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The issue is not weather Corona is the absolutely worst place in the city . No one claimed that . The OP asked if its one of the worst neighborhoods in Queens. It is. It doesn't matter that Far Rockaway may very well be the absolutely worst neighborhood in Queens. Corona is undeniable among the top 5 worst neighborhoods in Queens. It's bad, and its certainly far worse than any of the other areas in Western, Central, or Northern Queens.
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Originally Posted by NyWriterdude
Yes. A ghetto. Parts of Corona have a lot of Section 8 people. A ghetto is an area where historically unwanted people were dumped. Samuel Lefrak dumped a lot of poor Blacks and Hispanics on welfare in LeFrak City when his organization was sued for not letting in poor Blacks and Hispanics (the screening process weeded them out). Unfortunately letting in these poor Blacks and Hispanics ruined Lefrak City. The whites all bailed out, as did everyone who was Black and Hispanic who could afford it. In recent years they've been kicking out ghetto elements (Section 8 people) and have made good progress, but they have a long way to go.
If you want to call a neighborhood packed with poor hispanics a ghetto, then I guess there's not much to argue there. That doesn't make it one of the "worst" neighborhoods in Queens, it's just not. These are all extremely hard working people, 99.9% law abiding (if you ignore working papers hah). I have no problem walking with my little kids and wife in that neighborhood, absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
If you want to call a neighborhood packed with poor hispanics a ghetto, then I guess there's not much to argue there. That doesn't make it one of the "worst" neighborhoods in Queens, it's just not. These are all extremely hard working people, 99.9% law abiding (if you ignore working papers hah). I have no problem walking with my little kids and wife in that neighborhood, absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
Prostitution and drug dealing is hard work too.......So is money laundering and tax evasion.
Doesn't mean that I'd like that for my neighbors, and yes, its criminal. Unfortunately in any major city there is a correlation between poverty and crime.
Was Corona South Bronx or Brownsville bad? No. But it definitely was one of the worst neighborhoods in Queens.
Also, many of the people in houses in Corona live under wretched conditions. Like 8 people to a basement apartment. That in and of itself is ghetto and low class.
The only one giving anecdotal evidence is you. Just because your mom and grandmother live there and are fine COrona must be perfect. You took the things people on this thread said about the history of crime issues in Corona personally.
There are plenty of news articles and reports on the gang and drug issues in LeFrak City and why Lefrak got so bad. And LeFrak is in Corona.
For years according to NYPD Corona had one of the highest crime rates in Queens. It was pretty bad.
For the record, I used to have relatives and friends who lived in LeCrack City (ooops, Lefrak). But just because I used to have family in the area does not mean I'm going to lie and say its nice when it isn't.
Ive spoken to patrol cops and Corona is on the list for bad neighborhoods. I am from ENY in Bklyn and I can say now, its gotten better but certain areas srent the best. But I was living there since 1990 and it was baddddd. Like me and my sisters would see so many crack viles on the ground. It was disgusting. And there was a crack house on the corner of Pitkin snd Cleveland. The nabe is decent now except where the Pink Houses and Cypress Hills PJs are. I live in Bed Stuy and its fighting to get better. But its still not great but I see more cops at certain posts.
The short answer is no. I agree, LIC and Astoria are better neighborhoods but expect to pay more for it. Corona is okay (I grew up in Elmhurst myself) but it will never be anything like Williamsburg.
I lived in Corona from the early 80s to 2004. Parents still live there now off of 42 & 108th.
Corona is a pretty large area ranging unofficially from North - Norther Blvd, East - Flushing River, South - the LIE, and West - Junction Blvd. With that, there are a few distinct areas where living would probably not be desirable for some. Those areas would be:
1) along Roosevelt avenue where it is a very busy commercial strip with late night (bars, restaurants etc) businesses. With that, comes the many public nuisance crimes (intoxication, urination/defecation, lewdness, drunk driving, illegal cabs etc)as well as the non-violent crimes (muggings, purse snatching, street level drug dealing and room service prostitution). This area came about in the mid 90s when the Mexican/Central Americans came in droves. Of course with this amount of activity in this busy commercial area, the PD will be always busy here.
2) Lefrak city which was originally built as middle class housing but is now unofficially known as more of a low income housing development. I remember in the mid 80s as this was the spot to score marijuana along 57th street. Then the drug of choice changed to crack the early 90s and this place was known as the wild west (This was probably the most dangerous time around the country too as how the crack cocaine rings violently protected their territory) with the more frequent shootings, street level robberies and car-jackings. This was one of the few areas i would choose to avoid purposely. I think they transitioned back to marijuana post 2000 and violent crimes diminished significantly.
3) Shea Stadium/Willets Point (auto salvage yard area) in the 90s had streetwalkers (prostitutes) and drug dealers in the open. There was no housing here just industrial and the salvage yards. Of course now present time, there is a new development in the works as stated earlier.
As per some other landmark specific areas:
1a) South-ish Corona (Lemon Ice King/Spaghetti Park area) This place was/is not as developed or congested as it is up north along the 7 line. Of course, transportation sucks here as its only a bus line unless you have car access.
2a) Flushing Meadow Park area is the same as (1a)
In general, most of the areas along Roosevelt avenue have been developed to commercial or multi-family homes. Youre talking 3 and 4 family (3BR+2BA or 2BR+1BAs; with apartments housing 6-10 persons, up to 30 per house). This is highly desirable as its walking distance to the 7line. Our 3 BRs rent out within the week for $1800-2k.
Corona was predominantly Italians up to the early 80s, with Peurto Ricans/Dominicans to the north, then the Chinese started moving in along the 7 line in the late 80s and early 90s. Mexicans and Central Americans came in the early 90s and this is prime for them to this day, slowly moving away from the 7 line south as they are more prosperous (meaning able to afford cars and buying their own homes).
While defining "worst neighborhood" we can debate many aspects of desirable and undesirable traits of Corona but what it is is a lower income, immigrant working class neighborhood with (in my opinion) a low level of violent crimes. I think the infrastructure, access to basic services, mass transit, access to roads and highways all adequate (schooling is another matter though).
I will say that from my experiences, I have had plants stolen from my second floor balcony, door kicked in by a burglar (i was home and he ran), if you leave a broom outside from sweeping your walk, expect it be gone as people think anything on the sidewalk is free for the taking.
My parents in the early 90s decided to go into real estate in Corona and buy a small 3 story attached apatment building real cheap (was like 70k back then) and rent out the units. Every tenant turned out to be an illegal with 10 kids, that refused to pay rent. They know how to game the system since rent laws always favor the deadbeat tenants. My parents could not wait to sell the apt for a loss and get out of that area. Not sure how it is now.
My parents were cheap so when an apartment would turn over, we (the kids) would go and paint the walls over. Its shocking how much human grime and filth can accumlate in an apartment.
I also vividly remember one day will waiting in the car while my mom was attempting to collect rent watching some guy stand in the middle street slashing tires with a knife as cars rolled by... was weird, must have been on crack.
Woodside has a lot of crime that goes unreported due to undocumented immigrants not wanting to contact the police.
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