Pros and cons of Howard Beach, Queens (New York, Hamilton: co-ops, houses)
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Pros-
Primarily Italian American
Safe neighborhood, probably the safest of all of South Queens
Very Suburban
Very Clean
Plenty of Parking
Decent Schools
Cross Bay Blvd is a decent commercial strip
Cons-
Airplane noise, neighborhood is right by JFK
Neighborhood was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy a few years ago
Neighborhood has a history of not being very friendly towards Blacks
I use to live nearby in Ozone Park and still work in Howard Beach a few days a week so I know the area very well.
Pros-
Primarily Italian American
Safe neighborhood, probably the safest of all of South Queens
Very Suburban
Very Clean
Plenty of Parking
Decent Schools
Cross Bay Blvd is a decent commercial strip
Cons-
Airplane noise, neighborhood is right by JFK
Neighborhood was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy a few years ago
Neighborhood has a history of not being very friendly towards Blacks
I use to live nearby in Ozone Park and still work in Howard Beach a few days a week so I know the area very well.
I found it interesting, in exploring Howard Beach and vicinity while in possession of a rented car, that it is a remote part of Queens (the far southeastern corner of Queens), just like Douglaston and Little Neck and Bayside are the most remote parts of Queens in its northeastern corner . . . and yetHoward Beach has its own MTA subway station. So 24/7/365, you can be situated virtually anywhere in the greater New York City CMSA region and, at any hour of day or night where you can get access to a subway station (or else first a commuter rail or bus & then get on the subway, if need be), you can get back to Howard Beach wholly by public transit. That is, you can prospectively leave your car behind (if you even have a car) depending on where you live in the Howard Beach area and then prospectively walk home from the Howard Beach subway station. Imagine Bayside or Douglaston or Little Neck having MBTA subway service (though they do all have LIRR service and the LIRR does operate 24/7/365 as well).
And I've seen a host of photographs on the web of very lovely housing stretches and developments in Howard Beach. Very clean and well kept. A nice suburban-like residential ambience. And also found good and useful shopping and places to eat around there.
The commercialization of Cross Bay Boulevard in recent years has led to minorities having a more visual presence in the area - but I don't think blacks and Hispanics are running to buy houses over there just yet. When I was in college in the early 2000s my bank at the time had a branch on Cross Bay Boulevard - and your humble mod admittedly was nervous to drive over there to get money...but ur humble mod still went there and got his money ��������
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
Howard Beach has a beautiful location on the edge of New York Harbor.
And the subway station that an earlier poster was discussing is the gateway to JFK airport. So it's a beautiful station recently upgraded, with a connection to the monorail into the terminal. I was completely bowled over the first time I saw it by how beautiful the view is from the station. It looks out over salt marsh, and its on the edge of a nature preserve. So when you look out the window on the marsh side, that's what you see -- salt marsh.
Con: It's very low ground and many of the houses experienced flooding, even if they weren't that close to the water's edge. I was looking at a house nearly a mile from the water, and the realtor said that every house on that block had it's basement fill up when Sandy came. If you look at the NYC Evacuation map, all of Howard Beach is in Zone 1.
Today, I believe he's mainly referring to the fact that ENY is right next door. Historically, Italians were viewed as blacks when they immigrated to the US by WASP types. Italians have been even portrayed black in political cartoons. Think "A Bronx Tale" or any other mafia movie for better understanding in relationship between blacks and Italians. Italians didn't like this fact and disliked the blacks they were compared too and categorized with. As a result, tension exited and still exists today (think very segregated neighborhoods). If you ask me, Italians are more in tune with Spaniards then blacks. But wtf do I know, right? They can be whatever they want for all I care.
There were incidents that occured in 2005 and 2007. Granted the kid that got assaulted in 2005 deserved it but it was still racially motivated.
Trust me if I didn't bring up the neighborhoods past someone else would, likely someone who is black that resents the neighborhood. It has happened on this forum before in practically every Howard Beach/Broad Channel thread.
I don't hate Howard Beach and I actually really like the neighborhood and came close to moving there in 2007, but I'm not gonna deny reality. There's also a lot of racism towards black people in my area of Glendale/Middle Village too. It is what it is. Most of the people who reside in these communities probably aren't racist at all, but unfortunately that doesn't apply to everyone in them.
Lindenwood is usually considered to be part of Howard Beach as they all share the same zip code ( 11414 ). Of course, people from Rockwood Park and Old Howard likely deny this. Same goes for West Hamilton Beach.
There were incidents that occured in 2005 and 2007. Granted the kid that got assaulted in 2005 deserved it but it was still racially motivated.
Trust me if I didn't bring up the neighborhoods past someone else would, likely someone who is black that resents the neighborhood. It has happened on this forum before in practically every Howard Beach/Broad Channel thread.
I don't hate Howard Beach and I actually really like the neighborhood and came close to moving there in 2007, but I'm not gonna deny reality. There's also a lot of racism towards black people in my area of Glendale/Middle Village too. It is what it is. Most of the people who reside in these communities probably aren't racist at all, but unfortunately that doesn't apply to everyone in them.
Lindenwood is usually considered to be part of Howard Beach as they all share the same zip code ( 11414 ). Of course, people from Rockwood Park and Old Howard likely deny this. Same goes for West Hamilton Beach.
So if I were to use your methodology then whites should be very on alert entering predominately black areas? BTW what happen in 2007? I posted a link where 30-40 blacks from East NY came into the area and attacked whites. Five blacks were arrested but it never really gained any traction with the media.
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Beautiful Location on the edge of the water
