I lived in oak lawn its not scary, actually bishop arts district is booming right now! Its a great little area. Oaklawn is the gayberhood, and "the strip" is the strip of gay bars that is off of cedar springs. Its awesome. The neighborhood is safe, as long as you don't venture too far off, Its a 5 min walk to katy trail which is the best running area, its beautiful. Close to kylde warren park, its close to uptown if you want to go out. You can pretty much uber anywhere form 75219 area. Even north park is about 15 minutes by car from here. Its 5 min to callier center and dallas is safe, you should be smart. Obviously in any city you can't go running at 3 am. I think that just is the fact of being a woman, but as far as walking your dog and just crime in general, no its safe. You might find a boa of feathers outside on day, that has happened, the gays are awesome! Uptown can be a bit loud, there a bunch of bars and all the SMU kids come to party and it gets out of control. you can't even get out of there sometimes its sooo packed. Its nice to be far away enough to drive but close where its like 5 min.