To those familiar w/Long Island, major differences in atmosphere betweee Rockville Cntre and Oceanside? (New York: crime, house prices)

[Mr.Momof3]

I know they are in very close proximity to one another. Are the schools better in one town than another? Demographics the same? Which has a quaint town feel that would be good for a family w/small children. Thanks

[hotkarl]

Neither is quaint that's for sure...
However, both are probabally equal as far as schools, crime and safety etc...
RVC is slightly more snobbish. Slightly.
As far as moving it's a coin toss really, they are very similar overall.

[Walter Greenspan]

Mr.Momof3, Rockville Centre is a self-governing village in the Town of Hempstead and Oceanside is a hamlet that is governed on an at-large basis by the Town of Hempstead.


In case you are unfamiliar with the local geography:

What people refer to colloquially as "towns" are actually villages and hamlets, which are within actual towns; and, because villages and hamlets are referred to as "towns", then, many times, the error is compounded when actual towns are referred to as "townships".

Also, many colloquially refer to a "downtown business district" in a hamlet as a "village".

http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...-glossary.html and http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html may be of some help to you in understanding the geography of "Lawn Guyland".

http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...you-think.html may help you understand the great geographic confusions caused by non-conforming ZIP Code postal zones.


You can get a fact sheet for any city, village or hamlet on Long Island by going here American FactFinder and input the name of the city, village or hamlet for "city/town" (leave out the ZIP Code) and New York for "State", and then click "GO".

You'll get a lot of demographic, and some economic, statistics for the city, village or hamlet you selected, and if you click on "Reference map" (it's on the right hand side), you'll get a map.


When you do find a house that you like, you can find out in which community (city, village or CDP) that house is actually located, which is oftentimes different from the community named in that house's mailing address, by using the Census Bureau's online address search function. (CDP or Census Designated Place is the Census Bureau equivalent for a hamlet in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.)

And, very importantly, among other things, the Census Bureau's online address search function also indicates in which school district an address is located.

[CoolaTroopa]

Rockville Centre is slightly more expensive.
Both are in a relatively grungy area of Long Island but both areas overall are safe.
Oceanside has more traffic.. that's for sure.
Do you definitely want to be on the South Shore?
You might find some better options.. giving what you're looking for.. on the North Shore.

I might be a little biased here but while it's definitely not a 'little town'- you'll find that Huntington has a lot of great options for a family with small children.
Syosset would be another recommendation. There are a lot of nice places out east which could be to your liking but if you have to commute- I wouldn't recommend it.

[hotkarl]

Yeah. Unless you like Queens, avoid this area. This whole neck of the woods is now an unofficial extension of Queens. Shame. Used to be real nice.

Traffic. Congestion. Arrogance. Self-centered residents and transients.
Just about every last inch of property has been developed, over developed.
Still, if you must have south-shore Nassau, it's not too bad.
Both school districts are very good for now.

[CoolaTroopa]

^
I know what you mean..
I actually spent some time thinking Valley Stream was part of Queens as a result!
When I was looking at places to move to, I was like.. wait.. so Green Acres Mall is not in Queens!?! Lol..
Everything on the South Shore west of Merrick isn't so great anymore..

[hotkarl]

West of Merrick? It's more like west of Islip...heh heh...

I grew up in Oceanside. In the 70's and 80's there was still a boatload of undeveloped property and vacant lots. Swamps and woods. It was cool. Now the only thing left is the backside of the dumps. And that'll get built on sooner or later too.
Stick a fork in Oceanside...it's done.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by Mr.Momof3

I know they are in very close proximity to one another. Are the schools better in one town than another? Demographics the same? Which has a quaint town feel that would be good for a family w/small children. Thanks

Is there anywhere in Nassau you can still describe as quaint?

Im not sure if theres anything quaint in Suffolk except for maybe the North Fork and even there the Land Rovers are moving in quick.

Crooks

[Mr.Momof3]

so I guess if I want quaint I should stick to Rockland or lower Westchester (but I like the beach! *sob*)...we'll see, thanks everyone. I thought I could find detached homes far from neighbors in Rock Centre, sounds like it's no different from the 5 boroughs.

[raiser]

Originally Posted by CoolaTroopa

Syosset would be another recommendation. There are a lot of nice places out east which could be to your liking but if you have to commute- I wouldn't recommend it.

I wouldn't consider Syosset quaint... its just as congested as south shore nassau. I personally like Rockville Centre, considering you have the cheaper utilities and if you are near the Links there are some very beautiful homes that have a nice feel to it. The main strip on Merrick and Sunrise is pretty congested but there are plenty of restaurants and stores to shop at. You just have to deal with parking meters everywhere. A lot of the people on this board are Nassau bashers... id rather have a 40 minute train ride into the city then a two hour ride from Port Jeff. Or a hour plus ride from Huntington.

I personally have been looking at South Hempstead which most of the area is zoned with RVC Schools. The house prices are cheaper and they don't have as many funky village rules as Rockville Centre.