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Bronx Neighborhood Reviews by Bronx Residents
Excludes those who have never even been to the Bronx or has only experienced it through media.
Post your Bronx Neighborhood Reviews here. Please be descriptive: Safety, transportation, housing, parks, local events, demographics, income, community pros & cons, etc. Feel free to add photos too!
The best areas in the Bronx are the 45th, 49th, and 50th precincts.
In the 45th, only areas to avoid are near the Throgs Neck Houses. Also Co-op City is kind of ghetto. They have their moments. The rest is decent, although things do happen.
In the 49th, Try to stay as far to the east as possible. Pelham Parkway to the west can be shady at night and White Plains Road is a robbery hotspot. There are also a lot of gangs from A.B.I. to Latin Kings. Allerton to the west just north of Pelham Parkway is also not too great, similar to Pelham Parkway but less Albanians, more Latinos. Van Nest is pretty Mod cut these days. Also stay away from the housing projects (there are a few in the area, mainly around White Plains Road, also some HUD buildings in that same area).
In the 50th precinct, stay away from the Marble Hill Houses. Kingsbridge Heights also isn't too great except for a small pocket, north of the reservoir.
Oh and one exception is Woodlawn, it is part of the 47th precinct (a high crime precinct). However it is divided from the rest of the 47th precinct area by a highway and a river. Very isolated. Things happen like some kid got shot the other day but this is the Bronx what do you expect. It's a world of difference compared to the other neighborhoods in the 47 though. Decent area.
Up until a few years ago, the neighborhood was just another neighborhood in the city that people forget about. The name Van Cortlandt Village was abandoned years prior as the old residents of the neighborhood started to die out and Kingsbridge Heights was being used more often. Around 2003, real estate folks started bringing the name back, and it's popular now.
Transportation is pretty good. The BX1, BX2, and BX10 run through the area. Additionally, the BXM3 which takes you to Midtown in 25-40 minutes runs through, too. The 1 subway station is but a five minute BX10 bus ride or a ten minute walk away. The 4 Subway station is a five minute walk up the hill and to the east or 1/2 bus ride for even less time.
The neighborhood is extremely safe, which is quite surpising considering the tracey towers, right northeast of the neighborhood, is having a lot of problems with gang activity, as are areas 10 minutes south of the community.
I'd say the residents range from lower-middle class to upper-middle class, depending where in the neighborhood you are.
Demographically, Jews and Irish were the vast majority of the neighborhood up until the mid 90s, when they all started to die off (most were old). Some younger residents stayed, but more than 25% must have moved away. This left the population at 1/3 White, 1/3 Black, and 1/3 Hispanic. Up until about three years ago, the White population was on a steady decline, and Hispanics were growing. Recently, however, Whites have again become the majority as middle class Whites being priced out of Manhattan and looking to raise a family are moving here. And not just one or two large familys. I'd say 3/4 of the newcomers in the neighborhood are from Manhattan. So recently, the number of white teens and kids has grown largely, and 20-30 aged whites are larger now than they've been in at least two decades. Still, Hispanics are growing too, at a bit of a smaller rate, but a rate no less, creating some nice diversity for the area. I've been seeing more gay couples in the community too. Saw two last week. I assume they're from Manhattan, as well.
There really isn't much going on here. There are three parks in the area, one owned by the amalgamated folks that is where the young kids spend there time. There is a library, Albanian pizzeria, Chinese restaurant, bank, C-Town, bodega, pharmacy, 99 cents store (also owned by Albanians), glasses store and synogauge, all located on two blocks across the street from each other on Sedgwick Avenue. The trees and proximity to Manhattan are what is attracting ex-Manhattanites, here. It's like a quieter, more affordable part of Manhattan to some.
During commuting hours, the blocks are pretty busy with the vast majority of residents commuting to Manhattan and back from their jobs.
Also, I live here and thus the neighborhood is three times as good as I describe it to be.
47th area is a big area..i never been to woodlawn a day in my life but from what people are saying on here its high class.all i know is around my section of the 47th precinct is gang infested(bloods out numbering anything) .while the neighborhood is not as bad as it was during the 90s i wouldnt exxagerate to somebody & say its completely safe
I honestly feel that there is no "safe" areas in the bronx. Bronx is the poorest borough that's telling you something. I hate the south bronx. Too many freaking people, noise, hanging out, etc. Not my kind of crowd. I live in the Baychester area it's decent but iI see too many hoodlums moving over there. As long you have section 8 and projects and low-income housing, the area is going to be bad. Those people "don't" value anything. They don't pay much or don't pay at all. These people live like dogs. They won't clean up. They have all kind of company hanging. They just don't value anything. That is why neighborhoods go down
I honestly feel that there is no "safe" areas in the bronx. Bronx is the poorest borough that's telling you something. I hate the south bronx. Too many freaking people, noise, hanging out, etc. Not my kind of crowd. I live in the Baychester area it's decent but iI see too many hoodlums moving over there. As long you have section 8 and projects and low-income housing, the area is going to be bad. Those people "don't" value anything. They don't pay much or don't pay at all. These people live like dogs. They won't clean up. They have all kind of company hanging. They just don't value anything. That is why neighborhoods go down
There is no safe area anywere in this city for that matter, in some instances you can expect the unexpected and expect the expected. This is new york and, there always be aware of your surrondings and put your ipod volume on low. Baychester is bad too, I remember the rivalry between section 5 and valley some years back, and constant fighting between jamaican and african american gangs in that area. Hopefully the really state boom in baychester can change the character of that niegborhood!
There is no safe area anywere in this city for that matter, in some instances you can expect the unexpected and expect the expected. This is new york and, there always be aware of your surrondings and put your ipod volume on low. Baychester is bad too, I remember the rivalry between section 5 and valley some years back, and constant fighting between jamaican and african american gangs in that area. Hopefully the really state boom in baychester can change the character of that niegborhood!
There's going to be friction everywhere. There is no utopia. Baychester will only be but so "bad". The per capita income is relatively high for Bx, and a lot of people are moderate/middle classed. It doesn't help that some of the kids buy into the wannabe thug culture, but that's here and there. Gangs are everywhere, too.
I honestly feel that there is no "safe" areas in the bronx. Bronx is the poorest borough that's telling you something. I hate the south bronx. Too many freaking people, noise, hanging out, etc. Not my kind of crowd. I live in the Baychester area it's decent but iI see too many hoodlums moving over there. As long you have section 8 and projects and low-income housing, the area is going to be bad. Those people "don't" value anything. They don't pay much or don't pay at all. These people live like dogs. They won't clean up. They have all kind of company hanging. They just don't value anything. That is why neighborhoods go down
To a certain degree I agree with you however I do think there are some safe areas of the Bronx as well.
The Bronx being the poorest borough is the reason why you see a lot of thugs, hoodlums, hood rats and loud people in the Bronx. And the majority do live like dogs which pisses me off because all that does is deter people with a higher living standard from moving into the Bronx. These ghetto residents in the Bronx live by a lower standard than the rest of us who are educated and work for a living.
This behavior is what you call a "ghetto" lifestyle or "ghetto" culture that's a cancer to the Bronx and that I hate with a passion being a native Bronxite who wants the best for the borough. I've always complain about that on other threads because I KNOW that these "ghetto" people are the ones holding back the Bronx from prospering since there are soooooo many of them concentrated in the Bronx. They out number any other class in the Bronx.
And this is why in other posts I've said that I would love to see more affluent people and/or Yuppies move into the Bronx to help diversify the borough so that it is NOT predominately known as a poor/low-income borough because having such a reputation of it being the poorest borough will only scare away or deter classier people with high living standards from moving into the Bronx. And we can't allow that to happen if you want the Bronx to prosper.
It is unfortunate that you are disappointed in the Bronx, but when the new census numbers come out, I suspect you will see the working/middle class population of the Bronx GROWING substantially, incomes rising, and becoming more diverse (socially/economically, etc), which are all GREAT signs that the future is bright and the Bronx has turned a corner. The Bronx is the poorest borough in the richest city in the country...and that ain't so bad!
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