Opinions of Garden City (Hempstead, Valley Stream: houses, school, living)

[azzurrony]

Alexis,

That's fine. You can choose to live in the past. But it is 2009 now. How many of us young families were even around at the time or in NY for that matter? A great many families come to Garden City from Europe and other parts of the US because it is such a nice town to live in. Surely, you aren't trying to tie them to GC's past?
If we had no Jewish presence in the town, that would be one thing. But, a 102 family Synagogue is not bad at all. That still bigger than a number of our other churches in town (including Protestant ones). I guess the Protestants were abused back in the day as well

My recommendation...stop living in the past. If I tried to judge LI towns on what they did decades ago, I'm not sure any of us would live on this island.

[AlexisT]

It isn't "living in the past" when it happened in recent memory and when people who were active in enforcing that policy still live there, or chose it because it didn't have Jews in it.

Frankly, your attitude comes off as dismissive of the very real and serious discrimination that members of my family faced. How could I look my grandmother in the eye, when she knows people who were turned away from GC and places like it?

[llama8]

Originally Posted by azzurrony

Alexis,

That's fine. You can choose to live in the past. But it is 2009 now. How many of us young families were even around at the time or in NY for that matter? A great many families come to Garden City from Europe and other parts of the US because it is such a nice town to live in. Surely, you aren't trying to tie them to GC's past?
If we had no Jewish presence in the town, that would be one thing. But, a 102 family Synagogue is not bad at all. That still bigger than a number of our other churches in town (including Protestant ones). I guess the Protestants were abused back in the day as well

My recommendation...stop living in the past. If I tried to judge LI towns on what they did decades ago, I'm not sure any of us would live on this island.

I totally agree with you that many people on this board "live in the past". I live in Levittown and have to hear about how "inferior" the town and schools were in the 1980's when it is no longer so. People can't let go of old stereotypes.

I don't think people are necessarily saying that Garden City is unwelcoming, but is not really diverse...meaning someone who is black or Jewish may not feel comforable there.

I also don't think that the GC police are corrupt, but I only went to Adelphi 6 years ago, and so many minority students and professors were stopped and interrogated by the police as to their reasons for driving through GC. We even has a discussion about it in sociology class.

I do think you made some good points, but I do believe that people may feel discrimination that you were not subjected to.

[LIOC]

I would be happy if I could just get by without being stopped by the GCPD every 6-12 months to be asked "Where I am headed?" while having my plates ran. This is on the way to and from work. I'm dressed in business casual cloths (not "thugged out" as some would have assumed)

I got a seat belt ticket once, and for a place with such a low minority population there sure were a lot paying off tickets.

But never mind we are all just making it up.

[azzurrony]

LIOC

My neighbor and I in Garden City are white. He's been busted for seat belts by GCPD already once. I've been busted for not cleaning the snow off my walkway.

The GCPD are anal. Tell me something I don't know. That's how they keep the town like Mayberry.

[azzurrony]

AlexisT

There were many towns in Long Island a few decades back (GC included) that would have shunned Italians. We were Moderator cut: ethnic slurs not acceptable to them back then.

Now, GC is 30% Italian and I chose to live there. How sad would it be for me as a child of Italian immigrants to be living in the past and judging a wonderful town today because of its past sins?

I'm not asking you to move to GC and disrespect your grandmother. I'm just saying that the GC of today is not the GC of 2 generations ago. Jews have nothing to worry about in GC in my opinion. Jewish families could make a good life there today if they so choose.

[S.I.B.]

Originally Posted by LIOC

I would be happy if I could just get by without being stopped by the GCPD every 6-12 months to be asked "Where I am headed?" while having my plates ran. This is on the way to and from work. I'm dressed in business casual cloths (not "thugged out" as some would have assumed)

I got a seat belt ticket once, and for a place with such a low minority population there sure were a lot paying off tickets.

But never mind we are all just making it up.

just out of curiosity, on what specific roads do you get pulled over on?

[azzurrony]

Hempstead is directly to the south of GC. It's about 87% Black, Hispanic, and mixed race.

Now, if someone can show me that the % of minorities being pulled over by GCPD is higher than the % of minorities living around GC and driving through its roads, then we may be onto something. If not, I'm not seeing the bias.

If 60% of the people driving up Clinton from Hempstead to Roosevelt Field are black, and of the people pulled over by GCPD, 60% of them are black, I see nothing wrong with that. It is simple statistics and probability.

Now if 10% of the people driving on a given road are black, and 60% of the people pulled over are black, you have a problem.

We need more info before we can make judgements.

[TheTruth08]

Originally Posted by DonnaReed

The N word is used by kids of all races in different ways and "stupid behavior" has nothing to do with race.

Unfortunately, in some cases, it has little to do with parenting as well.

I suppose we've all engaged in some stupid behaviors in our lives; it's called living and learning as imperfect human beings.

It's preposterous that you think if your kids don't attend school with a majority of Black students, or if they attend school with only a handful of Black students, that will prevent them from "stupid" behavior; which I would translate to behaviors ranging from silly, uncalled for, or unwise to reckless and/or downright destructive.

I'd venture that parents with negative feelings about themselves their heritage and culture who consciously or unconsciously pass negativity and misinformation on to their children about themselves run a higher risk of ending up with the most negatively behaving kids of all.

Whereas parents who are knowledgeable, aware, proud and confident can instill those positive characteristics in their children.

Which still doesn't prevent kids from acting "stupid" sometimes or adults for that matter.

I can tell you that as I've taught, I've studied children/teens in predominantly Black schools, predominantly white schools, diverse schools, and sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but "stupid kid behavior" takes place in all three.

The levels and incidents of negative behavior overall is largely influenced by individual personalities, personal issues (and lack thereof) parental role models, positive parental involvement, the enforcement of rules for strict adherence and the consequences for negative behavior via the school and/or parents.

Oh ok. Thanks for the much needed reality check. I can be quite hateful sometimes on my own heritage, and honestly neither my friends nor I understand why I'm like that. But I don't want to keep this topic from going off topic.

[Dee62]

An original by AlexisT

azzurony, GC's anti-Semitism goes back decades. They can't refuse to sell to Jews any more, but they used to, and it was in my lifetime that it changed. You want to ignore the nasty history of your area, go ahead. Most Jews on LI know it and won't move there.

BTW, Garden City Jewish Center has only 102 families, which makes it one of the smaller congregations in the area. As a Reform synagogue, it will also draw congregants from a wider area, not just GC.

Why almost 50% percent of Garden City's population is Jewish. There are lots of Dual practicing Jewish-Christian Families in Garden City. And ya know these Dual Jew-Christians are the Biggist Biggots that you will find anywhere! These fools hate their Jewish identity so much that they have converted to that so-called Protestant community Church on Stewart and Whitehall blvds.