Has Butler really turned that bad?

I have lived in this area all my loife graduated 87 from BHS. The drugs have def infiltrated our lovely county. I live in Fenelton and the drugs have managed to find their way out of the city and into the county. There are still alot of good things happening in and around Butler but the drugs overshadow most of it. The city government could do a lot more to stop this. There is even less to do now as a kid than I was a kid. The only things the kids have to do is hang out on the streets. Parents are less involved. There are now car jackings and hostage situations in Butler. Wish it would change but it's not. Very different from the town I loved.

I am not a kid ,but I know when we were kids all we did was swim at the Butler pool all day !! I wish they would get it open again for the kids and me too.:) Moraine is gross !! And congrats to anyone who has the willpower to quit all that stupid stuff!! You will be a better person for it ,and keep up the good work!!!!Now GO STEELERS!!!

Mr Man wrote:

Seriously. I grew up and went to HS there in the 80's. Haven't been back in almost 20 years. It wasn't all that great then, but it wasn't all that bad either. All the stuff on the web is negative (drugs, crime, etc). So, how bad is it, seriously?

Very bad. I call it Heroineville, or Zombie Town. I am a landlord in Butler, and I have seen it all.

I agree with Big as a landlord and business owner I too have seen it all, and its a horrible nightmare! the only way to love butler is too have your hud rental checks direct deposited and hire a company to maintain the properties, never live there, never hang out there, and most of all always watch where your step. for all you glass is half full people who think the city of butler is only mildly effected you need to wake up, its sad when the assistance office, mental health and the local methodone clinics in butler possibly serve more people than Mc donalds does, even though your cups are half full your minds are half empty if you believe it can possibly change, it gets worse everyday. I do applaude the recovering users, and hope you all succeed.
seriously the only good investment in butler pa is to buy up hud rental houses, any other investment in the city of butler would be a losing one.

supagirl wrote:

I agree with Big as a landlord and business owner I too have seen it all, and its a horrible nightmare! the only way to love butler is too have your hud rental checks direct deposited and hire a company to maintain the properties, never live there, never hang out there, and most of all always watch where your step. for all you glass is half full people who think the city of butler is only mildly effected you need to wake up, its sad when the assistance office, mental health and the local methodone clinics in butler possibly serve more people than Mc donalds does, even though your cups are half full your minds are half empty if you believe it can possibly change, it gets worse everyday. I do applaude the recovering users, and hope you all succeed.
seriously the only good investment in butler pa is to buy up hud rental houses, any other investment in the city of butler would be a losing one.

and you slum lords turning every house into a section 8 property isnt a problem? thats where all these people live, in your run down hud houses that you keep no pride in upkeeping. but its not you community, so who cares, right? yes, the VA is a big problem, but these deadbeats wouldnt have such an easy time of staying if there wasnt so many landlords willing to take everyones tax money for rent, but not willing take the necessary steps to ensure the people renting from them arnt criminals and drug abusers. I have a rental, and I do background checks and have a clause in the lease about illegal activity and Im very up front about it, and ive never had an ounce of trouble. There are still good hard working people in this town, dont write us off just because you cant see them driving through downtown, were still here, and we still love our community as hard as it may be at times.

Butler has grown very bad. My little brothers were telling me how kids in their 5th and 6th grade classes got kicked out of school for drug and alcohol abuse. (They went to CT) And in the Jr. High a student from the school showed up to the dance wasted. In the Intermediate my friend was offered drugs at his locker, and when you walk down the street you see many kids smoking. Also there's a lot of teenage pregnacy too. And the kids in school brag about drinking and smoking, it's ridiculous. I don't, and I won't, and when I'm out of high school I'm moving out of this crap town.

Bandie wrote:

Butler has grown very bad. My little brothers were telling me how kids in their 5th and 6th grade classes got kicked out of school for drug and alcohol abuse.(They went to CT) And in the Jr. High a student from the school showed up to the dance wasted. In the Intermediate my friend was offered drugs at his locker, and when you walk down the street you see many kids smoking. Also there's a lot of teenage pregnacy too. And the kids in school brag about drinking and smoking, it's ridiculous. I don't, and I won't, and when I'm out of high school I'm moving out of this crap town.

This type of stuff is a lot more common today than most people realize and believe me, its not specific to Butler. This whole country is going down the crapper...

Bandie wrote:

Butler has grown very bad. My little brothers were telling me how kids in their 5th and 6th grade classes got kicked out of school for drug and alcohol abuse.(They went to CT) And in the Jr. High a student from the school showed up to the dance wasted. In the Intermediate my friend was offered drugs at his locker, and when you walk down the street you see many kids smoking. Also there's a lot of teenage pregnacy too. And the kids in school brag about drinking and smoking, it's ridiculous. I don't, and I won't, and when I'm out of high school I'm moving out of this crap town.

we had all those problems from the jr. high up when i was in school during the 1980s. although i'm sure now they are harder drugs. i'm not ready to give up on Butler. i'm just not.

E WUDDYWUDDY wrote:

And "McDad"...he's another one, just like "Watching", that takes little things that are trivial and of no consequence whatsoever (unless you allow them to be) and needlessly magnifies them, blowing them way out of proportion.
Here's the solution: if you don't wish to be involved with all of the negativity, then don't. Go in the opposite direction and don't negatively influence others with wildly embellished tales of demoralization and degradation. Just live your life how you desire and you'll find that your existence is a lot less stressful

Smell the coffee. Butler has changed.

E WUDDYWUDDY you need to wake up 10 people agree Butler is a crappy place to live. although we have a great welfare office... drug clinic...brand new Jail... rentals everywhere does anyone own a house in the city? City police just look the other way...unless you drift trough a stop sign..i live 3 miles outside of Butler and maybe go through town 2 times a year only because i have to.

Butler is a wonderful place
Everyone has a smiling face
The people here are gentle and kind
Try all you can but you'll never find
A place where everyone gets along
And in every heart there's a song
Look all around, there's style and grace
Butler is a wonderful place

Wake Up wrote:

E WUDDYWUDDY you need to wake up 10 people agree Butler is a crappy place to live. although we have a great welfare office... drug clinic...brand new Jail... rentals everywhere does anyone own a house in the city? City police just look the other way...unless you drift trough a stop sign..i live 3 miles outside of Butler and maybe go through town 2 times a year only because i have to.

The city police must have forgotten that people who drift through stop signs are never druggies. And that the police never find drugs in their vehicle when they stop them....

Butler is a wonderful place
Everything moves at a comfortable pace
So you can relax and just unwind
And that's how Butler is designed
There's only right and never wrong
No discord between the weak and strong
And there's no trouble, not even a trace
Butler is a wonderful place

actually non-owner occupied housing makes up about a 1/3 of butler housing... since everyone seems to think everything is a rental

There's tons of things wrong in this town, but for people like me who lived here their whole lives, it's home. Alot needs to change around here, and it needs to start with parents being PARENTS. Don't let your little 13 year old daughters run around being whores, don't let your kids go out & party and walk all over you like your word doesn't mean anything. Drugs are ALL over, and the age group for it is getting younger and younger. Parents being parents is just the first step to helping this situation. Sorry to say, but 99% of people in Butler smoke weed, even people you know & think don't. But weed isn't what I'm talking about, I'm talking about little 16 year olds doing coke, heroin, and whatever else they can get their hands on. They do go around bragging, and think it's cool.

Enough about that though. The roads are crappy & filled with potholes, but they have been doing a better job at getting around to them. Alot of houses may look bad, but what city doesn't have crappy looking houses? Butler can be beautiful, but only if you want it to be. You can focus on all the bad & make it seem miserable. The crime in this town has risen over the years, everyone can see that.

But the people of Butler need to take action if they ever want this town to go back uphill.

Been here just four years. It is by far the worst small city I've lived in. Downtown feels like you're in a slum area of a larger city. I never go there. The blame lays with the city governance and only them. The only way you'll beat this is to vote them out. Trouble is there's no one up to running against them that are any better than the failures already running the city down.

It's a pretty bad place when they open a new jail and the windows are broken before they even get opened. When the local market has police walking a beat inside the store daily. The list can easily go on.

You're rental rates for apartments are beyond reasonable in every way. You offer nothing for the price...shame on landlords here.

You're grocery stores are outdated and dirty unless you shop at Wal-mart.

Too bad...it will be a long time before anyone will take on cleaning up your town...and with the drug task force located here what does that tell you! Dah to those that think this is a nice town..you are in la la land.

Just like anywhere else, it depends on who you hang out with. In butler, you have to monitor your kids closely. There are good people here, but here are also a bad drug problem with the attendant rapes, beatings, and criminal activity. I don't have to detail all of it here, just check the newspaper.

There is a solution, Jesus Christ!

He gives you power over drugs and a new life

I have read alot of these comment and it seems that many are in agreement that Butler is going down the tubes so to speak but, I think that any city with the problems we have need to look at the reasons and find proper solutions. How many of you reading these comments, remember when the Parents and Teachers had control on the discipline of the children?Now its the children who have the control because laws passed to prohibit the type of discipline we received at home and in school has been renamed ABUSE.Im not referring to or condoning beating a child Im talking about being able to confront your child with some physical power and not having the police called on you to arrest you because your kid didnt like his/her punishment. Until we can assert to our children once again who is the parent and who pays the bills without the fear of being charged with abuse or assault then our drug problem (namely our kids) will go on indefinitely. This is my opinion only so please dont take it the wrong way.

oh yes butler! lets talk about the pitts of hell!i blame the government of butler for the city going to hell in a hand bascket.there more concerned about there own paychecks then what is going on in a city that is know as the drug capital of sothern pa you want drugs come to butler is the cry form north/south /east and west you want it they have it.they should just build a wall around the whole town and turn it in to one big prison you want to put a stop to drugs start hanging the dealer from trees that will send a strong message to dealer that there not welcome in that town someone needs to grow some ball and clean up that drug pit

butler is proof that the government has failed as awhole so many kids on drugs or haveing babys were are the parents answer strung out on drugs and not careing one bit were or what the kids our doing most people go for drives in the spring to see flowers we take aride threw butler on the way to see all the young kids with babys in there arms on the streets of butler the pop up just as fast as the flowers do what ashame theres no pernt awards going out to that town thats for sure how sad