Is Jamaica, Queens an OK place to live? (Union, Liberty: real estate, crime rate)

[eek]

jamaica is pretty safe.

basically anything after 179th st, i wouldn't mess with. not for safety reasons but just because its harder to get around.

[Henna]

Check your school's resources before going the craigslist route. Perhaps they have guide to neighborhoods, or even if they are not going to send out info like that for liability reasons, there may be a student organization or online forums that discuss this. Many times graduating students will pass on apartments to incoming students (unofficially, not through the school office), and roommate situations are often done through on-campus resources as well.

This has been my experience in the past, but I don't know anything specifically about St. Johns.

[LINative]

In the Jamaica area anything NORTH of Hillside Avenue is pretty decent to very good (Jamaica Estates). Neighborhoods like Briarwood, Jamaica Hills, Jamaica Estates, Holliswood etc. St John's University is further north near Union Turnpike so Hillcrest would probably be a good neighborhood to check out.

In Jamaica Center (Downtown Jamaica), areas SOUTH of Hillside Avenue down to Jamaica Avenue are getting better IMHO. Not great yet but getting getter. The area near the new LIRR railroad station and shuttle to JFK airport may be changing in fact, I heard it is being rezoned for office buildings. Yet there is still alot of history with a colonial graveyard and King Manor. In fact the whole area is booming and I find it very interesting.

[scatman]

Jamaica pro......
1. Major transportation hub
2. Shopping options at Jamaica Center
3. St. John's, Jamaica Estates

Jamaica con......
1. Still a bit of hood on southside
2. Foreclosure capital of NYC
3. Far in the outerboroughs

[holden125]

Also check Kew Gardens Hills and Fresh Meadows. These areas are north of Union Tpk and generally nice. You'll need to check the transit to SJU and to NYC for city exploring purposes, but you can walk to SJU from much of Fresh Meadows w/o too much trouble.

[Pookie Jenkins]

Nothing wrong with Jamaica. It has a higher than average crime rate but that doesn't involve or affect 95% of the population. Some may also consider it shabby but most of Queens (all the outer boroughs, really) looks old, shabby and run down. People on this board will tell you to move to other areas and avoid Jamaica except for school because 1) most of them think any neighborhood that's more than 50% black = ghetto warzone where guns are blazing at all hours of the day, crack is sold on every block and any non-minority is automatic prey and 2) people who are unfamiliar with east Queens think Jamaica is the same neighborhood as South Jamaica.

It's insulting to me how people on here can say with a straight face that Flushing is a perfectly good neighborhood to relocate to but Jamaica is a Brownsville/ENY level of bad. Both areas (Jamaica and FLushing) are largely suburban working-class communities with an urban "downtown" center and a diverse (though majority one group) population. Mod cut: language

[LINative]

^ Going to have to disagree with parts of Pookie J's post.

First off "MOST of Queens (all the outer boroughs, really) looks old, shabby and run down". Really? Perhaps you can tell us what most of those shabby neighborhoods are?

Second, while I said Jamaica is getting better, I still would not recommend it over Flushing. At least not yet. Nor would I recommend south of the railroad tracks yet, although I agree with you Jamaica is certainly not Brownsville.

Walk around the area west of Sutphin Blvd near the courthouse. You will see house after house with bars on their windows and doors. I also heard of cars on the street with all four of their wheels being stolen right from under them. During the daytime!

[eek]

i'm around sutphin all the time and don't see that, to be honest (the crime, cars being left shells or whatever, etc.)

jamaica is not that bad at all.

honestly my area is mostly east indian/pakistani or whatever. mad black ppl left. had a lot of black west indians back in the day. now its east indian west indians if that makes sense or straight east indian/pakistani.

not that black ppl = crime ridden.

i'm black if it matters.

and the bars are from long ago. thats not recent stuff. i remember the bar stuff in the 80's/early 90's. some of that if not all might be from back then.

i think i'm a lil offended...

[Infamous92]

Originally Posted by Shizzles

/\ Where in Jamaica would that be? Jamaica is hood, I'll give you that, but it doesn't seem out of control like say Brownsville or certain blocks in the Bronx. The only place in Qns to me that feels completely hard core like that is Far Rock.

Out of control?

Lol I don't think anywhere in NYC is "out of control" anymore, people underestimate Jamaica because it looks nicer (overall) than most of NYC's rough areas, I can share some wild experiences.

OP: Jamaica Estates and Briarwood are nice areas. Forest Hills is nice too and you can take the Q46 bus to St. Johns, its a very short ride. I wouldn't really recommend Jamaica.

[mayorofnyc]

I live in Springfield Gardens and I pass by Jamaica/S. Jamaica all the time, at all hours of the day & night. To the OP, you're better off living near campus.. I would see if you can find some off-campus housing or roommate deals around the Fresh Meadows, Kissena, or even around Hillside Ave. In regards to question about safeness, the "worst" parts of Jamaica are so far from campus that you should have nothing to worry about.