Is Washington Heights Safe (10032)? (Amsterdam: living, estate, properties)
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Everybody have their own vision and perception. At the end of the day safety is about ones level of tolerance. Is the Heights still have bad elements ? Of course, like every neighborhood, especially since that particular area used to be one of the major drug spots (if not THE major spot) in NYC during the crack era. But to describe present Washington Heights like a war zone with constant shootings and a Wire style open air drug market is just fantasy.
Nobody is making it seem like a war zone. Do you own property too? I already said that the area has improved. You're putting words in my mouth. I gave you a specific example of a shooting that happened because of gang warfare, that's it... never did I say "OMG Theres shootingz all day!" There is open air drug dealing, there is weed, there is loitering etc so I haven't exaggerated anything. However your buddy there has exaggerated Washington Heights to be Beverly Hills so he could boost his property....that's living in fantasy land.
I'm in the area all the time. I know what I'm talking about...take my word for it.
"It's a block by block thing, but you do have to be comfortable with living with people from the whole range of the socio-economic wheel. There are a lot of hard working poor Latino families. There are musicians, artists, actors, and professors. Drug dealers, drug users, drunks, and crazies. It's a colorful class of characters and you have to be comfortable living with them in the community. No ones going to bother you, many are polite and accommodating, but they live here- as they do in most of the city. If you like to shield yourself from humanity and it's suffering (and occasional joy)- washington heights is not for you."
This neighborhood is not the upper west side. And I'm not claiming it's a panacea. I like living here. I'm sorry if my opinion offends others. All I've been trying to say is that it's safe and livable. There are crooks, dealers and miscreants that live across the city. Some live in doormanned buildings on park avenue and some off the streets of the heights. I just want to know that I'm safe when I walk down the street with my kid- and I feel like I am here.
"It's a block by block thing, but you do have to be comfortable with living with people from the whole range of the socio-economic wheel. There are a lot of hard working poor Latino families. There are musicians, artists, actors, and professors. Drug dealers, drug users, drunks, and crazies. It's a colorful class of characters and you have to be comfortable living with them in the community. No ones going to bother you, many are polite and accommodating, but they live here- as they do in most of the city. If you like to shield yourself from humanity and it's suffering (and occasional joy)- washington heights is not for you."
This neighborhood is not the upper west side. And I'm not claiming it's a panacea. I like living here. I'm sorry if my opinion offends others. All I've been trying to say is that it's safe and livable. There are crooks, dealers and miscreants that live across the city. Some live in doormanned buildings on park avenue and some off the streets of the heights. I just want to know that I'm safe when I walk down the street with my kid- and I feel like I am here.
Translation: Please for the love of god, come buy property up here people. My investment is not appreciating on it's own.
Trust me Supermario, non of our comments our going to make a difference in the property values of the neighborhood. I don't know why owning property precludes me from commenting on the how safe I feel in the neighborhood. Am I biased- probably- does that mean that what I write is untruthful? No, of course not. I write from my personal experience because I feel it could be valuable to those thinking about moving to the neighborhood. They can take it or leave it. I'm certainly not claiming the heights is Beverly Hills, it's not the upper west side, it's a diverse, friendly, filthy, hard working community where I enjoy living and feel safe.
Yeah- that's exactly what I'm saying availableusername, please invest the pennies that you save by living at home and buy a place here. It's a shame because I remember reading these threads before I bought my place up here. They were helpful. Now it seems like the folks on here are just trying to score snark points. Well that's it for me availableusername, enjoy thwacking your keyboard alone, and in the dark. Peace to you.
Yeah- that's exactly what I'm saying availableusername, please invest the pennies that you save by living at home and buy a place here. It's a shame because I remember reading these threads before I bought my place up here. They were helpful. Now it seems like the folks on here are just trying to score snark points. Well that's it for me availableusername, enjoy thwacking your keyboard alone, and in the dark. Peace to you.
There's absolutely nothing more humorous than one Internet forum poster calling another Internet forum poster a loser for posting stuff on an Internet forum. Buddy, if you were in any way shape or form above this, you wouldn't be here pumping up "SoWaHi" out of nowhere. Every single person behind their keyboard on any forum is a loser if you're gonna go that route.
Let me bring a dose of reality. Lower Washington Heights is still very drug ridden. It historically has been (along with western Harlem) the # 1 spot to buy drugs wholesale. Those long blocks between Amsterdam and Broadway are a zoo in the summer time. Just 2 weeks ago I saw a large drug transaction on the corner of West 160th and Broadway. It's probably one of the only places you could see open air drug dealing. It's funny how you don't mention the smell of marijuana up and down every single one of those blocks and into building lobbies. Cut it out. Stop trying to sell an undesirable area, making a mockery of the neighborhood (with SoWaHi) in the process. Has it improved? Hell yes. You couldn't walk through these blocks 20 years ago but at the same time every other neighborhood has as well.
Ironically nyc crime policy has created that situation where weed is criminalized and is a profit generator for gangs. It should not be illegal.
The problem with threads about Washington Heights is that it really represents a rather large area that is made up of many sub neighborhoods that have very distinct feels and are divided by huge barriers, such as 100 foot cliffs and 8 lane highways. WH is a neighborhood geographically unlike any other in Manhattan. I would say there are at least 7 different neighborhoods that make up WH. Someone living on Edgecome is going to have totally different experience than someone living on Broadway Terrace, yet they supposedly live in the same area. People here are very against renaming neighborhoods in the Heights as if it is an act of treason or something, but personally, NY has always been a place of change and if naming neighborhoods helps create a better sense of community, I am all for it.
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