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Not defensive, suspicious...who would say "bums as we call them"...everyone calls them bums. Strange manner of speaking..maybe you are just very old. The quality of life issues have been in Harlem for decades, and have been quite evident without having to live there. I mean really, a native would know that..but somehow you did not? Come now..
Not defensive, suspicious...who would say "bums as we call them"...everyone calls them bums. Strange manner of speaking..maybe you are just very old. The quality of life issues have been in Harlem for decades, and have been quite evident without having to live there. I mean really, a native would know that..but somehow you did not? Come now..
Born in 1979.
I bought the hype about Harlem, all safe now and all, it will be coming around ! I guess I bought the East Village comparison myself. I did see that firsthand. The crack smokers were removed, and suddenly. I did not realize how really hideous it would be living with litter and garbage everywhere and that people would become belligerent if you tried to get it cleaned up, for example. Too much hostility and violence in Harlem, random rage. I did not experience that downtown. And it is not really coming around, although the hype has increased even in the context of more shootings at mid-day. I am not alone in this experience - many natives moved here and have left in recently. We saw an opportunity that did not exist where we had lived most of our lives - to buy something, and not a shoe box.
By "we called them" I meant, people from the neighborhoods around. It is a totally different population there now and I feel this keenly. None of us can afford to live there, families have died, etc.
Harlem IMO has a very bright future and could be the community with the most upside in all of Manhattan. The housing stock is stellar, still relatively affordable, and we have a global population descending on the area, with a substantial amount of development now and coming online.
Crime has declined, amenities have increased 10 fold easily, and the quality of the amenities are 1000x better than 10 years ago. Is it perfect? Nope. Is it getting better..I say a resounding YES. However if you don't feel comfortable there, then that is reason enough to leave. Where are you moving to?
Harlem IMO has a very bright future and could be the community with the most upside in all of Manhattan. The housing stock is stellar, still relatively affordable, and we have a global population descending on the area, with a substantial amount of development now and coming online.
Crime has declined, amenities have increased 10 fold easily, and the quality of the amenities are 1000x better than 10 years ago. Is it perfect? Nope. Is it getting better..I say a resounding YES. However if you don't feel comfortable there, then that is reason enough to leave. Where are you moving to?
Open to anywhere, really, but we are thinking Gramercy or Murray Hill. In the end, depending what we see, we may decide to stay ! We do not want to live in a significantly substandard space, and great spaces are in the offing in Harlem. I feel less unsafe, precisely, than simply over the ghetto lifestyle, to put it bluntly. Few decent stores, most of the restaurants are truly substandard, except perhaps Lido and Bad Horse Pizza. Will they pick up ? I mean ... maybe ?
I do not disagree with you about the potential, not at all. The problems are discouraging, however, the crime worse than the media covers or admits. We see things all of the time. Early Friday evening, it was a very distraught woman on FDB whose belongings had been snatched. The other day, it was a woman on the subway platform - same thing. In so-called Manhattanville, it is hordes of destructive adolescents roaming the streets at night and harassing people while they strew garbage and fight.
When Christopher St, or anywhere else in this city start seeing this type of behavior, then we will have something to be concerned about. This is the type of rogue teen/thug behavior you are referring to, and not what we see here anywhere in the city.
"London’s deputy mayor in charge of policing, Kit Malthouse, said that these were young people “intent on violence, who are looking for the opportunity to steal and set fire to buildings and create a sense of mayhem, whether they’re anarchists or part of organized gangs or just feral youth, frankly, who fancy a new pair of trainers.”
When Christopher St, or anywhere else in this city start seeing this type of behavior, then we will have something to be concerned about. This is the type of rogue teen/thug behavior you are referring to, and not what we see here anywhere in the city.
I don't really see in the UES or UWS like i see it in Harlem and Washington Heights. The poorer areas have a high concentration of it while the rich areas have a sesame street version of it.
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