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Not this area of Queens. NYC has for the most part gotten a LOT safer, but this particular area hasn't.
I grew up and still live nearby. It's very different now from when it was when I was a kid. Pomonok which is nearby has gone EXTREMELY downhill. It used to be literally one of the best, if not the best, NYCHAs. Grass was manicured, people literally left their doors unlocked, they'd sit outside and talk, etc. It wasn't even like a NYCHA at all that's how wonderful and clean and safe it was. Now? It's a ****hole.
I used to cut through to get to Queens College. Not anymore.
Boy do we remember the good old days growing up near Pomonok too. I grew up in what is now known as Georgetown Mews. Right across the street. Lived there from 65-89. It was known as Campus Hall (named after Queens College sort of). Then when it went Co-op in 1986 the name changed to Georgetown Mews. But family stayed & so have many other people we know.
I used to walk through Pomonok too from Melbourne Ave to get to Jib Lanes all the time to go bowling in the 70's. Everything back then was gorgeous! Everyone always felt safe. My friends son was mugged once on his walk home from Queens College a few years back. And her son is big guy. So he fought the mugger off & won. He did get hurt but the mugger got hurt worse!
It was the people back then that made it great & kept it clean. The people living there now don't care. God forbid they get off their butts & collect garbage & clean up once in a while.
And you are so right! In those days it did not even resemble a housing project at all.
People out & about talking to each other. My best friends mom planted gardens there. They lived in the 3 story buildings in the nice courtyard on Kissena near Jewel. Hardly ever had to worry about locking the doors! Now they need more than 1 deadbolt added. So sad they let Pomonok go so bad.
I haven't been to Pomonok in years. But I've heard its definitely not what it used to be. Housing prolly shipped some of their worst cases there like they did to the Rockaways. Around 2009-2010, the crime was like super serious. Google Pomonok shootings, most of them happened around that time from 2009-2012. A rarity actually in these days in times to hear of a neighborhood in NYC getting worse....either they usually get better or stay the same.....
Yep. That timeline where it started going really bad is when they were forced to start only allowing minorities move in going forward. Thus drastically changing the demographics in a very short period of time. Seems like they did not even try to conceal the changes they were making. As it was happening so quickly. A few people we know that still live there said it felt like they just suddenly bused loads of people to move in there in just a few short weeks.
Now no one even feels safe going out after dark. People should not have to live like that. Even if they have to live in low priced rentals or projects like NYCHA. Kids should be able to feel safe & play outside & go to the park & stuff.
Waiting to hear from my friend that wrote a great article on this topic & followed the changes during the time period around 2009. They even made some videos.
I don't want to turn this into a race thing, though. But Pomonok is really like a clear case for why artificially "desegregating" a place doesn't work. You can't just practically bus in people from a different area/culture/socioeconomic background overnight and be like, "Okay here! Now live together!"
There have always been black people and minorities in Pomonok. It's Queens, for crying out loud. But the people who used to live in Pomonok back then and the people who live there now are like night and day. It used to be police officers, security guards, lunch ladies, municipal workers, firefighters, postal workers, etc. I'd be surprised now if under 80% of the people in Pomonok now are NOT on welfare without a job. It's literally like night and day.
They showed his video confession today! He claims he just wanted to rob her & had no intentions of raping here! That he just pushed her down the stairs! He then said he must have blacked out. And has no idea how her pants were pulled down. Guess he thought out that defense while he was on the run. He plead not guilty & details of his past came out.
Apparently he was arrested once but never did jail time for the crime. From same type of thing! Attacking a woman in Fordham Heights they said. The suspect even asked the judge for protective custody while incarcerated & the judge granted him that! He was already on probation from a similar crime! Repeat offender. Makes you wonder how many of these same crimes he did against females but was never caught! Suspect In Queens Sex Assault Set To Face Judge « CBS New York
I don't want to turn this into a race thing, though. But Pomonok is really like a clear case for why artificially "desegregating" a place doesn't work. You can't just practically bus in people from a different area/culture/socioeconomic background overnight and be like, "Okay here! Now live together!"
There have always been black people and minorities in Pomonok. It's Queens, for crying out loud. But the people who used to live in Pomonok back then and the people who live there now are like night and day. It used to be police officers, security guards, lunch ladies, municipal workers, firefighters, postal workers, etc. I'd be surprised now if under 80% of the people in Pomonok now are NOT on welfare without a job. It's literally like night and day.
In full disclosure I am a white female. To this day 3 of some of my closest friends that I grew up with in Pomonok & have known since at least 1970 when we were all just little kids. Are all black. We are still extremely connected to each other to this day almost 50 yrs later. But back then there were very few other black families living there at the time. If any even.
And you are right about that with the 80% probably relying completely on public assistance now there. Times have changed with that. And some many people these days on public assistance have more of an "entitlement" mind set. Thinking hey. The less we make & work the more freebies we can get. And the plan for them is to have more kids so they can get more $$ & food stamps. Then also qualify for a larger apt & more $$ with free housing voucher. Back in the older days people living in places like Pomonok were not like that at all. Most worked & paid their rent based on income. These days we see more & more people living in NYCHA that also have secondary housing program vouchers that pay the rent for them as well. And they do not work at all! This needs to be changed. Bug the heck out of me how they can just allow people to play the system like this.NYC has so many housing programs to help people. And trust me they take full advantage of it from what we are seeing.
It's disgusting and it feels like the higher ups decided to socially engineer or experimentvwith our neighborhood because they felt that it was somehow discriminatory because there were a lot of Jewish people here. Why couldn't they leave Pomonok alone? This neighborhood is ruined because of their policies. I don't care what color people they brought in, but whoever they brought in are pigs. There is a difference in being poor but classy and poor but dangerous.
Yeah. It's a shame. I only know Pomonok the way it is now so couldn't believe it when I first learned here that it was once a very nice place! Shame. And it's a reverse trend. Most areas are getting better or at least staying the same.
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