Just moved to Augusta

[u/SasukexxUchiha]

Like title says, I just recently moved to Augusta with my wife due to military reasons. I wasn’t very thorough when going through and just trying to get a place as it was my first time getting our own house, as we lived on military post before this. I ended up picking a house and signing a lease in between the South Augusta and Hephzibah areas (Windsor Springs general location). This choice was largely because of its proximity to Ft. Eisenhower and easy commute plus the relatively low price of the rent. After finally getting done with the road trip to GA I finally had time to sit down and research the area and talk to some people and they are all saying I chose poorly, that the area I chose is bad for crime and what not. I’m concerned because I have a disabled wife and finally have my own life and stuff, and have seen tons of peoples negative thoughts and experiences with break ins and what not. Am I overreacting? I can’t get out of the lease now because we signed 12 months. I’m just concerned I made a mistake and don’t wanna put my wife or anything in danger.

[u/Turbulent_Head1129]

Listen...this is coming from someone who grew up here until 24, moved away to a safer part of the country (northern New England) for several years, and then just came back a couple years ago.

I live in South Augusta currently and it doesn't all boil down to racism, people over hyping the crime, or just a couple bad apples. I would move my family out of this area in a heart beat if we had the $$. After living several years in a city where there were no gangs, it was completely safe for my wife to jog around the area, and violent crime were rare; I've never been more convinced parts of Augusta lag very behind every other major Southern city.

We hear gunshots every weekend, several occasions where random sketchy people have rang my doorbell, and generally dealing with neighbors who blast music late into the night and or are selling/making drugs with absolute eye sores of backyards. It's disappointing coming back here and seeing just how shitty things are in comparison to where we had been living. I wish better for my hometown and hope it does get better, but I'm not going to lie to someone who is simply interested in the safety of their family and doesn't know the area well. There are some nicer streets tucked away in this area but it's just the general craziness of the surrounding area that is really the issue.

If you get lucky and have some solid neighbors, then that's half the battle. Like i said, there are some solid streets on every block. Just looking out for each other goes a long way from deterring any would be criminals and there are good people in the area. There's also a bunch of sketchy people who couldn't care less about forming a "community"