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Pittsburgh? That's a great idea -- if I can't find "reasonable" accommodations here I may just take my savings and pack off to Pittsburgh, then: it's a college town, they're cheap and no natural disasters, and there's gonna be a need for Big Data and A.I. workers there (which is what I'd do, learning it on my own through the free resources online while living off savings for like a year)....
S-c-r-3-w this town, then; I may just go off to the Pittsburgh forum now!! XD
Pittsburgh is a great city with lots of friendly people.
Pittsburgh is a great city with lots of friendly people.
Super -- another vote for Iron City! (See, I'm already doin' my research...!)
Though I gotta say, NYC's lotsa friendlies, too (why, just check out this forum!) -- it's just that maybe the stressed-out abound here more, "masking" all the friendlies (since it makes more evolutionary sense for our nature to remember the negative than the positive)....
Anyway, I'm really stoked on The 'Burgh now!! The city's committed to autonomous driving which means A.I. which all means Big Data and I think there may be a place for a middle-aged college dropout like me there given the cheap rents and free online resources today....
My aunt used to live in Far Rockaway back in the 60's and 70's. She said it was nice back then, but her and her husband later bought a home in Upstate NY. They later returned to visit, but said the area had changed drastically. (I guess like everything else in NYC)
The original landlords of the bungalows in Rockaway created slums out of the bungalow areas by putting homeless people in them back in the early 1950s. These bungalows were not winterized. As the allure of spending summers in the Rockaways faded due to the Hamptons, the landlords winterized them for year-round use. The proximity and close spacing of the bungalows created slum-like conditions and many fires broke out, often they jumped from one bungalow to another because they were built so close together. The city stepped in, demolished the bungalows, and put NYCHA on their former grounds. This is true for Hammel, Carleton Manor and Redfern Houses, Beach 41st, Edgemere and Arverne Houses were built on former vacant land.
The city also started the Arverne Urban Renewal project in 1964, in which the remaining bungalows from Beach 32nd Street to Beach 84th Street south of the A train tracks were demolished. Today, Beach 56th Place to Beach 32nd Street still remains vacant except for 1 building (there was a synagogue on Beach 67th Street, but it burned down in 1999), PS 106, at 180 Beach 35th Street (I attended kindergarten through 5th grade here).
Ocean Village, originally intended to be a middle income housing complex was built in 1974. It spans from Beach 56th Place to Beach 59th Street, south of the A train tracks. The complex was supposed to be much larger than this, however rumor has it that a large fire occurred in some NYCHA complex in Brooklyn, and the displaced families were sent to OV. I never got the correlation between moving the families and why they did not build OV to its full scale, but I believe this had to do with NYC's fiscal crisis in the 1970s. This is why some addresses in OV have a Shore Front Parkway address but Shore Front Parkway is nowhere near OV if you look on a map. Confusing as hell for those not from the area using their GPS. Also explains why the complex has a high crime rate, because of the displacement.
Originally the NYCHA in Rockaway was not bad, but then the city started sending their worst NYCHA cases out to Far Rock, in fact Rockaway was called the "Siberia of NYCHA." This started occurring in the late 1960s - early 1970s, and by the late 1970s, Far Rock was transformed into the highest crime neighborhood in Queens, and one of the highest crime neighborhoods in the city. So one might find if they trace family far back enough, the original tenants living in some Rockaway NYCHA most likely came from another NYCHA development in the city.
So thats Far Rock in a nutshell, but today we are experiencing slow gentrification, namely in the Beach 90s (our restaurant row), and the city just approved the re-zoning of Mott Avenue, the library on Mott Avenue is being renovated and it will soon be a 2 story all glass building, so my hood is changing, and I believe I deserve to see the end result.
*fin*
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
Wow thanks for that historical description. My aunt did tell me about the projects, etc, but not much else. Her and her husband were just overall tired of NYC in its decayed state back during the mid 70's and forward, hence the reason they've moved.
Whenever I talk with them, they still think NYC looks like it did back in the 70's. My uncle was a yellow cab driver who grew up in Lexington avenue - uptown - around that area, and he's also seen a lot, and thinks NYC is still in its decayed state. But they're both in their mid 70's so there is no convincing otherwise
Wow thanks for that historical description. My aunt did tell me about the projects, etc, but not much else. Her and her husband were just overall tired of NYC in its decayed state back during the mid 70's and forward, hence the reason they've moved.
Whenever I talk with them, they still think NYC looks like it did back in the 70's. My uncle was a yellow cab driver who grew up in Lexington avenue - uptown - around that area, and he's also seen a lot, and thinks NYC is still in its decayed state. But they're both in their mid 70's so there is no convincing otherwise
You're welcome. Your aunt and uncle lived in the projects? If so, do you know which one?
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
Yeah I literally watched this happen in front of my eyes. They have 5 bedroom apartments in there for $2500 now. That's OV, I've been in there plenty of times, before and after. Saw somebody get robbed at gunpoint once back when I was in high school, there used to be a pizzeria in the complex. I just kept eating my pizza while it happened.
You aunt and uncle lived in the projects? If so, which one?
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
I mean, worst case scenario is I'm late to work. It's part of taking in stride of where I live. Just like how those who live in Long Island have to frequently worry about LIRR cancellations - even when the weather's fine. Plus I have the SBS 52 bus now which runs down Cross Bay and Woodhaven, and it stops right on my block, so it's not like I'm completely isolated, I always had the 22 to the 35 to the 2 train if I was in real dire straits. It's all relative. If I wanted to live a life free of natural disasters, I would move to Pittsburgh, which is the biggest city in the US that experiences the least amount of natural disasters due to its location. Plus its cheap out here, and I have always strived to keep my housing costs as low as possible, because the prices keep going up, and why bother to be in a location that I have to worry about getting priced out of in 10 years. You play the rat race, and get promotions and raises for what, it all keeps going up anyway....
From a C-D perspective, I don't even know of any other regular posters from Far Rockaway on here...
Am here to tell you, could *not* pay me to take the A train that long every day. The transportation options down there stink. At least there's the ferry now, but that only takes you Downtown and the express buses only seem to run during rush hour. Outside of rush hour the closest thing to a one seat ride if you work in Midtown and aren't near the A train is perhaps the QM15, but that ends up by Lindenwood/Howard Beach. Guess those with money over in Neponsit must just drive if they don't want to deal with the QM16. Cannot see those folks taking the subway all the way to Midtown.
Am here to tell you, could *not* pay me to take the A train that long every day. The transportation options down there stink. At least there's the ferry now, but that only takes you Downtown and the express buses only seem to run during rush hour. Outside of rush hour the closest thing to a one seat ride if you work in Midtown and aren't near the A train is perhaps the QM15, but that ends up by Lindenwood/Howard Beach. Guess those with money over in Neponsit must just drive if they don't want to deal with the QM16. Cannot see those folks taking the subway all the way to Midtown.
Some people can't stand long commutes, I don't advocate doing something that one would not be comfortable with. Plus I don't work in Midtown.
Most people living in Neponsit don't work in Midtown anyway.
NYC as a whole sucks for commuting IMO, the city is huge, and there are just some places in the city where it takes a long time to get to Midtown no matter what.
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
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interesting documentary
