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Mamaroneck is fantastic, great restaurants, bustling main street with many shops and good foot traffic, great parks with enviable recreational offerings (lots of kids' programs) and great schools. I'm not a resident, but wouldn't hesitate to move there. That said, it sounds like you'd really like the river towns as well, Hastings, Dobbs Ferry & Irvington come to mind if not Tarrytown, though I don't know what you get in your price range there.
Thanks streetsmart! This is so helpful and reassuring. It sounds like a great family area and relatively laid back in terms of Westchester.
In terms of Central Elementary, do you have any idea what the street boundaries are for that? I found some great houses just west of Mamaroneck ave around STanley and Fenimore. Understand you may not have this detailed information. So hard to find it online though.
We also like some in the RyeNeck area just east of Mamaroneck ave.
The Orienta neighborhood is a little far from the town area, but seems lovely. (however, maybe you are walking distance from Larchmont town?) Do you have flooding problems?
And in terms of "cute" - I think I'm talking some arbitrary cute facades on buildings, nice little restaurants and lunch spots. Definitely not expensive boutiques, I do not spend weekends perusing expensive clothes or antique rugs and vases. (noticed there are a lot of these in Bronxville/Larchmont). But pizza, Dunkin donuts and CVS are always welcome additions to my life.
Also, does Hommocks also have a small outdoor pool? I've read conflicting things on the internet. Finally, is there a private beach area for just Mamaroneck residents, and is the water OK? I've noticed water at some of the beach areas on the sound smell a bit, but perhaps thats unavoidable. (Rye beach was bad when I went mid-summer)
I have no idea what the street boundaries for Central School are. My initial feeling is that the area you mention would be zoned for Central but of course you'd have to call the school.
Rye Neck is very nice and has it's own school district, which is much smaller than Mamaroneck. That's a plus or a minus to some people depending on preferences.
Orienta is definitely a "wet" area. Before we moved in we had French drains installed and got 2 new commercial sump pumps and we hear them going all the time (and our basement has remained dry for 2 years now...). Even during Sandy - not a drop of water in our basement, and that was without power because our generator hadn't yet been installed. That said, you won't find too many finished basements around here because of the potential for water. And EVERYONE has a generator. During the big storms we've had in the last couple of years the most flooding I've seen is right at the entrance to the harbor, since during high tide the water comes right up to the top of the rock wall (and over in one place). Long story short, if you're in the middle of Orienta you won't get any more flooding than anywhere else in the area.
Orienta is not really "walk" to anywhere. It is a very walkable neighborhood as I mentioned, and if you live closer to the Post Road you can certainly walk there more easily. My parents like to walk over to the Nautilus Diner or Cosi for lunch, stop in at the bank, and grab a newspaper at CVS, but it's a healthy 20-30 minute walk one way from us.
I honestly don't know if Hommocks has an outdoor pool. I've never noticed one. I'll admit that my kids take lessons at the Y. We do love skating at Hommocks though.
You have to pay $7 to get on the beach in the summer. Quite frankly I wouldn't go in the water, but people do. The beach in Rye is much bigger, and you also have to pay.
I think others have also summed up nicely what is great about Mamaroneck. It has a lot going on and is very convenient with regards to shopping, dining, and activities for kids and families. Big box stores are not far either. If you can find something in your price range I wouldn't hesitate. Good luck!
P.S Harrison is another very overlooked area where you will get a lot of bang for your buck housing-wise. I have several friends with kids in Harrison Ave School and they love it. The downtown isn't anything to write home about and it generally isn't walkable but you are centrally located near Mamaroneck, Rye, and WP for activities and shopping. We kind of think that if we'd given Harrison more of a chance before moving to Scarsdale that we would still be there...
Mamaroneck is a victim of its own success. Ten or fifteen years ago Mamaroneck Avenue had a few pizza places (including the incredible Sal's), one sushi place, an Italian restaurant, a crappy Chinese restaurant, and not much else. Many stores were dumpy. Now there are so many restaurants it is hard to figure out how they all stay in business.
The problem is an incredible shortage of parking, with no appropriate place to build an additional lot.
I would rather have a parking shortage, than a parking surplus that is a result of having lousy stores and restaurants. But sometimes it's a real pain if you just want to get a slice of pizza or get something at a deli.
True, parking on the Avenue can be a pain. Usually I just don't bother and park around on Philips Park Rd by the tunnel and cut through. Rarely do I have a problem parking back there.
Thank you all, this is SUCH helpful info. Streetsmart, have google mapped all the spots you suggest and going to get there on foot in the next month or so. They sound great, and yes, I love all that kind of stuff about BK too (sounds a lot like Carroll Gardens with all of those longstanding Italian spots.) I appreciate all of you taking time out of your day to give me this insight... also LoWest the info on kids programs is super helpful. Now I feel like I should go return the favor on a Brooklyn forum!
Oh, and on the Hommocks pool - looks like there is a smallish pool outdoors on Google maps satellite view. Not sure if it's still in service, but it's there!
No. The town is very low crime all over. Whats more, to the chargin of some taxpayers, its over-policed anyway. Some areas are more scruffy than others, but its a very old town, dating back to the 1600s and has developed organically with all the confusion and quirkiness that involves - its not a uniformly planned suburb laid out in the 40s or 50s for example.
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