neighborhood drive-bys: where is the perfect place to live?

Well, it's not that I grew up in a wrong place... well sort of, depending on your interpretation... I don't believe it was a ghetto or even close but as a child how do you know different than the environment you live in. Oh, I know... fear. Well where I grew up we lived in between 2 streets prominent to gang activity...  We, as children, were advised to walk with pride and they wont tell you a thing...  Me, being an embarrassingly shy girl, growing up, showing pride hurt more than keeping my head low and pretending I didn't exist. 

There was always a rival gang going into town... and all you ever heard was the shots fired and the shrieking tires of a car racing away... it happened so often. We lived in a back house so thank goodness we weren't exposed to the actual streets... although I remember one instance... a lil neighbor girl Michelle would come and play with me (she was like a year or 2 older)  and my sister 2 years younger, we were playing house or something, I had a tray of crackers... All I remember was seeing this car, a man with his body almost hanging out of the window and a gun/rifle I'm not sure... everything felt in slow motion... when I saw that... I just remember my tray slowly flying into the air as I was trying to drop to the floor. I don't remember much about my sis and Michelle at the time... but I remember my tray of crackers falling to the floors... and the crackers flying and breaking in various places... that moment was defined in me.. and I still remember parts of it... It was placed in my back memory...

We all grew up....

I was depressed when we moved from there to Fontana. It was a relatively quiet neighborhood, not many kids... peaceful and no noise... I hated it! As I grew and got adjusted, I realized how thankful I was for my parents to move...

Yesterday, we were in San Bernardino, California and did a quick stop with one of my mom's comadres ... there were a lot of cops there... She then tells us she had heard gun shots at 20 til 11 in the morning ...  They were doing an investigation.... As we were standing out in the street talking a Police Officer stopped where we were and asked if we had heard anything.Well she had... my mom and I had been in church...



She heard 2 separate sets of shots which seemed to surprise the officer or well at least add to what other witnesses had said.  Two young black men had been shot in plain day light.

So being a single mother with a child and in hopes to one day get married and possibly start a family with that person... How do we choose a place to live where we can be certain... kids wont be scarred by some daily activity? I know in many instances it makes a person... But, Who in their right mind wants to expose their children to it, or make then desensitized... to bloody murder? I guess the factor is still of keeping some form of innocent... but not to confuse with ignorance... Ignorance isn't always bliss, and I found this the hard way...

I know nothing comes from sheltering but I would like the best area for kids to feel safe and for I to feel safe for them riding outside of the home ... I know there are many areas that great... and even within those great areas... there will always be the other side of the train tracks... I know... I've experienced it...


What places have you noticed would be an ideal place to raise a family? Cities, streets in cities, States?