Comparing Great Neck South to Manhasset (Garden City, Scarsdale: crime, house, school districts)

[Calla]

We are house hunting and haven't found a perfect match yet. We started our search in Scarsdale, then jumped to Great Neck South, and now are considering Manhasset. Can you give your impression of how Manhasset compares? Commute and quality of school district are our two primary criteria, but I would love to get a sense of the "vibe" of Manhasset, especially if you think it differs somehow from Great Neck South. Thanks!!

[AlexisT]

Traditionally, Great Neck is Jewish, Manhasset is not. Lots of steering in the '50s.

Great Neck has also seen more Asians move in than Manhasset.

[Smash255]

Both are excellent school districts, though I would say Great Neck South is a bit better. The commute to NYC is a little better in Great Neck as you have a few more trains that stop in Great neck than Manhasset, but both are on the Port Washington lines and excellent commutes.

Both areas are primarily Upper middle class with a decent sized upper class population as well. As Alexis pointed out Great Neck has a large Jewish population where as Manhasset has a relatively small one.

Politically speaking Great Neck is quite a bit more liberal than Manhasset.

[cityteach]

HI,
We are thinking about moving to either port washington or manhasset next year and are confused.
we understand that the manhasset schools are much better but that we would be one of a handful of Jewish families in it. Port is supposed to be more religiously mixed.
I grew up in Great Neck, don't want to raise my kids in it.

I love an ethnically and religiously diverse area, I just wanted to be in an area where we are not the only family who puts up a succah.

many thanks for any help

[AlexisT]

Port is more mixed in a lot of ways, not just religiously.

I honestly don't see much of a difference between Great Neck and Manhasset in terms of socioeconomic status. If that's what turns you off about Great Neck, I don't think Manhasset will be an improvement.

Does it have to be NW Nassau? There are other nice Jewish areas on LI. I know you can't beat the commute (from a pure location POV, Great Neck is ideal IMO), but the vibe is the price you pay.

[Port North]

I think you would be perfectly happy in Port Washington as it is evenly split between Catholic and Jewish with some Protestants thrown in for good measure.

It is more economically and ethnically diverse than Great Neck or Manhasset which in my book is a good thing. A good mix of Upper Class Sands Point residents, upper middle class professionals, white collar middle class folk (like myself) as well as working class hispanics. A good cross section of what the real world is like all in a good school district.

[cityteach]

We are thinking about moving to Port Washington. But I hear alot about gang problems in Port middle and high school. Is any of this true???

[Port North]

I don't have any teen-aged kids but I haven't heard of any gang violence in the schools. The kids I see outside of Weber and Scheiber look like normal teen-aged kids to me. There was some problems in the Manorhaven area a few years back but seems to have cleared up since the police stepped up their presence there. I've lived in Port for 10 years and my wife 36 years, and we never have had any problems with crime or gangs!

Do you really think that the people from Sands Point would send their kids there if it really was a major problem? I highly doubt that your kids would be of the type that would be attracted to gangs anyways.

Since you are Jewish I think you would feel more comfortable in Port rather than Manhasset. Manhasset is much like Garden City in that it is heavily Irish Catholic and WASP with a strong inclination toward jobs in the financial services field. Port is much more varied in both occupation and religion.