friends staying in East NY - what advice would you have given? (New York: hotel, transfer)

[Henna]

Wow- I am really glad, then, that the other family member forced them to move to another hotel, though I found out late last night that they had already made that decision themselves. Also, I discovered after the fact that when they called me they were not actually still at the hotel; they had checked in, parked their car, left their bags in the room and then walked to the subway and headed to Manhattan.

They felt so uneasy after all that and after hearing me say that it's the worse neighborhood in Brooklyn (and also worried about their car, which was in an unprotected parking lot in the back of the hotel) that from Manhattan they took the L train to Bedford Ave and got a car service back to the hotel, checked out - and yes, they forfeited their $169 - and drove into Manhattan and parked in a garage there. And later that night found a different hotel and paid again.

I think after hearing these responses that I gave them the wrong advice, and can only just imagine how I would have felt if something happened to them there after telling them they could just stay there as long as they took cabs at night.

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by Henna

Some friends, a couple from out of town, decided at the last minute to visit NYC - had concert tickets for tonight. Last night they went online and (without consulting me) booked a hotel room for $169 a night. Today I get a call after they arrive at the hotel: hi Henna, could you check this address on google maps and tell us if we are in a safe area? It doesn't look good, and there are 5 cops stationed outside the door.

anyway, I look up the address on Atlantic Ave and it is the Quality Inn in EAST NEW YORK. I am not exactly the expert on this area as the closest I've gotten is transferring trains within the station at Broadway Junction, but I told her it's one of the worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn. I told her she could go ahead and stay there with her husband, but not to take the subway back there at night. I told her she had to take a cab, and not to tell the cab the address she wanted to go to until after she's in the cab.

A few hours later I get a call from a family member who also knows this couple and she told me that my advice had been superceded and that the couple was told to check out of the hotel and go to a hotel in NJ.

So, what would you have done? This is a couple in their early 30s who are not street smart but do live in another (smaller) urban area. And they were planning to stay just for 2 nights. I really didn't see how much trouble they could get into if they were planning to take cabs after dark. during the day to get to the subway there was about a block and a half walk to the station.

It's funny because I have another friend who lived in a war zone til less than 2 years ago and sometimes he misses the danger and his Kalashnikov rifle, which obviously he doesn't own anymore. He asked me to take him to a bad area, and I thought of East NY but never told him about it cause I didn't want him to get in trouble of any sort, including the kind that would land him in jail.

I'm sure its cheap, but could they have picked a worse place to stay in the city.

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by SuperMario

Honestly, I was on Atlantic ave a few years ago....in a neighborhood with a lot of residential homes.....close to the Broadway Junction train station....so that I assume it was East NY. I was not intimidated in the least. The Bronx, with all the tenement buildings and loiterers I found much worse. That area looked like the friggin suburbs! Maybe ENY has a nice area and I lucked out, but I cant imagine it being as bad as ya'll make it out to be.

As for the murders in the precinct....the 75th is by far the largest precinct. As a result ENY will always be on top with murders. The 46th gets around 20 year in and year out.....and this is with the smallest area coverage of any precinct. Even though the 46th is very populated...had it the 70,000 more people like ENY...it would be 40 murders yearly.

As per the 2007 crime map.....East NY had the same crime rate as Fordham, yet I see nobody talking about Fordham like that (Fordham is in the 46th).

Dude you haven't really been in East New York. That's one of the "nicer," parts so you can imagine. Plus East New York has less people than Fordham yet has the same crime rate, there you go manipulating stats again. You seem obsessed with claiming your stomping grounds as the worst parts of the city.

[SuperMario]

Originally Posted by NooYowkur81

Dude you haven't really been in East New York. That's one of the "nicer," parts so you can imagine. Plus East New York has less people than Fordham yet has the same crime rate, there you go manipulating stats again. You seem obsessed with claiming your stomping grounds as the worst parts of the city.

Where do you get the population from?

If you go by precinct population (community districts)....then the 46th has about 125,000....this includes 3 other neighborhoods other than Fordham...still has less than ENY population of about 195,000....

I would guess Fordham by itself is around 40,000....

I have stated numerous time that I wouldn't be caught dead in Brooklyn....the ghettos there are the worst in the city. Plus when I say Fordham...im talking about Walton to Marion.....that is not my "area"...

Also I think that the more people....the more crime you need just to get the crime rate high...more people can skew stats if you have alot of them in nice hoods....case point NYC...

[NooYowkur81]

Well I mispoke, I meant to say Fordham is way more dense than East New York. ENY is more spread out. You would think ENY would have less crime, goes to show you, how crappy an area it is.

[SuperMario]

Originally Posted by NooYowkur81

Well I mispoke, I meant to say Fordham is way more dense than East New York. ENY is more spread out. You would think ENY would have less crime, goes to show you, how crappy an area it is.

I guess I'll take your word for it. A lot of people here make ENY out to be absolute hell. Since I was in the "good part"..I cant agree or disagree with the assessment. ENY must be really bad tough, if the majority residential homes neighborhood is able to outpace hundreds of poor people in building hoods.

It is extremely spread out though.

[dcuper1]

The main problem is that cabs from Manhattan don't go to Brooklyn. I was sick one day and wanted to go home by cab from Manhattan to Brooklyn and after stopping 5 different cabs none of them would take me home.

[Henna]

Originally Posted by dcuper1

The main problem is that cabs from Manhattan don't go to Brooklyn. I was sick one day and wanted to go home by cab from Manhattan to Brooklyn and after stopping 5 different cabs none of them would take me home.

Are you saying that you got in the cab, closed the door, told them your destination and they told you to leave the cab?

If you're standing outside the cab asking them if they will take you to Brooklyn, it's pretty easy for them to just drive away.

One solution (once you're in the cab and they refuse to take you) I heard was to say, ok, then, let me just continue to sit here in the back of your cab for a moment while I call 311 (or whatever is the appropriate number) to file a report about you, because what you're doing is illegal.

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by SuperMario

I guess I'll take your word for it. A lot of people here make ENY out to be absolute hell. Since I was in the "good part"..I cant agree or disagree with the assessment. ENY must be really bad tough, if the majority residential homes neighborhood is able to outpace hundreds of poor people in building hoods.

It is extremely spread out though.

ENY is absolute hell trust me. its not to be taken lightly...there are some sections that are downright dangerous to be in, day or night.

[cf77]

Super Mario, why is it that in every post your in you feel the need to compair everytihng to the Bronx? I realize you live there so you know about it but whats the deal with throwing in murder rates in every post and how hood an area is? We all get it, yes theirs some pretty rough spots in the Bronx its no secret, im familiar with a few. Theres no need to constantly point it out in every post. And yes East NY is a very rough spot. If you think Fordam is rougher thats your opinion.