10 worst town on the island?? (Hempstead, Babylon: real estate, homes, safe neighborhood)

[GCGuy]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

Yes it sort of is OT, because it is not a thread about towns we do not like for personal reasons. It is a thread about WORST towns, meaning dangerous, low property values, etc.

I personally do not like certain other expensive towns for other reasons, but I could never conjure up a way to say they are amoung the worst towns on LI.

Worst Towns for me (Top 15)...

1) Garden City
2) Manhasset
3) Old Westbury
4) Old Brookville
5) Oyster Bay Cove
6) Massapequa
7) Roslyn (Village, Estates, Country Club, and Harbor)
8) East Hills
9) Sea Cliff
10) Lloyd Neck
11) Huntington Bay
12) Stonybrook
13) East Hampton
14) Sag Harbor
15) Southamptong

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

All is in the eye of the beholder. Again, what I read is that people posting here equate BAD with Non-White and Poor and GOOD with White and affluent.

So direct me to a town that is mostly non-white (other than Indian or Asian mind you) that is:
a) safe
b) desirable
c) great schools
d) good property values
e) well kept homes
f) low to no rentals/illegal rentals

I will be waiting for your reply.

[GCGuy]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

All is in the eye of the beholder. Again, what I read is that people posting here equate BAD with Non-White and Poor and GOOD with White and affluent.

I would say it more has to do with condition of the town, the homes, etc. Perhaps crime levels, or quality of schools? Not sure, really. Could be a number of things. I for one, prefer safe, well-kept areas with good schools, nice downtowns, easy access to highways and the LIRR, along with a strong commitment to keeping the area top notch.

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by GCGuy

Worst Towns for me (Top 15)...

1) Garden City
2) Manhasset
3) Old Westbury
4) Old Brookville
5) Oyster Bay Cove
6) Massapequa
7) Roslyn (Village, Estates, Country Club, and Harbor)
8) East Hills
9) Sea Cliff
10) Lloyd Neck
11) Huntington Bay
12) Stonybrook
13) East Hampton
14) Sag Harbor
15) Southamptong

You forgot to add Muttontown, Sands Point and Laurel Hollow. Those have to be the worst towns on LI, I can't stand them. Don't even try to GIVE me a house for free there, I won't take it. They are the worst towns in LI and I go out of my way to NOT drive through them. Scary!

[TomMoser]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

So direct me to a town that is mostly non-white (other than Indian or Asian mind you) that is:
a) safe
b) desirable
c) great schools

I will be waiting for your reply.

My point is not about that. It is that people here do not seem to equate good with safe, desirable, great schools. They seem to equate good with white. You made my point for me.

[GCGuy]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

My point is not about that. It is that people here do not seem to equate good with safe, desirable, great schools. They seem to equate good with white. You made my point for me.

Please explain. All the areas that were listed as good...were any generally unsafe, unkept, with poor schools, etc? I am sure you've read people not being big fans of places like Shirley, which I believe has a significant European-American population (82.7% as of 2000).

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

All is in the eye of the beholder. Again, what I read is that people posting here equate BAD with Non-White and Poor and GOOD with White and affluent.

Originally Posted by TomMoser

My point is not about that. It is that people here do not seem to equate good with safe, desirable, great schools. They seem to equate good with white. You made my point for me.

You brought up white and homegenous, not me.

Many people would LOVE to live in GC, because it is SAFE, CLEAN, WELL KEPT, good schools, excellent property value, excellent community sense, need I go on?

I never said it was about being white, it just "happens" to be white. So I am asking you to suggest to me a town that just "happens" to NOT be white, that has all of the above and I would like to take a drive there (without having to worry about being alone, driving at night, having a door unlocked, looking at someone the "wrong way", etc).

I will be waiting for a reply.

[BlueSkyHoliday]

Again, what I read is that people posting here equate BAD with Non-White and Poor and GOOD with White and affluent.

I'm sure if you posted the same original question -- 'The 10 worst towns in/near (insert city or county here)?' -- in any of the Northeast or West Coast state forums you would get responses based on the same criteria. Quite possibly in some of the other states (Arizona? New Mexico?) as well.

I agree with the other posters here who say that it isn't ONLY the racial makeup that produces a 'bad' versus 'good' town, but when you compare the entire package (good property values, good schools, good to excellent appearance, safety, pride in community, etc) between those towns, the ones that have those things tend to be mostly white and the ones that don't have them tend to be mostly black and/or Hispanic.

People can argue 'which came first, the chicken or the egg' until they're blue in the face but there is an undeniable correlation.

I realize that things are different in the southern states which is why I didn't say 'in all states' people would use the same criteria. But we're in the Northeast, not the South.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

My point is not about that. It is that people here do not seem to equate good with safe, desirable, great schools. They seem to equate good with white. You made my point for me.

Tom, I get the vibe that a lot of people on here are racist too (whether they admit that to themselves or not) but reading back in this thread I don't think anyone has really explicitly indicated that. In some other threads it really just makes me laugh about all these rich folks in their ivory towers FREAKING OUT about how bad some of these areas are....guess what rich guys? It's Long Island, even the ghettos are a million times nicer and safer than virtually anywhere else in the world. No need to keep your doors locked on the Lexus SUV when you have the misfortune to roll through Uniondale, the savages aren't out to get you....

I'm with you on "screw some rich towns" too....although I love Garden City purely for the architecture and layout, great area in my opinion. Somewhere like Manhasset Hills though? Forget about it...soulless as far as I'm concerned.

But anyway, back on topic...I'm not one for political correctness or white guilt, so I have no problem with people mentioning that somewhere like Roosevelt is black and a (relatively) "bad" neighborhood, it is what it is. At the same time, I think the importance placed on SCHOOLS gives a lot of areas a very unfair reputation. Take Freeport for example, it's got the Nautical Mile, easy access to public transportation, beaches, parkways and a large stock of huge, old, well maintained homes that are a drop in the bucket compared to similar housing in white areas. The higher crime rate is driven up by a very small section, the majority of the village is safe as anywhere else...but the real killer is that the school district is perceived as being no good. For someone like me who doesn't have kids and would probably be renting anyway (I'm 24 and even if I made double my salary I couldn't afford a house anywhere on LI) there are virtually NO downsides to living there. Same for younger couples or just people without kids who want to live in a slightly more interesting area....but the "bad" stigma is always going to be attached to it, and once that happens it's very hard to lure in people who want to contribute to the community.

Another point on schools is that "good" is totally relative to a lot of other folks opinions. All kids are unique and will respond well in different environments. I went to Levittown schools although I know my parents were bummed cuz they thought we were in the Wantagh district. I'm glad I didn't go there because I hated everyone I ever met from Wantagh High School. Instead I had a great time, got excellent grades and got into every college I applied to. Drugs are everywhere too, and usually the rich kids have the better ones and $$$ to blow on them.

So all of that said...the ten Long Island towns I would least want to live in:

1) Manhasset Hills
2) Dix Hills
3) Roosevelt
4) North Amityville
5) Searingtown/Herricks
6) North Bay Shore
7) Plainview
8) Most of Great Neck Plaza
9) Most of Hauppauge (and Islandia)
10) Parts of West Babylon (but not most of)

I don't know out east much so I'm biased! I may very well hate your town too if I got to know it

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

1) Manhasset Hills
2) Dix Hills
3) Roosevelt
4) North Amityville
5) Searingtown/Herricks
6) North Bay Shore
7) Plainview
8) Most of Great Neck Plaza
9) Most of Hauppauge (and Islandia)
10) Parts of West Babylon (but not most of)

I don't know out east much so I'm biased! I may very well hate your town too if I got to know it

Care to elaborate? I am very curious why you hate a few of these. No other reason.