Why exactly is Roosevelt NY bad? (New York, Babylon: crime, homes, neighborhoods)

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by I have a voice

I know it has a lot of apartments, rentals, condos, coops, etc which tend to attract a lower income level person. Roosevelt is predominantly african american but the lower income issue is the more pressing issue. Any town that has the rentals is going to be worse than towns without rentals, that's just the nature of the beast.

I would agree

It's an issue of poverty there.


crookhaven

[dman72]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

I was going to ask as to why Wyandanch is in a similar boat as Roosevelt? I know parts of Hempstead, Uniondale and somewhat Freeport are in a similar situation from what I hear, but are all of these places as bad as people make them out to be? What about Amityville, Baldwin, Brentwood and Central Islip as well? All of these communities have very high populations of people of color and seem to have the worst reputations as far as communities on Long Island, but are the reputations as real as some people make them out to be?

They are probably somewhat exagerrated, but just check the stats at NYSDOE. Graduations rates at those schools are much lower, regents scores are much lower, and students going on to college are much lower.

[Da41695]

Roosevelt is considered bad because of high crime rates and failing schools. Wyandanch is probably the most dangerous on LI, though.

[AlexisT]

Roosevelt is, by far, the worst school district. No question. And this means that no one who can afford anything even slightly better--even hempstead--will buy there. The crime issues are somewhat exaggerated--they're only bad relative to the rest of LI.

Baldwin is in a whole different league and the fact that you include it on that list shows just how stupid people have gotten. My grandmother owned in Baldwin Harbor for 45 years. It is still a mixed area, aside from pockets at the northern edge (bordering on Hempstead). The black families buying in the harbor are middle class. Everything in the area is still well maintained and peaceful and the elementary school is still very good.

In fact some of the school problems in Baldwin are from Roosevelt and Hempstead residents illegally getting their kids into Baldwin schools.

[ckhthankgod]

I was talking not just about the schools, but how the communities changed demographically or were they always the more diverse communities in comparison to the rest of LI?

[ckhthankgod]

Also, Bridgehampton is another community that gets put in such conversations too. Are there any others that get put into that category too?

[pdcnret]

Originally Posted by I have a voice

Manhattan is an anomoly given the nature of the island. Great Neck Plaza is tiny and surrounded by very affluent towns. Roosevelt is surrounded by other similar neighborhoods. Obviously I shouldn't have painted the broad stroke that ALL towns with rentals are worse than ALL towns with owned homes. However, more often than not this is the case, holding every thing else equal (that famous saying used in ecomonics).

Check your maps and your facts. Roosevelt is not surrounded by similar neighborhoods. The only thing close to the same is Freeport on the south and Uniondale on the north. Merrick and North Merrick also border Roosevelt and those are very affluent communities.

And BTW, there are no condos and coops in Roosevelt. Where did you get that information?

[AlexisT]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

I was talking not just about the schools, but how the communities changed demographically or were they always the more diverse communities in comparison to the rest of LI?

No, it's not just schools that puts communities on that list. it's brown people.

Baldwin's diversity, except at the Roosevelt/Hempstead borders, is new. When I was little, my grandma's entire neighborhood was Jewish. It was dead silent on Yom Kippur--I remember playing in the street because we all knew there would be no cars.

but because its diversity is recent, it's different. The black families who moved to the harbor had to buy at higher prices, in a non-block-busting era. Baldwin was an obvious target for middle class blacks because it was near existing minority areas, and wasn't quite as solidly established as some other South Shore communities (for example, Oceanside has changed relatively little in my lifetime). Baldwin never had a nice downtown area or things to keep it together, and the schools were always a little bit below some of the surrounding ones (especially RVC and Oceanside). This put the prices down a little bit, and hastened the shift. Also, large chunks of the harbor were bought at the same time and when these families sold up and moved (retirement) a relatively large shift was possible.

[AlexisT]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

Also, Bridgehampton is another community that gets put in such conversations too. Are there any others that get put into that category too?

Huntington Station gets lumped in, though a large part of it is nice--New York Avenue and the streets around the station are very prominent and give the community a bad reputation.

Also, Westbury and New Cassel, though again, outside a few areas its reputation is much worse than the reality.

One place where I would say reputation and reality aren't far apart is Inwood. It's not that high crime, but it's pretty unpleasant, and it's squeezed into a location (right next to one of the less salubrious parts of Far Rockaway) that ensures it will never be very nice.

[MikefromCT]

Originally Posted by llama8

High crime, gangs, poverty, and bad schools. The district had to be taken over by the state due to many problems. Roosevelt schools are trying to turn themselves around.

When I was in college 6 years ago, my friends and I volunteered our time at the Roosevelt elementary school. It was so heartbreaking. Half of the school was condemned, meaning half of it was roped off and the walls and ceiling were falling in. The bathrooms were awful and the teachers had no money for resources. One kindergarten class didn't even have crayons. I never saw anything like that on Long Island. One of my good friends is a middle school teacher for Roosevelt and this past year, she had to teach in a trailer. Overall, things are looking a little better for the schools in the future, but they still have a long way to go.

It's that bad? Holy crap! You'd think if the school was placed in state receivership that they would literally be falling down. My mom teaches in an urban environment in central CT and it's not that bad. I mean, there are other issues (like poverty, disruptive kids) but nothing like that. That IS heartbreaking.