Long Island, Jericho or Garden City (elementary schools, to move, food)

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by rkk12

Jericho does have friendly and cooperative communities. I am not sure what part of Jericho you are referring to. Some east Birchwood homes have banded together to negotiate agreements with oil companies for heat. Many Jericho communities have active civic associations. If this is not community feel.. I don't know what is. People who usually choose Jericho are upper-middle class professionals who want their kids to have superior education in professional fields. A lot of well-to-do Asian immigrants choose Jericho for the same reason.

My apologies - I forgot the Birchwood area, even though I sold homes there There is a community feel in that general area and the schools of course have an excellent reputation.
No "downtown" though... Of course I'm spoiled being in Huntington

[Walter Greenspan]

The Village of Garden City and the Hamlet of Jericho have one thing in common: neither community is welcoming to observant Jews.

But, this is not unique to the Hamlet of Jericho, and is true of most villages and hamlets on Long Island with a large Jewish population, that are predominantly secular, non-observant Jews.

[Yericho]

Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan

The Village of Garden City and the Hamlet of Jericho have one thing in common: neither community is welcoming to observant Jews.

But, this is not unique to the Hamlet of Jericho, and is true of most villages and hamlets on Long Island with a large Jewish population, that are predominantly secular, non-observant Jews.

Walter,

This is of interest to me. What makes you say the above statement? (it seems a little out of context from the op).

Do you still think Jericho has retained its Jewish charachter - even secularly - or has their been a nonJewish or Asian influx to such a large extent?

Thank you for your time.

[djdairyp]

If I had the money i would choose Jericho. Easily in the top 3 schools on long island by most standings. On the upper region of the listed price range, you can get into some really nice areas. It does all depend on what you are looking for. If you look at the map you see Garden City is more central long island, and therefore will be more central to a lot of things, easier to commute places, etc. but the price of that is that it puts your more into a suburb type of feel, you can even see the layout of the streets is more row like, which is fine if you like that. There are a lot of spots in northern jericho, Brookville, Old Westbury, Muttontown that you drive around and you feel like you are in a rural upstate new york or new england town, which is appealing to some people and again if you look at the map you see it is more spaced out.

[proudimmigrant]

I say Garden City...Just stay away from the parts that is close to Hempstead (off Clinton and Franklin ave) sorry but ...have you ever driven on those street into Garden City!!! it's like night and day...

[AlexisT]

Originally Posted by Yericho

Walter,

This is of interest to me. What makes you say the above statement? (it seems a little out of context from the op).

Do you still think Jericho has retained its Jewish charachter - even secularly - or has their been a nonJewish or Asian influx to such a large extent?

Thank you for your time.

Not Walter, but - sometimes people are unaware of the sharp divides there can be on LI when it comes to Jewish communities. Jericho, Plainview, and Lawrence are all very Jewish, but very different from each other.

Jericho is still very Jewish, but there is a growing Asian population (~30%) which is drawn by the schools. I personally wouldn't want to live there but I'd have no problems recommending it to a Jewish family who were considering it.

[littlepawsinn]

Garden city.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by Yericho

Do you still think Jericho has retained its Jewish charachter - even secularly - or has their been a nonJewish or Asian influx to such a large extent?

In my opinion, while Jericho had/has a large extremely secular Ashkenazi population, the community never had, what you could refer to as, a Jewish character.

It's just the opposite: the majority of community-wide events are scheduled for Friday night or Saturday morning; elementary school classes have Halloween, Christmas and St. Valentine's Day parties, but no Jewish New Year nor Purim parties; only Gentile food in the school district cafeterias; etc., etc., etc. The only nod to Jewish sensitivities is that there are no Christmas trees in the school district or library.

It's my guess that if Torah observant Jews did begin to move into the area, the Ashkenazi secular Jews, not the East Asians, would be the first to bail out.

[Mobilemoll]

Originally Posted by proudimmigrant

I say Garden City...Just stay away from the parts that is close to Hempstead (off Clinton and Franklin ave) sorry but ...have you ever driven on those street into Garden City!!! it's like night and day...

Just curious about the warning...of course there's going to be a culture shock of sorts when you drive from an upper middle/upper class area into a working class/poorer area. Drove down Franklin Ave many a time and believe me you over the "Pretty trees, clean streets, lovely homes...ok... laundromat, bodega, concrete" thing.

Anyhow, I understand that both Jericho and GC have wonderful school districts, but being a tad biased as I like central Nassau I'd swing towards GC. The downtown area is cool, the homes/properties are beautiful, and the LIRR commute is more favorable.

[alexanderdennis]

If you go a litle south shore like Merrick, Bellmore are - you would be surprized.
South Merrick, Lindmere, Gables, Merrick Woods... all sections of Merrick..
But what I like about Merrick - has no sections - like bad areas - /....
Schools - great
easy comute - 40 min by train - to Penn.
easy shoping - 10 min drive to the malls . Supermarkets convinintly located .
Close to beaches
Afluent areas.
South Merrick, Lindmere, Gables, Merrick Woods...