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I don't feel that Rocky Point is ANYTHING like Wyandanch! I can not believe that if you have lived there for over twenty years you can honestly say that you have no idea what I am talking about though. I am not talking about one or two families having a few isolated incidents occur. I basically grew up there from 1990 to 2000 and it was CRAZY back then! As a teen and young adult it didn't bother me and it was way more fun hanging out with the RP kids then the SWR kids - but I wasn't a homeowner raising a family! It has cleaned up since then, but again I still have family and friends living all over SB and RP many have lived there since birth and they are somewhat use to most of the issues that I found hard to deal with. Everyone is different the things that I found hard to live with may not faze someone else. There's a lid for every pot as my mother would say!
I don't feel that Rocky Point is ANYTHING like Wyandanch! I can not believe that if you have lived there for over twenty years you can honestly say that you have no idea what I am talking about though. I am not talking about one or two families having a few isolated incidents occur. I basically grew up there from 1990 to 2000 and it was CRAZY back then! As a teen and young adult it didn't bother me and it was way more fun hanging out with the RP kids then the SWR kids - but I wasn't a homeowner raising a family! It has cleaned up since then, but again I still have family and friends living all over SB and RP many have lived there since birth and they are somewhat use to most of the issues that I found hard to deal with. Everyone is different the things that I found hard to live with may not faze someone else. There's a lid for every pot as my mother would say!
Crazy? come on, honestly, druggies asleep in cars? Where is this? I'm sorry if you don't believe that I haven't experienced these problems but I truly have never witnessed druggies asleep in lawn cars in my neighborhood. It's funny that you say your from Shoreham because it always tends to be people from that area that exaggerate Rocky Point into some kind of ghetto. Please! we could move to Shoreham tomorrow; we even know people that want to move from the Shoreham-Wading River district to Rocky Point because the schools have deteriorated since LILCO pulled out. By your age, it sounds like you went there during the glory days when there was huge gap in wealth between the two neighboring districts. Things have changed! My neighbors are BNL scientists, Accountants, Lawyers, and tradespeople that own their own businesses. I know for a fact that my parents make close to 150k a year, yes I'm a college student. Rentals? sure we have a few in the neighborhood, but that is common in any neighborhood with older summer homes. I guess my bottom line is that i'm not aware of where these things occured or are still occuring, I have lived here my whole life and have never witnessed any problems through my years here. That's all I can really say.
Last edited by rockypointny; 05-18-2008 at 12:45 AM..
It all depends on the neighborhood. What street in Rocky Point or Sound Beach was this? I'm curious. If you're down around the broadway area there are a ton of rentals and some undesirables. Selling coke? this is not the norm in RP, but it could also happen anywhere. The poverty rate in RP is not as high as you think, it's actually equal to Port Jefferson Station, according to the 2000 census. All of my neighbors are great and most have excellent careers. It's difficult to judge a community by the experiences of one person. If you would have looked around you could have found a great house in RP. I also love how you make Mount Sinai, Miller Place, and Port Jefferson seem like these unattainable paradises, most residents in RP live here because they choose to live a more affordable and laid back lifestyle. For instance, my next door neighbors are currently putting 100k, yes 100k, into landscaping and adding a pool to their backyard, I think if they can afford this, they could certainly afford to move to one of your supposedly elite areas. I know that my parents had the opportunity to move to Setauket a few years back but decided against it because they loved our neighbors and wanted to stay in Rocky Point.
P.S. We have granite counters and ski frequently. Can you believe we surround ourselves with such trash in Rocky Point?
I lived as a *GASP* renter in the area to the west of Broadway, Locust vicinity. And *GASP* we rode HOGS! We MUST be the biker scum which Mrs. PJS refers to....
Everyone else around me were homeowners. There was a single gay man in one home, a divorcee with young children in another, a family of 4 in each of the other 3 homes surrounding me. Everyone knew everyone and we looked out for one another's homes and children. It was a true community in every sense of the word. We brought home one of our children into our cottage and with the advent of his arrival, we came to know more of our neighbors.
The 2000 census is not going to take into account changes which have occurred in the past 8 years in either RP or PJS. I'd lay money on the fact that RP has improved more so than PJS. Driving through my old neighborhood in RP I see more of the old cottages being built up or knocked down to make way for newer, &/or larger homes. That certainly would appear to signal a shift to greater home ownership and fewer rentals. The fact that your neighbor would invest a significant chunk of change in the area represents some degree of confidence in him that the area is certainly worth putting his money into.
At this point in my life, if I had to move away from my home to either PJS or RP, Rocky Point would win hands down. The meandering streets, the hills, the sylvan feeling, the beach, the neighbors I once had, the store owners who knew my name and my likes; I could go on and on.
The late clamboy would certainly have a lot to say on this thread!
I've been trying to figure out this thread since the LI poster trashing RP is the first I've heard or seen of this in 10 months of posting here specifically reading and posting about this area, and having read the blog and searched the net. I think this poster feels they are being dissed by being in PJS and is angry and dissing back and exaggerating, after all, you can say whatever you want on the internet and who can prove you wrong?
I have looked a lot in RP SB and MP and I guess I can see some small issues that the poster has talked about, to wit:
1) I have been steered awayf rom King street both on here and by my broker, as it has power lines, and away from the Broadway area etc. I have also stayed away from Broadway beach after reading a post about noisy teens in the summer on the beach (I reallyw ant quiet). Almost every nieghborhood and house I've looked at has been very quiet.
HOWEVER
2) An acquaintance who has lived in WR for many years, says that it is a wonderful area, beautiful, salt of the earthw orking class mostly (these towns) but check out your neighborhood ahead of time in any of these towns to avoid a biker with barking dogs type etc. Of the 80 or so houses I've seen, many I just walked in and out in two secs as they don't suit me, but I did see a couple of homes where the owner seemed troubled. One home was a bungalow that felt more like a trailer to me, the guy had a dog, and he was in construction, and the whole atmosphere in his little dump was bad. Another few homes are probably inheritances, and they are dumps, and they have been on the market at way inflated prices and just sit there. ANd there was another home where the family was away for the day, but the house had a terrible moisture problem, mold on the front door, and one of the kid's doors had no hinges, and the kid had left a sign, "Please be careful opening my door or it will fall down." There was also a hole in the ewall next to the door. I'd have to assume that's a family in some kind of severe distress or having alcohol problems or something, poor kid. And finally, there was one other home where they were having a garage sale, the mother was a loud mouthed nutcase who wouldn't show one bedroomb ecause, "my dog had surgery and he's recovering in there."
The first house I bid on and lost (previous accepted offer) the mom was a young obstetrician and her husband was a neuroscientist post-doc at Stonybrook. The other house that is in short sale that I made a bid on, the husband works for Home Depot, and I the wife works somewhere in Bethpage. They have two non-noisy dogs, their house is pristine, and its too bad they ran into trouble.
A bigger issue for me would to be sure my neighbor didn't have a basketball hoop and lots of boys!
So I can see a certain element of this but it's kind of obvious when you look around and all you need to do before you buy is talk to your neighbors and other people who know the neighborhoods. Even so I never heard or saw any bikers or crazy barking dogs or "undesirables." I don't think anybody should buy a house without first talking to the neighbors about the neighborhood and spending a little time there. And for example, we saw a beautiful home in the Terraces (a little beyond our particular price piont, and also a high maintenance home), but it has come down from 539K to 424K over the last year or so. Its very well priced now and a ton of gorgeous house for the money with a view from the master bedroom second floor deck of the sound.
So my conclusion is that the poster has some kind of beef, exaggerates, but that perhaps if you are unlucky and did not do your research in advance, you could end up next door to a screwed up family. Remember, this area was quite cheap 10 years ago.
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Originally Posted by rockypointny
Crazy? come on, honestly, druggies asleep in cars? Where is this? I'm sorry if you don't believe that I haven't experienced these problems but I truly have never witnessed druggies asleep in lawn cars in my neighborhood. It's funny that you say your from Shoreham because it always tends to be people from that area that exaggerate Rocky Point into some kind of ghetto. Please! we could move to Shoreham tomorrow; we even know people that want to move from the Shoreham-Wading River district to Rocky Point because the schools have deteriorated since LILCO pulled out. By your age, it sounds like you went there during the glory days when there was huge gap in wealth between the two neighboring districts. Things have changed! My neighbors are BNL scientists, Accountants, Lawyers, and tradespeople that own their own businesses. I know for a fact that my parents make close to 150k a year, yes I'm a college student. Rentals? sure we have a few in the neighborhood, but that is common in any neighborhood with older summer homes. I guess my bottom line is that i'm not aware of where these things occured or are still occuring, I have lived here my whole life and have never witnessed any problems through my years here. That's all I can really say.
If they bought a house in Island Estates in Mount Sinai I'm sure they wouldn't be able to pay someone to mow their lawn - it's all relative my friend. The same goes for skiing and granite countertops for the elite in MS, SWR and PJ it's not even a drop in the bucket. Anyone that can afford $15k - $20k in taxes is upper middle class according to my standards.
Island Estates! What is so elite about that? It's a developer's name for communities all throughout LI that some people buy into. They use it to market homes in Setauket; those homes are far from stellar, build wise, yet sheeple buy them up.
Lesson #1: Don't buy into the labels.
Skiing? Big whoop-de-do! I grew up in a predominantly blue collar neighborhood on the south shore of Nassau County. NEWSFLASH! I knew plenty of blue collar kids who skied frequently throughout the winter.
Lesson #2: Skiing is not a hallmark of wealth.
Granite countertops? *YAWN* Anyone can have granite counter tops. Here's a little tip: don't buy over one's head and you'll have the money and then some for granite counter tops. I know cops, firemen, butchers, etc., who have granite counters. Lesson #3: A little tip: visit a stone yard to look for remnants. They can be had for a song.
Good grief! Bargains are to be had everywhere -- just look around or open your mouth and say something.
Lesson #4: Be the Squeaky wheel!
Taxes $15K and over are insane; no argument here. If someone can afford those taxes -- more power to them. Plenty of my friends can do that; I am happy for them that life has worked out so well for them. If my taxes went into that range, I would be bidding the area adieu!
Lesson #5: Know what you can afford, know your limits and have an escape plan
I know of several people who have left PJS and Comsewogue (sp?) school district for the very same reasons you are knocking Rocky Point.
Lesson #6 -- Don't be the pot calling the kettle black.
I don't feel attacked, but I feel as judged by living in PJ village as you feel living in PJS! LOL I will never be able to keep up with the Jones', and I could care less if I can. Sure, you have your social climbers who need to exhibit their wealth. But my day is so packed with raising three children that I don't have the time to worry about whether or not someone thinks I'm "wealthy" enough for them. My husband was with the NYPD, and I'm a teacher. We got a great deal, and we jumped. Yes, my children are being invited to $1,000 birthday parties, but I don't feel obliged to give that to my children. I believe I did them a service by stretching things to give them a small school district with some pretty nice surroundings. And you would be surprised at how many families living here are making it week to week, are single parents, worried about LIPA, gas costs, etc (although we treat the kids to that great ice cream in the village too!) The rich live in Belle Terre...and that is an entirely different world!
I've highlighted 2 statements you've written which I feel sums it all up.
There are shades of gray which have been overlooked: not everyone in PJV is uber wealthy. Some folks worked and saved to buy a home in an area which they believe would be most beneficial to their children. If a parent can affford (with or without some personal sacrifice) to move to a community which will provide them with good schools, safety and nice amenities, why shouldn't they? Why should the people who've worked hard to situate themselves nicely have to defend their choice to those who come across sounding like sour grapes?
I live in a nice area, we've discussed our reasons and choices and know that we have each done what we've felt best in our situations. But because of our locales, we will be labeled. In my case it's rather laughable; my friends with the high end cars, the high tax homes and the standing mani-pedi appointments can't quite seem to fathom why I do my own gardening and love anything motor sports. But you know what? We all know they want to do it, but are tied up by their labels.
We go around once; people shouldn't concern themselves with other people's possessions, lifestyles or addresses. If anything, they should get out there and live life! Living can be a walk with the kiddies for an ice cream cone and some people watching in Port, a stroll on the boardwalk at Jones Beach, a hike through any one of the preserves. When one heads home, they should be happy for themselves about where they live and not worry about what anyone else thinks. Living well is the best revenge; and the definition for living well varies from person to person.
OBH -
We chose not to live in SWR for three reasons
1. The school system is very liberal and after graduating from there we wanted a more strict academic environment for our children.
2. We grew up there and a large amount of our friends and classmates now live there making it too close for comfort.
3. We would have had to buy a much smaller house than we currently live in due to the high price of homes in SWR.
Home prices and taxes...losing LIPA had to have hurt.
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Yup they sell cocaine all over I guess, but I have no idea where in my neighborhood and I love it that way. I am not against people for entrepreneurship as long as it's not in my backyard (or front yard or anywhere near my house).
If you have kids, it might be a good idea to become aware as they get older. It's a sad world we're living in when it comes to accessibility to drugs. Another problem is that kids are raiding their parent's medicine chests. UGH! We don't have enough to worry about?
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I am very confused about all this talk of "illegals" in PJS. We have some that reside up by the railroad tracks, but there really isn't a neighborhood near there that it would effect anyones daily living.
We do have a number of spanish families that live in PJS but they are FAMILIES here legally raising their children, attending church, going to work, paying taxes like everybody else. We do not mind the diversity at all.
They are NOT SPANISH. My grandfather was a Spaniard; Spanish people come from SPAIN and are considered white. Please do not confuse Spaniards with HISPANICS who do not consider themselves white. The only commonality is that they speak Spanish.
Don't give me the confused routine. Anyone can say that. And how do these "People of Questionable Entry into the USA" affect you? Take a look into the schools and the increased demand on ESL (up go the taxes), the MS-13 tagging in PJS (don't play blind, take a good look around)
Do you really feel that all the 'Immigrants' into the PJS area are here to be productive citizens? I spent an evening in the St Chas ER and the men in the adjacent gurney were talking about a knife fight they were in, when the Doc came in the story they gave the translator changed into an accident with lawn equipment.
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In my opinion everyone CAN NOT drive an Escalade unless you have a tremendous amount of disposable income. The payments on the $60k + truck are upwards of $800.00 a month (leasing or not), not to mention the gas. Most people are not able to pay a mortgage, taxes, LIPA, home heating oil, food, kids activities and still have another $1000k a month left over to drive around a big fancy truck for the love of God!
You know what they say about opinions....
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As for Harbor Hills PJ the average prices of houses there on MLS right now are over $500k, which is out of a lot of peoples price ranges to say the least. Laurel Hill is their summer camp.
Oh geezaloo -- We have a poster telling you here direct experience, and if the average is $500K plus, it means that there are houses below $500K, too, or else the average would be higher.
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By no means do I put stock in the fact that money = class however I do believe that education does equal class.
I know plenty of well-educated people who are coarse, vulgar and demanding, those with a false sense of entitlement. Education does not equal class, class is derived from proper parenting, refining or one's manners and the ability to know wrong from right and to do the right thing, no matter how difficult.
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We do like where we live however if I won the lottery I'd be in Huntington Beach, CA in a heartbeat!
Hi, Wondering if anyone can tell me about Port Jeff and Port Jeff Station. We are looking to move to that general area and have been focusing in Rocky Point. No luck so far so we are expanding our area. Setauket seems a little more expensive for something decent so I was wondering if the PJs have better or worse schools than Rocky Point or Miller Place. Seems more affordable which makes me nervous! Any info is appreciated.
Three Village schools are the best of that group,then probably Port Jeff (not PJS).
Once again I am not trashing Rocky Point or Sound Beach just passing on my experiences. I did grow up in SWR but lived in RP/SB as a young adult and again after I got married and still have a number of friends and family there. I do not want to give out specific any of their addresses however I can say that some live in the Hemlock, Ivy, and Locust area, a few live off Sound Beach Blvd. in various neighborhoods in SB, and the others live in the "old RP section" behind Mc Carricks Dairy. The sleeping in the car incident was over by Hempstead in SB. A close friend in SB also had her front door kicked in and her house ransacked in the middle of the day while she was at work in Manhattan, she got home at 7pm and the house had no front door! This was six months ago! A family member is a PO and he is always in the areas mentioned above for domestics, illegals loitering and esp drugs in the streets off Locust. The cars all over the front lawns and unkempt houses ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE. Sorry I do not have this in my PJS neighborhood and moved here for the flat land and the ability of parking your car in YOUR DRIVEWAY. PJS is certainly not heaven LOL but I found that it is easier to navigate your way to a safe bet when it comes to neighborhoods thats all (in PJS a few houses in the Lake Streets are unkempt with extra cars and occupants). My RP/SB friends always have some kind of drama with the neighbors (maybe because their houses are closer together?). We DID research before we moved in there, but in RP/SB so many of the homes are rentals or passed down from generations so there could be someone new next month! Yes the Terraces, Oak Hills, Tides and Noah's are def nice areas but probably a little pricey for most esp the taxes and beach dues. Most people LOVE their towns and will defend them to the death :-) We have moved a few times and to be honest I really have no allegiance to any particular area. I responded to the post not to attack or judge any town or residents of any town but to give a general idea of what you may encounter.
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Trying to figure it out
