Moving to Westchester (White Plains, Peekskill, Hudson: crime, chapel, mortgage)

[stronji217]

I am looking into purchasing a townhome in the Chapel Hill community in Peekskill, NY. Any information on the community and the commute via, car, train to the city will be helpful.

[dma1250]

It's a great town. The parks are wonderful and it has the best coffee house in the county. Not to mention the art museum, performing arts center, galleries, and some great restaurants. Others can tell you about practical matters, but here are some useful local websites:

Peekskill News (http://peekskillnews.blogspot.com/ - broken link)

Peekskill Downtown-Home page

[bmwguydc]

You're better off taking the train on a daily basis as opposed to driving and then parking in Manhattan, especially if you have to pay for the parking yourself.

Peekskill is on the Hudson Line train, and it takes just under an hour to/from Grand Central. Driving would take a little more than an hour in traffic, so the train would give time savings, and the monthly ticket would likely be less than a parking spot in Manhattan, not to mention fuel savings.

[stronji217]

Thankyou for the quick responses. How about driving to the Bronx, then taking the subway down to the city?

[bmwguydc]

If you have a place to park in The Bronx, that could work for you, but it will take at least forty minutes to get to The Bronx. And, if you're looking for street parking, that would add a few minutes to the travel time to get on the subway. The other option might be to get on the BxM4c express bus that travels between White Plains and Manhattan, since you can use a weekly express bus unlimited card ($41/week) on board the bus and the subway. You would need to park in White Plains, however, and then catch the bus.

Here's a link: BxM4c Express bus schedule

[7 Wishes]

If you have kids you do have to watch about schools. Peekskill schools can be pretty awful, though it depends on what part of town you're in and although I worked up there for many years, I don't know enough about that.

[stronji217]

No kids in school. Thank you all for the helpful responses.

[Syngar99]

Originally Posted by stronji217

I am looking into purchasing a townhome in the Chapel Hill community in Peekskill, NY. Any information on the community and the commute via, car, train to the city will be helpful.

peekskill is one of those towns that has a very small nice area and a very large urban ghetto.
by day it is almost walkable, but, its not much of an exaggeration that people die there yearly.

[dma1250]

Originally Posted by Syngar99

peekskill is one of those towns that has a very small nice area and a very large urban ghetto.
by day it is almost walkable, but, its not much of an exaggeration that people die there yearly.

Moderator cut: Not necessary

First of all, Peekskill has a number of very nice, safe areas--especially the Fort Hill Historic District and Mortgage Hill. The "ghetto" is about 4 square blocks and very distinct. Then there are the big suburban developments like Chapel Hill. As for crime, I read the police report each week for Peekskill and it is almost all minor, petty larceny with the occasional drug bust. The crime is very mellow for a city and almost all of it is centered in one small area.