malvern toronto?

Question

does anyone know malvern really well is it as dangerous to walk about as made out

Answer 1

Yes !

Read this:

Malvern is a long way from City Hall, and neither the champagne socialists currently driving city policy nor the pierced anarchists who fight for the underprivileged nor the suits who lead big-money discussions have much occasion to find themselves in Malvern unless they're passing through on their way to the zoo with their kids.

The community, located north of Sheppard around Markham Road, holds little appeal to downtown sensibilities. It's unfriendly to the urban pedestrian, made up of subdivisions that face away from major thoroughfares, dotted with plain-box mid-rise apartment buildings and cleaved in several places by winding strips of single-storey industrial warehouse complexes surrounded by parking lots. It has no nightclubs, no theatres and no restaurants you'll read about in Toronto Life.

Yet if Malvern is inhospitable, it is that way largely by design. Prior to the 1970s, the community was mostly farmland, until the provincial government expropriated the land to build a model community of affordable homes from scratch. The bungalows at the heart of today's Malvern were sold off to low-income families in a lottery.

The rap on Malvern recently is that it is gangland, an impression underscored by half a dozen gang-related shootings in the first four months of 2004. But that wave of violence launched a police crackdown that led to 81 arrests of alleged members of the warring Malvern Crew and Galloway Boys. Since then, police report a remarkable decline in violence. One policeman told the Toronto Star this month that Malvern's is "the biggest improvement I've seen in 28 years as an officer." Weapons offences are down 44 per cent, assaults down 7 per cent, robberies down 20 per cent.

Moreover, the wave of shootings brought out a display of grassroots community action that put the lie to the impression of the neighbourhood as an isolationist wasteland. In March, on the heels of the shootings, over 100 residents showed up at a community barbecue on a rainy day to show solidarity against the gangs. And the city subsequently chipped in to try to address some of the challenges Malvern faces as a low-income neighbourhood that's had little infrastructure and limited access to public services.

Answer 2

I don't think Malvern is any worse than some of the other areas of Toronto. You just have to be smart about it. Know your surroundings and be aware and you'll be fine. If something seems suspicious, than it probably is and take appropriate action to make your situation safe again (ie. get out of the area). Every major city has an area that is not as "desirable" as some other areas, but if you're smart about how you act and also how you react, you'll be fine. I have friends who live in a small city hours north of Toronto who find downtown Toronto rather intimidating and even nerve racking. I guess because I've lived in the area for the last 12 years or so, it doesn't fizz on me the way it would on others. It's all kind of relative to your experiences. Hope that helps.

Answer 3

No, Malvern, just like the rest of Scarborough, is not as bad as it's made out to be.

That being said, like anywhere, if you look and act like a victim, you may end up being one.

Keep your head up!