I have 2, cats

I live here, I dont walk in the neighborhood usually, but when I do Ive never had issues. It definitely feels sketchy though. If you drive, I hope you find a place with garage parking

All true, but OP wants to live alone, in a safer neighborhood, for as close to $1000 as possible. The new construction studio condos in Bladensburg NE going for $1150-$1300 fulfill almost everything OP is asking for, on platforms with a lower scam risk

Studios in NE can be found for around $1200-$1400 with no parking space, $1000 seems like youd be living with at least a few critters as roommates

Instead of looking on cragislist, try looking somewhere more repuatable like apartments.com or zillow

Waiting for the Tony Timpa protest

I moved here recently, my main issue with the city is that its petty crime ridden

You and everyone around might hate this one but do some bullshit that looks good on an eval like voulnteering, become an amazing paper sailor (as we called it in the navy, someone who does a lot of extra bullshit but isnt necessarily good at their jobs) and speed up your promotions. I went from E1-E5 in 2 years and 1 month WITHOUT doing any of this and there are people around me who did it even faster. The pay difference in unbelievable. Most E5 make over 60k a year all pays considered, possibly more but rarely less, depending on BAH