I'm here to clear the air about all of the ghettos of NYC. Ask away. (Mexico: buying, living in)

[NooYowkur81]

Re: mexicans, What some of you are describing are not gangs but loose cliques that were formed out of what was felt as a need to protect themselves. This is nothing new if youve studied the history of this city, gangs/organized crime are closely tied to the history of nyc. Now there exists the threat that these "proto" gangs sorta speak become larger more organized gangs. This is what I worry about and keep an eye on.

Mexicans are growing at a crazy rate in a lot of places. In the bronx it is not uncommon to see mexican mothers walking around with 3 or 4 kids. The problem with this is often at the age kids are most vulnerable to gangs is when the immigrant parents lose grip (for various reasons) of their kids.

Ms-13 is a salvadorean gang that has coopted mexicans and other hispanics in a lot of areas in order to continue expanding. They are easily one of the worst gangs in the world.

IMO gangs/crime are the one thing that might get the city and/or the governor to crack down on illegal immigration. So keep your eyes on it...

[Mr. Klato]

Wave your hands side to side!!!!!


Akon - Ghetto (official video) - YouTube

[queensgrl]

I didn't see any mention of Queens in here. Curious to hear thoughts on what you believe to be the bad areas of Queens, and why.

My two cents about Bronx and Brooklyn -- I work in the South Bronx and in BedStuy, and while I have never been a victim of a crime nor seen anything in particular (knock wood) my impression is that with BedStuy, Bushwick and Crown Heights seem to be safer and more vibrant. There are new businesses popping up, construction, houses being refurbished, etc. the Bronx still seems to be lagging behind, with a very large concentration of poverty. I think the density of housing projects has a lot to do with it. In Bklyn even some of the "so-called" worst areas have single - three family houses.

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by jcoltrane

Unless you goot the youtube video, I don't believe you. Either that, or you must have your beaches confused. I have never witnessed such a thing at Rockaway beach. Usually those beaches rarely have a crowd, very sparsely utilized; and the percentage of blacks from the penninsula that 'actually' go to the beach is rather small.

Even though the Hispanics are smaller in number, a larger percentage go to the beach than blacks. Yet, to say there were SIXTY "patias" or whatever, on the beach, flying colors, is just not believeable. Coney or Brighton beaches w/b more believeable, but unless its a holiday there is rarely 60 people in one spot on the beaches of the Rockaways.

If so, then it must have been near the handball/basketball courts, where the bus stops.

Over the last few years, a number of drownings, surfer transplants, fishing, rabbits, but 60 hoodds flying colors, never seen that.

****

Seventfloor, you're the resident Rockaway expert, whaddya say?

More likely to happen during the daytime after school than on a summer weekend. But nevertheless, it's a rare occurence.

[Dennis Brown]

From a hood/crime perspective 2011 compared to the 80's is like spring training vs the World Series lol. Even though I despise the loss of unique authenticity the city once had (this corporate sterilized version is weak sauce) I certainly don't miss the level of violence. I had a uncle that used to live in Unity Plaza in ENY and in one year the projects had 20 murders. 1 housing project! That's more than most entire 'hood' neighborhoods nowadays, be glad...

[Dennis Brown]

Originally Posted by queensgrl

I didn't see any mention of Queens in here. Curious to hear thoughts on what you believe to be the bad areas of Queens, and why.

Queens is block to block whether your talking South Side, Far Rock, Bricktown, etc...there's no neighborhood in Queens that's completely 'hood' nowadays.

[lowkeystatus]

I work for a non-profit that does evaluation on city-funded programs. A large part of my job entails performing site visits (during daytime) to the programs...I received my full site list last week and it includes sites in housing projects/areas immediately surrounding them. Here's the full site list...feel free to give input. The one that jumped out at me was the Sutter Ave. site...I asked about it in another thread and was told it's desolate/super isolated.

Bronx-
Throggs Neck Houses
E. 155th & Melrose Ave.
E. 169th & Jerome Ave.
Webster Ave. & Mosholu Pkwy
E. 181st & Ryer Ave.

Brooklyn-
Carey Gardens Houses
Bushwick Houses
Sutter Ave. & Alabama Ave.

Manhattan-
LES III Houses
E. 123rd & 3rd Ave.
Frederick Douglass Blvd. & W. 148th

Queens-
Pomonok Houses

[scatman]

Any talk about gang activity without any proof (police records, etc, crime stats, etc), is nothing more than talking smack!

I'm not saying there are no gangs in certain hoods, but let's be real: talk is talk!

[joshd9124]

Gangs in NY are a joke lets be real here it's nothing but loose groups of teenagers that adopt the name of these west coast and Chitown gangs only to drop it later on once their in their 20's. I remember reading a stat that in LA there are close to 100k gang members but in NY we have around 10k and thats with a pop more than double that of LA, gang culture is dead here unless your a kid the real criminals hustle and attempt to emulate organized crime.

[SobroGuy]

I was walking home last night and 2 girls bumped into a big dude, and they got into some sort of verbal altercation as they both were walking away. One of the girls yelled "I am bloods all day every day"...and the girl she was with said "no you ain't girl stop playin' yoself." The guy said "yeah yeah yeah" laughed and everyone kept walking.

I thought she was just on her period all the time. It made for a good laugh at least.