I have a question for a friend who is travelling out east next spring for a conference in Providence, but will be staying at the Best Western Fall River. Based on the information I gleaned, Fall River has a reputation for a high crime rate. What I am wondering, is this a safe city to spend time in and is the crime reputation overblown? Thank you for the input.
Is Fall River a Safe City
I%26#39;ve only driven thru Fall River on the way to Newport, RI, but it strikes me as rather economically depressed. I lump it in with the Lawrences and New Bedfords and Lowells and Springfields. Frequently in the news for some type of crime.
Is Fall River a Safe City
To be totaly honest Fall River isn%26#39;t really a good place..There is alot of crime in that city..
I stay away from there whenever possible..
I have lived for the last several years in the Fall River area, eight years in Fall River itself, and the last five in Somerset, which is the town just across the river from Fall River. First off, the hotel where your friend is going to be staying is in the industrial park area of Fall River and is VERY SAFE!
That said, I had heard the same things about Fall River%26#39;s ';high crime rate'; prior to moving there in 1992, but once I moved there, I found nothing of the sort. Fall River, like most small cities/large towns, has its share of depressed areas and I%26#39;d imagine that%26#39;s where most of the crime is (and on the other end of town from where your friend will be staying), but honestly, I%26#39;d be more afraid of spending time in Providence than in Fall River! Haha, and I work in Providence!
Fall River is a city with a very diverse ethnic culture, and the city takes a lot of pride in that diversity. They have the greatest little Portuguese markets and for the most part, the people of Fall River are friendly and outgoing, to strangers and natives alike!
As I said, the depressed areas of the city - near the police station and on the far south end of the city - are not anywhere near where your friend will be staying, and in fact, while the largest portion of Fall River consists of mutli-family tenements, the area where your friend will be staying is mostly all better-quality single-family residential homes.
If he/she is renting a car, I%26#39;d highly advise a drive through the Highlands - the hotel should be able to point him in the right direction and it is very close to the hotel - and take a look at the grand mansions where all of Fall River%26#39;s well-to-do once lived. A trip to Battleship Cove (which also boasts a Titanic museum) and the Fall River outlet malls (THEY are world-renowned) are also very worthwhile. The hotel might also be able to point your friend in the direction of Lizzie Borden%26#39;s house:)
I know I sound like a commercial for the city, but I was always embarrassed by the bad rep Fall River gets. I was proud to call it ';my city'; when I lived there, and even though I%26#39;ve moved to the ';suburbs,'; I still go there all the time and still go every year to the annual Fall River Celebrates America festival.
The official city site is here: http://www.fallriverma.org/
I also meant to add to my prior post that when I lived there, I was a single 24-year-old woman in my first apartment, so I had reason to be afraid, and I don%26#39;t think I ever once felt scared in Fall River. If you want more info, feel free to post a reply here, and I%26#39;ll add more. I saw the other two posts and don%26#39;t want your friend thinking they%26#39;re going to some horrible place.
Hello Mahlerssecond,
The Best Western Fall River is a short distance from New England%26#39;s largest outlet shopping district. Centrally located between the Newport/Providence Rhode Island area and New Bedford/Cape Cod attraction.
It%26#39;s a great hotel and location for your friend to be. Let me tell you something about data online; regarding the high crime rate areas. It%26#39;s inaccurate. I%26#39;ll show you an example. Your town is Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Here%26#39;s what it says about your town. 2 Murders, 57 Rapes; 104 Robberies; 267 Assaults; 1111 Burgluries; 5387 Larceny Counts; 305 Auto Thefts.
Now Fall Rivers high crime stats look the exact same as Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Only instead of 2 murders they have 3, instead of 57 rapes that YOUR town has Fall River has 48, your town has 104 robberies? Well Fall River has 233, they%26#39;re up a little. Both your stats and Fall Rivers are from 2002 on the ';detailed profile'; data page online.
If I were you? I wouldn%26#39;t go by any of this data online and I would listen to what people have to say about an area and also read about on it here. Your friend will be very safe at this Hotel. If you want to read further about Fall River here%26#39;s a couple of excellent sites you can review....
www.s-t.com
This is the South Coast Today site that%26#39;s fantastic
www.southcoasttoday.com is great to check out.
Click on %26#39;Things to Do'; here.
It%26#39;s a really good site to check out Fall River and the surrounding towns. It%26#39;s a ';hot'; part of the state right now with the Real Estate market and places to live and visit. Tons of Factory Outlets in this area as well as a lot of Restaurants, Museums (The Lizzie Borden Museum is one of them as previously mentioned, I was here it%26#39;s unbelievable to see it!)
http://www.discoverourtown.com
Check out Fall River, Massachusetts and you%26#39;ll see all the things about this town that are great right on this site, it%26#39;s a good one!
http://www.thesouthcoastinsider.com/
This site is very good too!
Fall River is the Birth place of Emeril LaGasse he was born here in 1959. Something must have been right. because his restaurants are everywhere and so isn%26#39;t his face!
I had dinner in Vegas at one of his restaurants it was fabulous.
I hope you change your mind when you read up on the place, I worked with some wonderful people for years from Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton. They%26#39;re towns are getting a bad rap and they are the most wonderful people I ever worked with in my entire life.
We%26#39;ve been to the New Bedford Whaling Museum www.whalingmuseum.org several times. The Lizzie Borden Museum was incredible. The waterfront historical area in New Bedford is so great and the Factory Outlets there are unbelievable.
Click on www.whalingblues.com it%26#39;s every July at Fort Taber Park, it%26#39;s probably one of the best best blues festivals I ever attended in my life, we had the greatest time there! It%26#39;s just awesome.
Read up on the place, trust me it%26#39;s safe at that hotel, most importantly? It%26#39;s in a great great location to get to Providence, Newport and Cape Cod.
NOMO01
Hi I live in Fall River and it is a city of two areas of which 195 split into the two areas. The Historic Highlands is an incredible area with fabulous mansions one beter than the next. All of the houses were built high on the hill to allow for a beautiful view of the tauton river and fabulous sunsets. In the 1880%26#39;s Fall River was one of the richest if not the richest communities in America. They had several masive grand hotels (unfortunately all have burned down in a couple of awful fires fueled by high winds) and a thriving booming economy all built on the textile industry. The Spindle City as Fall River was called ,spun cotton to make all kinds of fabrics. There exists an amazing national historic district in the Historic Highlands and a big push to make a local historic district. Once that is in place the city will only get better and in a hurry.
So the nice Highlands is on one side of I-195. What%26#39;s on the other side? Is that the economically depressed side of Fall River that one sees on the way down to Newport?
It is but it is better than dorchester or brockton.
