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I could never live in a place where you have to take the bus to the train. I always have to be within walking distance (max 15 minutes) from the train.
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That whole area was devasted by the mortage housing crisis. Its not really a working class, its more moddle class, and most of the people that live in baychester work in medical or healthcare fields. The areas is almost similar to southeast Queens or Canarsie in Brooklyn.
The article says the MEAN household income for Baychester is $70,000 according to census data. Wikipedia says the MEDIAN household income in Baychester is $42,000 according to census data.
Is this some trick the Times is playing? Mean and median household incomes can be very different numbers, and (someone correct me if I'm wrong), when it comes to household income, it's the MEDIAN that is normally used, not the mean.
You are correct, Henna, it is the median that is generally used when discussing the demographics of an area. However, I think it is a typo, because C-D's page on 10469 has a 2009 median of $62k. It's a middle-class area, overall.
What never fails to drive me crazy is when you read in The Times and other sources that it's just a piece of cake to buy a multi-family home and rent out the other unit(s) to pay your mortgage. That's a recipe for financial disaster, since you should be paying the same amount for which you would rent the unit, and either use it as a reserve in case of vacancy in the other unit(s), legal proceedings to get rid of a bad tenant, repairs on the house, including new plumbing, electrical, or HVAC. When it's your house and the hot water heater dies, you can schedule its replacement, but when you have tenants, it must be done on an emergency basis, or you will be in violation of housing regulations. They fail to mention that it's basically setting up a part-time business at your own home that never closes, and to which you need to be responsible 24-7. It can be financially advantageous, to be sure, but it's not as easy as just collecting rent checks and depositing them each month so you have no mortgage.
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The article says the MEAN household income for Baychester is $70,000 according to census data. Wikipedia says the MEDIAN household income in Baychester is $42,000 according to census data.
Is this some trick the Times is playing? Mean and median household incomes can be very different numbers, and (someone correct me if I'm wrong), when it comes to household income, it's the MEDIAN that is normally used, not the mean.
There is NO standard of use. Each has a different implication.
"Mean" is the same as Average.
"Median" is the midpoint or middle.
So, which is more telling to you?
A neighborhood in which HALF the people earn less than $42K; or where the average person earns $70K?
What does that tell you? Objectively? Does it tell you anything in terms of the *true* reality of the quality of life? Does it tell you what the quality of your neighbors will be like in any random block or sub-area?
Really important question:
Aren't either of those stats SKEWED by the presence of THREE housing projects?
Wouldn't the income of just those folks living in NYCHA bring down the *average* of the overall neighborhood income?
While satistically accurate, if the NYCHA authority incomes are discounted, wouldn't the *median* income be significantly higher for the rest of the neighborhood?
Answering those questions, how then does one view the quality of the area?
Should the area be considered "working class", middle class, or what?
Also, considering that NYCHA is often *high crime*, then is Baychester a high crime area? Or, does most of it have a better rate of crime?
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I go through all that to emphasize that little to nothing can be gleaned from a single independant statistic; and, w/o feet on the ground what can anyone objectively KNOW?
IMO, one of the more telliing facts, is 'housing quality'!
Housing quality tends to mirror people quality, particularly, within the five boroughs!
Unfortnately, there is an emphasis, in this forum, on meaningless *independant* statistics, especially *crime* stats!
That whole area was devasted by the mortage housing crisis. Its not really a working class, its more moddle class, and most of the people that live in baychester work in medical or healthcare fields. The areas is almost similar to southeast Queens or Canarsie in Brooklyn.
Here we go again with definitions of "class"!
What to you may appear as middle class, I would consider to be working class. Carnarsie is, and always has been, a predominatly working to lower middle class area.
Perhaps, even more so, in Carnarsie, given the increased *density* per household!!!
('Density of Households' hasn't been much of a subject topic in terms of household incomes, but it is an important point of determination.).
What percentage of singles and/or heads of households earning $100K to $150K? Does the housing quality meet such a demand?
That article did NOT describe *truly* desireable attractive middle class housing. Certainly not housing which can compete with a McMansion in the suburbs!!
I could never live in a place where you have to take the bus to the train. I always have to be within walking distance (max 15 minutes) from the train.
That is a pretty narrow viewpoint.
Take Queens, there are several two fare zones which would get you to the City in half the time it takes from the Rockaways!
So, in terms of commuting, such a hard and fast rule, doesn't really make sense. Especially when neighborhood quality, and/or school quality is considered.
Some aluminum awning company must have made a fortune in Baychester, because they are everywhere - over doors, over windows - you name it. If the city would pass an anit-aluminim awning ordinance, the area would be much improved aesthetically, but even then, the type of housing is just not that attractive or desirable in my opinion- brick boxes with tiny windows on super flat terrain. This type of development can be found throughout the east Bronx to an extent, but in the northeast Bronx, there hardly seems to be anything else.
I understand that some people just really don't care about this stuff - they're looking for an affordable suburban neighborhood in the city and in that case, Baychester fits the bill.
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