Anyone go to Orchard Beach for the salsa shows?

[quelinda]

Originally Posted by crisp444

Speaking of live music, did you guys know that Victor Manuelle is being feautured in Summer Stage this Sunday at Central Park? The show is free and is from 3-7 PM. I will be there!

I love VM! Thanks for the info! I've been so focused on my baby's birthday party today that I didn't know anything about it.

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by apvbguy

the thing that you don't get is that in 80% of the country people are not like this, and few white people are afflicted with the ghetto syndrome.
In fact most educated people, regardless of race, DO NOT act like the ghetto people found in NY and other places.
you can find many places all across the country that are quite ghetto and in those area you get the same types of thugs, gang banger wannabes, and other "undesirables" but they are almost always confined to the bad areas.
The only reason NYC has become such a city is because like most of the urban areas in the US the whites have run away from living anywhere near the ghettos, in NY's case this is a fairly recent event. NY is actually somewhat unique in the fact that pockets of affluence and even middle classes remain. In many urban areas the only people who remain living there are the poor people.

I think Guy was referring to trailer trash and "white trash." A large and often ignored group, that last time I checked, was generally looked upon very poorly in this society. I mean for godsakes, people call them "white trash."

[crisp444]

There was a good showing at the Victor Manuelle concert today in Central Park. I wish SuperMario had been there to witness all of the PR flags!!

[mead]

huh? What section of the UES was Irish within the last couple of decades? Are we talking about Inwood or Morningside Heights?

Originally Posted by quelinda

People who act "ghetto" are usually people FROM A GHETTO. A ghetto is a place where poor people live, and often due to their economic situation, many will act a "certain way" that some of you dont like. I grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood on the upper east side. This was definitely a WHITE GHETTO. These people lived in an area that was becoming "rich" but back in the 80's the upper east side was pretty hardcore depending on where you went. I know several of these WHITE PEOPLE who are now DEAD from heroin and other heavy drug use (the popular ones in our hood were heroin, crack and angel dust). Back then so many young people died of "cancer", well that was code around our hood for AIDS. These WHITE MEN all went to prison on and off on a regular basis. They were tough..they ran the phones at Rikers Island, they served 4 to 5 years in upstate prisons by age 22. They "taxed" (meaning robbed) the black guys selling nickel bags in the park at 68th street with steak knives. They walked out of grocery stores with several hundred dollars of groceries/beer in broad day light and no one from the store dared try to stop them. This was a tough group, many on drugs and very criminal in their behavior. AND THEY WERE ALL WHITE.

Back then these people had the benefit of getting into unions controlled by Irish-Americans, NO blacks and Puerto Ricans WELCOME. So they even had a better shot at a decent living. Times have changed a lot and people's opportunities have increased, but keep in mind that people GENERALLY are a product of their environment. COINCIDENTALLY, white people in this country happen to be doing a lot better financially hence there are far less white ghettos. BUT EVER HEARD OF A TRAILER PARK???? I can only imagine what goes on in there. Yeah, poor people act up. SO LET'S REALIZE THIS BEHAVIOR IS ABOUT POVERTY, NOT COLOR. And of course, the majority of poor people do NOT act up. By the way, lots of better off people engage in criminal behavior too when it comes to drugs, drinking and driving etc but they just dont get caught (they are not profiled and stopped like people of color, a fact admitted to by our very own government). However, a better off person will obviously not resort to theft or selling drugs as usually they will have other easier options.

[quelinda]

I'm talking about Yorkville, which goes from the high 60's to the low 90's on the far East side. There were thousands of Irish-Americans there in the 1980s to mid 1990s when I was growing up. Many of them probably still live in the Stanley-Isaacs projects on First Ave between 92nd street and 96th street. You will note high rise doormen buildings across the street and around the projects where tenements once stood. The Irish went all the way to 96th street from York Ave to Third Ave. Also tons of them in the middle income buildings called Ruperts Towers around Second and Third Avenues in the 90s. We used to hang out across from the "gas station" (now a doorman building) on 90th and First. We also hung out in Carl Schultz Park (where Gracie Mansion is located) and we'd sneak over the fence and swim in the pool in the park at 77th and York. Some summer nights there would be over 50 kids swimming in that pool, all drunk and high. We also hung out in the arcade on 77th and First, until it closed down after a 19 year old guy who was the brother of my friend beat a "preppie" guy that my sister went to school with with a baseball bat on New Year's day while high on every drug you can think of. The next day he had no idea he had killed someone. He just got out of prison about 2 years ago. There were many corners that had thug white people hanging out on them, not unlike any "ghetto" nowadays. Back then people were very racist. On 90th the white people hung out on the East side of First Ave and the black kids, mostly there selling marijuana (and living in the Stanley-Isaacs houses), hung out on the opposite side of First Ave. We would "break on each other" on a regular basis, good natured bantering but with an underlying "stick to your own kind" mentality. It was a crazy neighborhood of people where everyone knew everyone. Anyone else remember it?