Before You Move, Always Take A Test Drive
Was talking to a dear friend of mine at the Stoneleigh party tonight — she sold her house (North Dallas, north of LBJ even imagine that!) and is looking for one to buy. And she really wants to move south of downtown to Kessler Park/Oak Cliff. So, she found a cute house and decided to go down to visit it at night to see how safe she felt coming home late, when it’s dark and spooky, sort of take a “coming home test drive.”
Bad news: the police were at the neighbor’s house dusting fingerprints after a burglary. Sam Dealey Drive. She has decided not to move there.
7 Comments to “Before You Move, Always Take A Test Drive”
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As a three year resident of the neighborhood, I can truly say that any small crime risk is outweighed by the delights of living in Oak Cliff. When we remodeled our house, burglars came by every night with blow torches to break into our POD. But we’d just turn the flood lights on them. Hey, it’s part of the adventure! Other than that, we’ve had no trouble. My husband does carry a gun when we walk our dogs at night, but we’ve never had an issue.
And hey, it’s not like you can’t get burgled in brought daylight in Preston Hollow, as we’ve read on these very pages. We don’t have killer pit bulls either. Oh, wait, that’s not true.
Um, make that broad daylight.
Candy,
Very disappointed that you posted this story. Unfortunately, as Mrs. Hall points out, every upscale neighborhood in Dallas has this type of activity going on. Conveniently, the HP/UP/PH types love to think that it isn’t happening in their neighborhood. Why do you think HP has so many cops for a municipality of that size?!
Stories exactly like yours are the reason that many people are “scared” of Oak Cliff. Kessler is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Dallas. Bishop Arts is one of the hottest spots in town. Money is starting to come to the area, and here you are implying that everyone is being burgled (love that word) down in KP.
As a potential neighbor of your friend (I too live on SD) and longtime resident of KP, let me tell everyone else that Kessler is a great, quiet close-in neighborhood with minimal crime, but apparently the occasional petty criminal. Don’t let the “Oak Cliff” perception taint what is really a very lovely reality of charm and character.
One last note…
The neighbors on Sam Dealey are a very tight-knit community. We all talk to each other frequently or at least via email, and there hasn’t been a single word of a burglary.
But you know, the reason I posted this is that now she will read this and re-consider. I agree — crime is everywhere in this town. It is our worst problem as a city. Please recall the women who was grazed by a bullet at 11:00 a.m. in pricey Preston Hollow! Mrs. Hall is right on — we have pit bulls and lots of crime. I don’t think you escape it in the “gated communities” — those guards are a joke. So let’s get it all out in the open and I’ll send her back down your way! You know, BTW, this is the reason many single women prefer condos.
If crime is a concern, or if you just need to educate yourself about your neighborhood, the City has a great new crime map at http://maps.dallascityhall.com/. Enter your address and click the “Crime Map” link towards the bottom of the page. It will educate you, but also make you realize that crime isn’t limited to one part of town and will validate the comments of the other responders.
Let me get this straight. She saw a police car responding to a home burglary and turned tail? I would really encourage scaredy-cat to get out of the car and talk to potential neighbors on the street and learn from them. And I am talking as an ex-scaredy cat turned Kessler resident. Now I am proud to talk frankly with potential OC-ers and point out the good, the bad, and the ugly.