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Considering where you live, why do you constantly want to drag this on and on?
As for being defensive, first of all, I am not here trying to "sell" the place. I AM NOT TRYING TO GET ALL AND SUNDRY TO MOVE TO VALLEY STREAM AND JOIN ME. I am perfectly aware that it is not for everyone.
But I do dislike when people on C-D generalize 100% negatively about it. That is why I attempt to show the reality of it. (For example, the pictures of the parks and the homes that I posted in this thread.) We are not "just like Queens" in the negative sense.
Many people who go on C-D looking for information or who are just here to talk have never even been to Valley Stream. I'd like them to see the reality of it rather than some "negative cardboard cutout reality" espoused by a few disgruntled C-D posters. If you're keeping on with this because you're disgruntled against me personally (and I am well aware some people on C-D are), that's not fair and you are doing a disservice to C-D itself as a credible source of information. Just put me on "ignore" and don't read my posts.
So, it's okay to bash on Cedarhurst because of one incident, but it's not okay to bash on Valley Stream because you live there and it's perfect in every way? Fact of the matter is, GA is in (South) Valley Stream and it is very much a factor in the area. Even if it wasn't actually considered part of VS it is within the vicinity and is something to be considered. There are two sides to everything and giving people only the picture perfect world is not the proper way to do things.
So, it's okay to bash on Cedarhurst because of one incident, but it's not okay to bash on Valley Stream because you live there and it's perfect in every way? Fact of the matter is, GA is in (South) Valley Stream and it is very much a factor in the area. Even if it wasn't actually considered part of VS it is within the vicinity and is something to be considered. There are two sides to everything and giving people only the picture perfect world is not the proper way to do things.
Get it straight. GA Mall is a regional mall that happens to be in Valley Stream. It draws people from all over Southwestern Nassau and Southern Queens and as far as Brooklyn. To equate the average patron of this mall as the average person living in Valley Stream is stupid and small minded. Go to the neighborhoods, go to the parks, go to the local mom and pop shops to see the actual residents and lifestyle of Valley Stream. Look at Tanger Mall in Riverhead, that place in no way represents Calverton or Riverhead.
So, it's okay to bash on Cedarhurst because of one incident, but it's not okay to bash on Valley Stream because you live there and it's perfect in every way? Fact of the matter is, GA is in (South) Valley Stream and it is very much a factor in the area. Even if it wasn't actually considered part of VS it is within the vicinity and is something to be considered. There are two sides to everything and giving people only the picture perfect world is not the proper way to do things.
So, it's okay to bash on Cedarhurst because of one incident, but it's not okay to bash on Valley Stream because you live there and it's perfect in every way? Fact of the matter is, GA is in (South) Valley Stream and it is very much a factor in the area. Even if it wasn't actually considered part of VS it is within the vicinity and is something to be considered. There are two sides to everything and giving people only the picture perfect world is not the proper way to do things.
I did not bash on Cedarhurst.
All I am saying is it is quite hypocritical for someone who lives in the conditions you do (which just happen to be located in Cedarhurst, not because it's in Cedarhurst -- there's a big difference) to try and paint Valley Stream as some ghetto at every turn!
Last edited by I_Love_LI_but; 08-09-2010 at 12:42 PM..
A map of the Village of Lawrence in the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Lawrence-ny-map.gif (broken link)
The Village of Lawrence has a different border than does the "Lawrence, NY 11559" postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Lawrence, NY 11559" address and not be in the Village of Lawrence and a place can be in the Village of Lawrence and have other than have other than a "Lawrence, NY 11559" mailing address): places that have a "Lawrence, NY 11559" mailing address that are not in the Village of Lawrence are in the Village of Cedarhurst and the Hamlet of Inwood; and, at the same time, there are places in the Village of Lawrence that have a "Cedarhurst, NY 11516" mailing address.
A map of the Hamlet of Inwood in the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County:
The Hamlet of Inwood has a different border than does the "Inwood, NY 11096" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place in the Hamlet of Inwood can have other than an "Inwood, NY 11096" mailing address): places in the Hamlet of Inwood with other than an "Inwood, NY 11096" mailing address have a "Lawrence, NY 11559" mailing address.
Just remember kids...all of LI is bad.
It's just some places are a little less bad than others.
No need for bickering and fighting.
It's all bad.
Be happy if you live in a less bad neighborhood.
I just read this whole thread after it got bumped, and I almost burst out laughing reading the person who predicted Lindenhurst would be a rich coastal town soon. Well, that was before Sandy...
We can all agree on which are the bad areas on Long Island. We can also agree of face observations as to how they got that way. Some Like Roosevelt and Uniondale suffered from "white flight" others like Gordon Heights" were born that way.
But really why did a village like Hempstead ended up the way it did? It's in the heart of Central Nassau, it has the best road infrastructure and you can still see reminders of its wonderful past in some neighborhoods (Catherdral Gardens). By right, it should be the crown of Nassau.
Why did white flight occur in places like Roosevelt or Central Islip or as we are seeing today in Baldwin and Valley Stream but skipped hamlets such as Islip Terrace, East Meadow or Lynbrook village?
What made one town suffer but the next town which physically looks the same unharmed?
I can answer a few of these.
1. Gordon Heights was essentially one of a few places where African American G.I.s could by a house following WWII. Levittown was "off limits" as most of us know, to non-whites. Because it was far out on the Island, it was less desirable than Levittown. It wasn't a self contained community, with playgrounds and elementary schools, and home construction was notoriously shoddy.
Not near the city - or even Nassau, not near an ocean beach, the houses began to deteriorate and not appreciate. Levittown may not appreciate as fast as some parts of Nassau, but everyone I know of in my family tree who was practically given a Levitt house, stayed their not more than 4 or 5 years and moved to Garden City and Huntington.
2. Roosevelt, Uniondale and Central Islip, were never that great to begin with. Working class whites with civil service jobs. Or jobs in NYC. Not being nasty, but the lower you go on the socioeconomic scale, the more you have to lose, because your mortgaged home is your net worth, and consequently, the more fearful one in of "outsiders" who are perceived as dangerous. When the first black families moved in to Roosevelt, I know for a fact that real estate corporations engaged in scare tactics and block busting, which hastened white flight.
3. Mastic Shirley and Mastic Beach were also "way out on the Island". Originally, i the 1920s, small plots were sold to subscribers of a local paper that served lower middle and working class families advertising summer vacation lots. The bungalows that were built were of varying quality. It was a rural area at the time, and zoning laws were not strict. Many were built without indoor plumbing. and even in the 80s, there were a few cottages with out houses and wells.
In the late 1950s, a builder Walter Shirley, created a community of modest homes aimed at first time homeowners. Because Mastic and Mastic Beach (Shirley was not yet a place) were rural, the builder utilized USDA "Farmers Home Mortgages", which I believe were "no money down" mortgages were attractive to lower income individuals.
When these first residents who were given easy home loans experienced financial problems through job loss or health problems, or extensive home repairs, many resumed a "renter's mentality" and abandoned their homes. No money down, and a lack of financial literacy, made it easier to jusy leave. The massive forecloses that took place in the 60s and 70s, gave the area a worse name than it already had.
People who were actually doing fine, and had built nicer homes, sold, because of the stigma attached to Shirley and the Mastics.
I think the towns on LI that remain impervious to negative change have certain commonalities
1 A sense of history and a golden past that instills pride. A stock of older, pre WWII homes, and the presence of an elite society.
2. An actual town or village, with older buildings, places of worship and community centers, as opposed to strip malls.
3. A healthy mixture of ethnicity and race, that were use to living together. In most of the older areas, a family of another race does not instill panic.
4. Location. Being on the North Shore has protected a number of communities from ill repute. Being on the South Shore, would be the next desirable factor. Being planned as opposed to spot built.
Just my observations.
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