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Old 08-06-2010, 01:07 PM
 
71 posts, read 192,750 times
Reputation: 14

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So we're thinking about looking at these two areas to move to from the city, "we" being my husband and I and two kids (7 and 1 1/2). We haven't driven around there yet, but we plan on it in the next few weeks, so I'd love some help:

*How are the schools?
*Does either town have a village or town that can be walked around, with access to restaurants, shops, etc?
*How's the commute to Manhattan from Croton? I know there's a drive to the train from Yorktown, right?

Also, anyone live in this area with family on Long Island? My family is almost all in that area, but we really think Westchester might be better for us. I'm worried about the 5 hour trip to my sister's place for birthdays, visits, etc!

Thanks, as always!
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Old 08-06-2010, 01:11 PM
 
71 posts, read 192,750 times
Reputation: 14
OK, so I see there was a similar post back in April. That's what I get for only going back a couple of months to check the threads.

Anyway, any info would be appreciated.
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Old 08-06-2010, 01:42 PM
 
Location: Yorktown Heights NY
1,316 posts, read 5,171,686 times
Reputation: 444
I think most of your questions have been aswered on other threads. But...

Both towns are great in different ways. Yorktown is huge and has 7 distinct hamlets, so it is really impossible to make generalizations--it totally depends on which section you're in. Croton is much smaller and you essentially have the village and some more rural areas on the edges.

Both school systems ar very good. We love the Yorktown schools. We have lots of friends in Croton and they love their schools, too.

If you want to live in a village, I'd go with Croton. If you want to live outside of town in a more country setting, I'd go with parts of Yorktown (Huntersville, Teatown, Kitchawan, or Crow Hill especially). The business center of Yorktown Heights has great shopping and good restaurants and is very walkable, but it is not very attractive (it was essentailly bulldozed and rebuilt in the late 60's). Croton is much cuter, although lacking in amenities (but it does have the basics, a few chains, a good gourmet food store, three or four good restaurants, and a nice ice cream place). We go to Croton for Zeytina's (gourmet market) and ice cream, our Croton friends go to Yorktown Heights for Turcos (gourmet market), Super A&P, Mrs. Green's, and restaurants. Whichever town you end up in, you'll use the other for many things. And you'll drive to Mt Kisco for restaurants all the time!

Croton has Silver Lake, a lovely beach on the Croton river, and access to the Cortlandt pool. Yorktown has two town pools and a nice lake for swimming (Sparkle Lake). Both towns have some amzing parks and nature preserves.

The commute from Croton to the city is great. Relatively short, loads of trains. The drive to the Croton station from parts of Yorktown (Huntersville, Teatown, and some others) is very doable. I just wrote a response about my commute on another thread (like yesterday, I think).

The entire Northen Westchester area is great. I strongly suggest looking all over and seeing what speaks to you and feels right. Everyone I know in the area takes advantage of what the enire area offers and travels from town to town on a regular basis.

Last edited by dma1250; 08-06-2010 at 02:09 PM..
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Old 08-06-2010, 02:56 PM
 
71 posts, read 192,750 times
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Thanks, dma. You've been really helpful to me in other threads I've posted in the past, as well, so I really appreciate your input!

Just have to drive around now and see what area feels good.
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Old 08-10-2010, 08:54 AM
 
701 posts, read 3,312,600 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by curlygirl! View Post
So we're thinking about looking at these two areas to move to from the city, "we" being my husband and I and two kids (7 and 1 1/2). We haven't driven around there yet, but we plan on it in the next few weeks, so I'd love some help:

*How are the schools?
*Does either town have a village or town that can be walked around, with access to restaurants, shops, etc?
*How's the commute to Manhattan from Croton? I know there's a drive to the train from Yorktown, right?

Also, anyone live in this area with family on Long Island? My family is almost all in that area, but we really think Westchester might be better for us. I'm worried about the 5 hour trip to my sister's place for birthdays, visits, etc!

Thanks, as always!
It doesn't take 5 hours to get to LI from Westchester.... though it does depend where on LI.

Schools are quite good in both areas, though Croton is a small close knit school district. Yorktown may have some close knit neighborhoods, but the town and school district encompass a huge area and population.

Croton does have a bit of a town center, with a few restaurants and shops. It's not the most extensive downtown in Westchester. You'll find yourself driving out of town more often than not. What is nice-- Is there are multiple parks that are walkable, especially if you live near Sunset Park.

Yorktown is a bit more diverse in commercial neighborhoods. It has large commercial areas with big box stores, malls (Jefferson Valley Mall), etc, but also has some smaller shopping areas.

The commute is exceptional from Croton, as far as northern Westchester goes. A ton of trains, many of them express trains, making for a 47 minute commute.

There are neighborhoods within Yorktown, where you can probably access the Croton or Mount Kisco train stations in 10-20 minutes. But then there are neighborhoods in Yorktown, where it will be longer than that.
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Old 08-11-2010, 07:37 PM
 
Location: Croton on Hudson NY
38 posts, read 125,137 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by curlygirl! View Post
So we're thinking about looking at these two areas to move to from the city, "we" being my husband and I and two kids (7 and 1 1/2). We haven't driven around there yet, but we plan on it in the next few weeks, so I'd love some help:

*How are the schools?
*Does either town have a village or town that can be walked around, with access to restaurants, shops, etc?
*How's the commute to Manhattan from Croton? I know there's a drive to the train from Yorktown, right?

Also, anyone live in this area with family on Long Island? My family is almost all in that area, but we ureally think Westchester might be better for us. I'm worried about the 5 hour trip to my sister's place for birthdays, visits, etc!

Thanks, as always!
both areas are great family areas, and close to shops, 43 minutes to NYC from croton
drive the area... I live in Croton on Hudson as a Realtor, the trains and schools are excellent but you need to walk the areas, for your self to decide..
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Old 08-13-2010, 07:13 PM
 
Location: Manhattan
353 posts, read 1,003,767 times
Reputation: 82
We've also been thinking about moving from Manhattan to one of those areas also but we haven't pulled the trigger yet as real estate is still dropping in price. We visited the elementary schools and thought both were rather good schools. If a nice downtown is important to you, you might want to visit Katona which is just east of Yorktown. Katona feels like a New England village. My family is also on Long Island (Patchogue) and I think it will be as easy to get to them by car from Westchester as it currently is to take a train from Manhattan.
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Old 08-19-2010, 07:47 PM
 
Location: Croton on Hudson NY
38 posts, read 125,137 times
Reputation: 16
All the mentioned areas are very nice, croton has the best commute to NYC...
schools are all good,
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Old 08-23-2010, 11:24 PM
 
Location: New York
4 posts, read 8,570 times
Reputation: 10
Hmm. I am a teenager so I can't really speak for a lot of the cost stuff etc, but in the process of moving out of Brooklyn I had to say with my grandmother in Mount Kisco for a few months so I attended Yorktown High School up until December 2009.

From the point of view of someone who has done well in school (well, except for math :P), I found YHS not that great. It didn't suck, but the work was unchallanging, the teachers couldn't handle the classes because of their large size (which would frequently set us back), the food was terrible, and the days had weird hours. I think we started at 7:25 and got out at 1:35. It really depends on where you would be in the district, but from where I was, I'd have to wake up at 5:45 AM and catch the bus at 6:30. The facilities weren't good either. The only positive was that they just renovated their theater.

Maybe the education stuff was fine for the level the kids who had been in the district their whole lives were at. But I'd say that if you want your kids to have a decent education, look elsewhere. Just my opinion though.

As for a town in Yorktown...there's a central area with a stage and a track, a few restaurants, a Starbucks etc, but it's not really in walking distance in relation to the majority of the homes there. There's the JV mall, but it's not in walking distance of anything and isn't that great.

I can't speak for Croton-on-Hudson, but I do know that it's a shorter commute to the city.

As for Katonah, I live in a town very close to it, right next to Cross River (which is where John Jay High School is). In comparison, JJHS is AWESOME. I love it there. The people are friendly, the teachers have a great relationship with the students, strong academics. LOTS of options. Katonah is a nice little town too, and if you live close enough to the central part of the town there's the train station. The only thing is that the taxes are going up. We moved there because it was affordable and the schools are great, but recently the taxes have gone up. It's a bit pricier, but the schools are better and the houses are nicer, imo.
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