads all data to LexisNexis on the Community Crime Map. You can adjust the types of crimes, locations, and times for your report to generate.

https://communitycrimemap.com

aye yo, do u play vrchat?

Yes, competitively.

yoo lol cool if i add u

👍

homeless people exist it’s really not that serious

Holy fuck literally everything you just said is either completely wrong or a complete asshole thing to say. Mostly both.

Poverty is the root of every problem the north side faces. Drugs? A way to cope with abject poverty. Crime? Again, poverty.

Walking alone at night? I do it almost every single night. "The majority of pedestrians are homeless?" Completely not true, just an assumption on your part.

Don't speak for the people who really do live on the north side. We aren't "scared shitless" or "feel like we can't leave without a gun." Just because you are terrified of anybody who looks like they are less well off than you doesn't mean the rest of us are callous assholes.

Please. Stay the fuck away from the north side if that's how you feel. We don't need you or people like you up here making things worse with your jumpy, terrified-of-poor-people projection bullshit.

We all know to avoid the Karens who live on the South side. Everybody knows.

Was robbed at gun point right off west my Vernon.

It's not "north side" that's the problem, it's north westish.

Literally between this and your post from two days ago- it shows you really haven’t been there. Just shut it and move on.

I would say north of Division, but Walnut to Division isn’t terrific in places either. (Lived there for five years.)

that is a good point. north east side of springfield is really nice actually. they have that new wild horse subdivision, etc. compare that to the north west side and its a whole different story

Not in your exact area, but just south of there, yes.

And even more south of there…the amount of times I’ve had to call EMS for meth/heroin reasons (just south of downtown) is crazy to me.

I live on the northeast side. The neighborhood I am in seems to be undergoing some kind of gentrification. They're building new houses, remodeling houses, rents are going up and property values are going up. Most of the houses in my neighborhood are 20 to 40 years old and in the realm of 1000 to 1200 ft but there is low inventory in the houses still so quickly.

When you look at the Northwest side, there's a high inventory of cheap houses. Houses aren't selling quickly. Lots of lipstick on pig, type of situations and a lot of crime.

You hear people blame the homeless because that is the f****** problem. A lot of the crime around here is committed by people that are not from here and do not belong here. The homeless trash and pollute everywhere they go and refuse any kind of real help to make their lives better.

I am not going to downvote that, because I was following until your last statement. I don't blame the homeless for the problems. I have had a naked homeless kid break into 3 of my cars within a month. I refuse to make the blanket statement "homeless because that is the f****** problem". I would be willing to go out on a limb, without any research, and say that I think crime committed by people with dwellings outnumber the crime of those without by over 200%. I would love to see the data.

So you're saying the reason I don't see all the meth addicts randomly roaming my neighborhood as this gentleman describes is that they're south of my north side neighborhood? And that it gets really bad once you go south of the middle of town?

I feel like there's a big difference in what people in this town consider the north and south side. I find it hard to consider south of downtown as the north side.

And the SE side of Springfield is the Domestic Abuse Zone. Broad strokes don't work.

I grew up primarily in the neighborhood next to valley water mill, Stewart street. Which is considered north I think. That area is paradise to me, but could be nostalgia

Prettier too, if run down. You see a lot more in the way of murals/yard art/interesting paint jobs. South side looks like it should be a tax haven with all the squat grey buildings.

I’ve lived 2 streets over from Sherman and can say that you have been running with shit circles bro. Mind your own and stop trying to screw people over and those people will fall away. Yea, you still want to chain down anything in the yard and don’t do stupid shit to invite robbers like leaving udo or unlocked, but you only see groups like this on the north side of you are going to a trap house. You are telling on yourself here.

Thanks for this!

Honestly you don’t even have to worry about walking outside at night unless you look rich or are hot.

Yeah, there is a lot of patchiness in between. There are some nice neighborhoods (around the OTC area isn’t bad) and some not-so-nice (stuff off of Grant can get dicey). Some of the houses in the Cox North area are quite nice, you get the beautiful old houses on Benton/Jefferson, but then if something is empty longer than a week, you’ve got a decent chance of someone breaking a window and squatting.

Used to do pharmaceutical deliveries and there were definitely neighborhoods in Springfield where I tried to make sure all the rest of my deliveries weren’t very visible in the car, especially if I had to go into an apartment or something. I also made sure if I had anything north I was going in the daylight.

I live outside city limits in the county, I just come to these threads to laugh.

Lived in the "Heart of the Westside" from the 80s-2006 when I moved to Dallas but still visit Springfield often cuz of family.

I only carry my gun when I go to Springfield. I would feel safer walking thru the downtown Dallas greyhound station at 2am than walking alone on the north side in Springfield.

When I had to handle my Dad's estate and sell the house I grew up in a couple years ago, it went for just $17k. It was a pos, but jfc.

For some reason, every time I visit, I see a random dead body. Last time in the middle of Glenstone.

As someone who lives in the Northside I can confirm it's definitely sketchy looking from the outside looking in. The biggest issue is the roaming bands of homeless people. My neighborhood got a lot safer after the brown derby closed down and if we could get the slot machines out of the fast and friendlys it'd be a lot nicer.

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Damn, thank you for the /s. This read like something straight out of the prosperity gospel. And many hold this view...

Everybody says they're going to build a fence out of old bike frames. But only one guy went and actually did it, bless his heart. And not just a north sider, but a full on west Division north sider.

I lived on the north side for several years, off Kearney and also Atlantic. No doubt it’s a shit hole, not sure if some of you are delusional or have just never lived anywhere else. I felt safer walking around at night in Miami FL around NW 117th Ave, which is also a shit hole.

Had meth head scrappers for neighbors, had my car broken into twice. Once for the faceplate off my stereo and again in an attempt to steal the car.

Anything not chained down is asking to be stolen. Like the license plates off my car, or even the damn ashtray and half smoked butts off my front porch.

Wanna take your kid to the park? Sorry there’s homeless people sleeping and pissing on it.

Random gunfire. Full on screaming arguments and fights past midnight in the streets. Gas tank on my girlfriends car drilled and siphoned.

The list goes on and on. I moved down south some near bass pro and it really isn’t much better. Had my backyard here broken into within the first week or two. Also had some wasted girl searching for her meth pipe in my yard here.

Anywho, your assessment is correct the north side is a dump. I’m talking Chestnut to Norton in between Kansas expressway and Glenstone. Not some cushy suburb with cookie cutter houses just outside the city limits.

You quite literally do not know me and say I have chronic plant use. My name is stonedprincess, yes. But your assumption that me being stoned = chronic plant use- Solidifies my assumption that you are a very prejudice person who has seen a few drug addicts in Walmart (huge shocker there) and a dirty bathroom and made the decision on who these people were and what quality this Walmart would holds for itself. Please come back when you open your eyes past the emotional damage that came from you losing your job of securing E Karney Walmart.

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I live over by Kearney, and yeah there’s definitely more crime and homeless. But I never feel uncomfortable or unsafe

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I've lived on both sides. Northside doesn't get credit for the neighborhood a few blocks north of Drury. They also have an abundance of $250k+ homes north of Norton. Meanwhile southsiders keep mum about the property crime that happens on the Golden ave corridor between Walnut lawn and Republic road

Same here. I have great neighbors and we all keep an eye out for one another. There are rough streets here and there on the north side but it isn’t the horror story that south siders think it is. Plus, my mortgage is less than most people’s car payments.

Nah, it’s a nice area. Most people think of division and grant beach when they think of north side

Thank you for your compassion, that’s needed deeply. People don’t like me saying this because there’s not an immediate solution but crime comes down to mental illness and childhood trauma whether or not it produces effects we dislike. The least we can do is count our blessings for our body mind and spirit that allows us to be blessed and help ourselves or others.

Poverty isn’t the problem it’s bad parenting and mental illness stemming from childhood trauma and it’s a cycle. I’ve known MANY extraordinary people who lived in poverty for so many different reasons but their parents or caregivers parented well.. thus they grew up to be incredibly gifted, scholarly, artists etc. successful people. And many rich kids who were dealing drugs, going to prison, committing terrible acts and yet we think this is still about money..

I live 3 blocks north of commercial st off of Grant. I have had zero issues. I’ve walked all around when it’s dark and light out and still no issues. The Northside is nowhere near what people make it out to be.

I love on the N. side, there's pockets of crime all over, not just the N side. Jefferson has gotten worse, but there are also more people without homes, than 2 years ago. There are improvements being made in certain areas of the N. side, it takes time and $ to improve streets. Really, starting with Landlords.

There are pockets of crime all over this city. Just as any other city of size.

Lived just North of Norton my whole life in fact I moved out of my parents and bought a house just down the road a total of 6 out of the 12 houses on our road are owned by family. My dad grew up about a 1/4 mile away and I get kinda angry when I hear people talking bad about this side of town. It has its faults but as you may tell I do lawn care and there are far worse areas between chestnut and battlefield so it’s all over really. I really think a lot of people talking bad about the north side don’t realize that we have really quite nice neighborhoods (Springlawn, Hickory Ridge, Beverly Hills, Huntington.)

Northsider here. I can agree there are pockets of safer areas, but that doesn’t mean that it’s free of crime. We have personally dealt with a few instances that scared the bejesus out of me, specifically relating to (presumably) a homeless person on the property (in a GATED backyard) and/or in our driveway. Never resulted to anything, but still very concerning.

I’m on your side though. The north side is definitely questionable when it comes to safety!

Let me guess you also like Jimmy Buffett?

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I know I’m late to this post, but I grew up in the neighborhood behind Hiland, until I moved out on my own at 20. In between then and 27, I was in different parts of town, Nixa for a while. When my husband and I started looking for a home to buy, we set out for a north side home. We have now owned a home near the Grant and Atlantic intersection for 4 years.

In all my years on the north side of town, I haven’t ever had my car broken into. I’ve never been harassed, held at gun point, asked for drugs, seen a dead body, etc. I think people are really gonna be pissed about this particular bit, but I’m convinced the majority of the opinions people hold about the north side stem from good old fashioned racism and classism. Y’all see poor people and black people and get scared.

“I’ll never go north of Sunshine!!” Alright, I don’t particularly want you here anyways if you’re gonna be a dick. I rarely head south of Grand cuz y’all drive like assholes and are rude as hell. Get the sticks out of your asses and have a little compassion.

That's every dollar general

I call it a “checkerboard town”. One block is great; next one, not so great.

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