is West 135th street East of St Nick Park safe (section 8, apartments)

[nonna119]

Hi Harlemites-
I currently live off of Central Park North and 8th Ave. I've seen the neighborhood transform in the 6 years I've been here. The "hood" has really cleaning up. However, it might be time to move on. I hear the next "hot" area is W 135 and north. Anybody have any thoughts about the area just East of W 135? Safe? I hear amenities suck....

[bluedog2]

If you already live in a neighborhood that has successfully struggled it's way out of hooddom and lived through it ,why in the name of god would you want to move back into another hood and go through that again?

[Harlem resident]

Originally Posted by nonna119

Hi Harlemites-
I currently live off of Central Park North and 8th Ave. I've seen the neighborhood transform in the 6 years I've been here. The "hood" has really cleaning up. However, it might be time to move on. I hear the next "hot" area is W 135 and north. Anybody have any thoughts about the area just East of W 135? Safe? I hear amenities suck....

Everything stinks, and while there are movements toward removing the entrenched culture, it will be a long time is my guess. Until this is accomplished, the quality of life will remain abysmal.

After dinner the other evening we walked up St. Nicolas toward 135th and could not believe the hoards of people hanging out on the street, angry, throwing bottles, etc. There are a great number of evictions in 410 St. N., likely the reason, but we lived in that area for around ten years and never saw anything to that extent. The natives were always restless, there was always a ton of gun and cigarette running from the south, drug selling, operations run out of the rent controlled apartments of the elderly, etc., all sorts of anti-social stuff simmering beneath the surface, but it is currently quite a bit worse. Which could lead to something better ...? In fact, probably will, given the proximity of the park. Hard to know when, though.

If you walk on FDB directly east you will observe exactly those elements that spill over in both directions. Keep in mind as well that each and every building between around 129th and 135th is either a social service building, "managed" (there's a word ...) by ECDO, or a social service building by default, given the actual tenants who live there. The exceptions are the big building on the corner of 133rd and St. N., ghetto tenants mostly but private owner, and one or two smaller buildings. The big building at 134th, before "Strivers Gardens" (I think it is called ?), is run by Philips, section 8 housing. FDB is the same story. A couple of privately-owned buildings, but most buildings are social service. Most people do not understand about these buildings that they are not going ANYWHERE for a long time. And unfortunately, the residents really set the mood of the neighborhood.