Bad Towns (New York, Hempstead, Islip: rent, violent crime, houses)

[GCGuy]

Why are Hempstead, Roosevelt, Wyandanch, Elmont, and Central Islip such bad areas?

It's amazing to me that LI even has these "ghettos" at all. Why and how did this occur and are all middle class, moderately sized house areas going to see the same fate?

[AlexisT]

Hempstead and Roosevelt were the results of racial steering in the '60s. Black equalled undesirable, and the areas were set on a downward spiral.

[Glad2BHere]

Elmont was a great area when my dad was a kid. His family lived in Brooklyn and his grandparents had a house in Elmont. He says it was "like" the country to them, they would go to "vacation" there.

What happened with Elmont was Belmont brought a bad element to the area and with that, Elmont went down....Belmont still does little to improve the area. The outside of Belmont they let go to crap, never improving it or maintaining it. The inside grounds are beautiful compared to what the outside/exterior along Hempstead tpke looks like. You would never know it from the outside.

Belmont racetrack brought a lot of illegals, who also rent illegally, to the area. Belmont is not considered a good neighbor to the Elmont community at all.


Moderator cut: Not even thinly veiled racism. Please be more careful.

[TomMoser]

These areas also have a high number of absentee landlords.

[motherbearof4]

GCGuy,

I don't think it is right that you refer to these places as "Ghettos". There are people that were born and raised in these areas and have alot of respect for where they live. My town has been called "The Meadow Ghetto" by some and I take great offense to it when people say that. I was born and raised in this town and am now raising my own family here. I would not choose to raise by children in any ghetto.

[nancy thereader]

Please be careful that this thread does not deteriorate into something that becomes hurtful and hostile for many of our readers.

[llama8]

I grew up in Elmont and my family moved out in 1999 when I started college. It was always a real working class jewish/italian area. Unfortunately the Belmont racetrack and the borderline Queens areas became bad. The element that moved into Elmont in the 80's and 90's were considerably becoming worse. I lived off meacham ave (the Italian area) which was still pretty nice when we moved out. I worked at the Duane Reade on Hempt TpK and within 3 years, the entire town changed. A lot of illegals, a lot of gang violence (shootings/robberies). It was very unfortunate. Then white flight happened.

The funny thing is the area itself still aethetically looks nice around Meacham (the race track area is really bad) but I wouldn't walk around at night. Elmont is constantly in the paper for violent crimes. It's such a shame. Everyone I grew up with has left the town.

[Walter Greenspan]

For those who may not be familiar with Elmont:

Elmont is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the northwest part of the Town of Hempstead, in the west part of Nassau County, along the Nassau/NYC (Queens County) line.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Elmont in the Town of Hempstead is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of Bellerose Terrace, the Village of Floral Park, the Village of South Floral Park and the Village of Stewart Manor; on the east by the Hamlet of Franklin Square; on the south by the Hamlet of North Valley Stream; and, on the west by New York City (the Nassau/Queens County line).





The Hamlet of Elmont has a different border than does the "Elmont, NY 11003" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place can have an "Elmont, NY 11003" mailing address and not be in the Hamlet of Elmont and a place can be in the Hamlet of Elmont and have other than an "Elmont, NY 11003" mailing address): places that have a "Elmont, NY 11003" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Elmont are in the Hamlet of Franklin Square; and, at the same time, there are places in the Hamlet of Elmont that have a "Valley Stream, NY 11580" mailing address.


For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County): http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html

[Johninwestbury]

It sounds like Elmont can draw many parrallels with Westbury. I am shocked at how fast Post ave is deteriorating. Our town is getting loaded up with flophouses, even up north toward the parkway (where I live) flophouses are popping up. There's a couple houses down the street and on the next block which always have music blasting, cars with out of state (usually N.Carolina) plates, and taxis coming and going at all hours. The streets up here used to be quiet, now I'm facing the same problems I had when I lived near the train station. My neighbor even said they saw a drug deal going on down the street....in broad daylight! I knew I should've moved out of Westbury for good, now I'm stuck here for reasons I'd rather not discuss.
Today walking down Post ave all the way from the train station to the parkway I felt like I was in another country. I fear Westbury is undergoing a rapid white flight that will lead it quite similar to Elmont. The Mayor and the Council are clueless and just pander to the illegals. I am tired of it. I definately would consider Union ave, Maple Ave, and Prospect ave all "ghetto", but the village of Westbury and Post ave will be on it's way to a similar fate. Unless the village does something fast to shut down the flophouses.

Moderator cut: John, please reread the sticky at the top of our forum . Those remarks are indeed racist .

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by Johninwestbury

It sounds like Elmont can draw many parrallels with Westbury.

For those who may not be familiar with Westbury:

Westbury is a village (incorporated in 1932) in the southeast part of the Town of North Hempstead, in the central part of Nassau County, along the North Hempstead/Oyster Bay and the North Hempstead/Hempstead town line.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Village of Westbury in the Town of North Hempstead is bordered on the north by the Village of Old Westbury; on the east by the Hamlet of Jericho in the Town Oyster Bay (the North Hempstead/Oyster Bay town line) and the Hamlet of New Cassel; on the south by the Hamlet of East Meadow and the Hamlet of East Garden City in the Town of Hempstead (the North Hempstead/Hempstead town line); and on the west by the Hamlet of Carle Place and the Village of Mineola.





Westbury is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where most of the places that have the community name as part of their mailing address are not in the village: places that have a "Westbury, NY 11590" mailing address that are not int he Village of Westbury are in the Hamlet of Jericho and the Hamlet of Hickville in the Town of Oyster Bay; the Hamlet of Carle Place and the Hamlet of New Cassel in the Town of North Hempstead; and, the Hamlet of Salisbury, the Hamlet of East Garden City, and the Hamlet of East Meadow in the Town of Hempstead


For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County): http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html