Liking Westchester

[doghead]

dma1250--you are in Croton, correct? I have to check that out. Housing is not that expensive, as far as rents go? I am in North Yonkers, which I don't find congested, but very uninteresting with little decent shopping except for Central Ave. I find the eastern part of WC very congested--New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, as far as the driving goes.

[Cwood2008]

I'd be interested in learning from those who do not like Westchester if they were born and raised in this area or relocated from another state? I think that can make a huge difference in enjoying where you live.

[dma1250]

Originally Posted by doghead

dma1250--you are in Croton, correct? I have to check that out. Housing is not that expensive, as far as rents go? I am in North Yonkers, which I don't find congested, but very uninteresting with little decent shopping except for Central Ave. I find the eastern part of WC very congested--New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, as far as the driving goes.

I'm in southern Yorktown, 10 minutes from Croton. But I think my comments reflect the general area, including Croton. Housing is cheaper, but I don't know about rents. There are not that many rental options, so I doubt they are that cheap.

I don't think Northern Westchester is for everyone--it really depends on what you want and what is important to you. It is very different than Yonkers or the rest of southern Westchester. It is prettier, quieter, calmer, and far less congested, and there are lots of good stores and amenities. But if walking to a large variety of restaurants is critical to you, you won't be happy (though you might want to check out Mt Kisco).

Generalizations never work, but personally I think a lot of people who are not happy moved from the city and picked areas that felt "like" the city, in the expectation that it would be very similar. But nothing is like the city. We moved from Park Slope to another area in Brooklyn that felt 'like' the Slope--but it wasn't like it all and we were miserable there. (We visited the old neighborhood a month ago and, with the exception of a new coffee house, it is exactly the same as 6 years ago). When we decided to leave the city we first looked in southern Westchester and towns like Maplewood and Montclaire--but we soon realized that we were making the same mistake. Those places felt something like Brooklyn, but they did not have the things that we loved about Brooklyn. So we moved to an area that feels nothing at all like the city and that gives us things that the city does not have--and we love it. For what its worth, almost everyone I know here is an NYC transplant and I've never heard of anyone being at all unhappy or missing the city. Just my 20 cents...

[sunshinegirl16]

where do you live dma1250? I'm on the island looking to relocate to Westchester. Not familiar with the areas. My husband works in the city so we would need somewhere where the commute wasn't so bad.

[doghead]

dma: I really understand what you are saying. I was in Harrison tonight and it really felt like I was in the "country", quite different from Yonkers which I had thought was "country" compared to the city. But just because there are lawns here, does not make it the country. I think people may move to a place like Hastings because it has a town and they expect the same kinds of things, relatively speaking that they would have in NYC but it's not NYC.

[Kevrltr]

Sometimes unhappiness comes from inside. The glass is half full instead of half empty.

Sometimes you have to reach out to meet people and you make friends.

Westchester has a huge number of people from all the boroughs in NYC. If you want to meet people here, go out and volunteer, go out to a coffee shop and talk to people. Smile and say hello to people on the street.

Take an adult ed course. Go to political rallies. Go to a dog park. Go for a walk in the park.

What do you want from your community? What are you expecting?

Good Luck!

Kevin O'Shea