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Thanks Henna for the retorts on my behalf. I do try to help out around here answering questions and sometimes throw in a few of my own.
DITC, to answer your questions:
I wouldn't really say I'm a yuppie. I'm just a 28 year old, middle class, white guy. I don't make a huge salary and I don't plan on saving for a down payment on a Park Slope brownstone. I love NY and hopefully will be here for the long haul. After being in and out since the late 90's I have now been here for the past two years and plan on making it my home. I'm not here to experience the Sex and the City lifestyle, or to live in a hovel in Bushwick and creatively loaf around. I am just trying to save up my 20% down payment for one bedroom place in stable and relatively safe neighborhood.
Fort Greene is (arguably) a pretty trendy neighborhood now and I have already done that and paid rents which I believe are to high to do so. I am now looking for an area where I can hopefully rent for a few more years and then buy when the time is right. I've moved around two much in the last decade and just want somewhere where I can lay down roots without fearing for my safety when I walk home. I'm not a timid looking, "hey mug me!" kind of guy but I also know that living in some neighborhoods and just being white is enough to make me a target.
So to summarize:
Yes, I plan on being a long term resident of this city. It is not a post college experiment where I can move back to Ohio, or Iowa, or CT when it is over. I would like to find a reasonably safe and established community where I will not be ostracized by the locals for being a newcomer and I would like to rent there for a few years and then buy a modest one bedroom. A couple restaurants (I can go to Manhattan for fine dining), a grocery store close by, and a not aesthetically displeasing hood are what I am looking for. Just basic day to day stuff and anything else is just icing on th cake.
I'm interested in PLG, Kensington, and Ditmas Park because they seem like nice areas but I don't hear about them much on this forum. I am also considering Bay Ridge, Jackson Heights, Woodside, and a few others. Just looking for opinions on the few neighborhoods I've listed in this post as I have not yet visited them and many helpful forumers have already answered my questions on the other areas.
Sooooo.....sorry for the wordy response. any other info on PLG, Kensington, or Ditmas?
Despite me getting accused of being a d***, you answered my questions and I got a good feel for what you want. I find it interesting that youre one of the few good apples in the newcomer bunch...just a regular guy trying to live a quiet life in the real heart of NY. Welcome.
I personally would go in the Ditmas/Kensington area right around the Q train. The Q train is very convenient. There is a nice mix of old gorgeous homes with lawns and apartment buildings that still remind you youre in Brooklyn. Youre between every ethnic area under the sun...so if you want the real NY experience its at your fingertips.
Respect goes a long way out here...youre a newcomer so if you assimilate somewhat to the local surroundings and respect the natives, and make it known your not a penny loafer/khaki wearing gentrifyer, people wont bother you and will most likely be friendly.
Somehow unless we meet DITC's criteria of a worthy resident, we have no business moving into the area. Who put him in charge? He certianly does not speak for anyone but himself. I would MUCH rather have the 5-7 year resident than the longtime deadbeats that seems to infest these communities...what exactly are they contributing? And why do you focus your posts on the newcomers who want a place to live just as much as anyone else...while you give the longtime deadbeats a free pass?
Remember...you do not need any reason to live anywhere...whether it is 2 months, 50 years, to just sleep there, or to open a business, rent or buy, for a job transfer, for cheaper rent, to experience a different side of life, raise a family. DITC prides himself on blaming newcomers for not following his rules, and I would pay him little mind for he represents nobody but himself. ALL are welcome to live in NYC wherever they choose...and there is room enough for EVERYONE for whatever reason you have....not that you need a reason!!
Somehow unless we meet DITC's criteria of a worthy resident, we have no business moving into the area. Who put him in charge? He certianly does not speak for anyone but himself. I would MUCH rather have the 5-7 year resident than the longtime deadbeats that seems to infest these communities...what exactly are they contributing? And why do you focus your posts on the newcomers who want a place to live just as much as anyone else...while you give the longtime deadbeats a free pass?
Remember...you do not need any reason to live anywhere...whether it is 2 months, 50 years, to just sleep there, or to open a business, rent or buy, for a job transfer, for cheaper rent, to experience a different side of life, raise a family. DITC prides himself on blaming newcomers for not following his rules, and I would pay him little mind for he represents nobody but himself. ALL are welcome to live in NYC wherever they choose...and there is room enough for EVERYONE for whatever reason you have....not that you need a reason!!
thank you!!!
And the other thing DITC doesn't seem to be clear on is that this is an internet forum - accessible to anyone. Yet, he's being so careful to suss out who he's "corresponding" with before giving his valuable insiders answers. So he figures out the jeffcon is one of the good guys, and gives his "advice". Does he not realize that there are massive numbers of potential gentrifiers all sitting in front of their computers too, just waiting for the secret advice so they can invade neighborhoods with their bookbags, Starbucks and Jamba Juice?
And the other thing DITC doesn't seem to be clear on is that this is an internet forum - accessible to anyone. Yet, he's being so careful to suss out who he's "corresponding" with before giving his valuable insiders answers. So he figures out the jeffcon is one of the good guys, and gives his "advice". Does he not realize that there are massive numbers of potential gentrifiers all sitting in front of their computers too, just waiting for the secret advice so they can invade neighborhoods with their bookbags, Starbucks and Jamba Juice?
Thanks for the heads up, I had no idea this was an open forum that people read.
You seem 100% opposed to everything I say on here. Do you dream of having old ethnic NY completely disbanded? Do you dream of a New York where every borough meets a perfectly maintained quota of backgrounds of new white collar people and all us native types who "whine" are shipped off to Staten Island or Florida? Do you want every neighborhood to be exactly the same? If so then why do you specifically live in New York when you can live in a cheaper cookie cutter city elsewhere.
Thanks for the heads up, I had no idea this was an open forum that people read.
You seem 100% opposed to everything I say on here. Do you dream of having old ethnic NY completely disbanded? Do you dream of a New York where every borough meets a perfectly maintained quota of backgrounds of new white collar people and all us native types who "whine" are shipped off to Staten Island or Florida? Do you want every neighborhood to be exactly the same? If so then why do you specifically live in New York when you can live in a cheaper cookie cutter city elsewhere.
No, I'm not 100% opposed to everything you say on here- and have only read a few of your many posts, so how could I even know if I agree or disgree with everything you've said since I haven't read it?
What I do disagree with is your stance that certain people should not be allowed to move into certain areas. You have said this a few times in various ways, and I don't wish to spend the time to find the quotes but I'm sure you can remember what you've said on this issue.
You have suggested that certain areas of the city would be where all the hipsters and gentifyers get rounded up and placed so that they don't bleed into the other areas, which should remain protected from the invaders. You are trying to determine how long a person wants to live in a particular area before you deign to give them your precious information about it (again, not seeming to realize this is an open forum).
I'm basically just suggesting that you look at how the city or the country would be if we only allowed certain kinds of people to live in certain areas. It seems as if you'd like to bring segregation back in a slightly different form (different categories rather than black and white).
That's what I have a problem with. Maybe the rest of the info you are giving or your other opinions about other subjects I might even agree with - I have no idea. But I certainly don't agree with the one I am describing, don't like it at all, and that's why I am saying so.
I find it highly ironic that you are the one asking ME if I dream of boroughs with quotas -- when it's YOU that's espousing that idea!! Not me!
DITC is using the veil of "preserving ethnic neighborhoods" as code for "keep out those that do not follow HIS rules." Fortunately, he speaks for nobody and is wasting time and energy trying to scare people out of "his" neighborhood...just like the morons who think if they do more graffitti, make their neighborhood worse than it already is, or otherwise harass or attack new residents, that somehow it will keep them away. I hope they do all of these foolish acts, as the police are looking for ANY reason to lock up the rest of the small minded hoodlums that remain....and we can clean up these areas alot faster so that EVERYONE can live a better quality of life, longtime residents AND newcomers included.
I also considered some of the areas you mentioned when I was looking to relocate. I went to Kennsington to look around and it did not have the ammenities I was interested in, that some other neighborhoods did have. Simple things like coffee shops, restaurants, a place to get a drink, decent grocery store, etc. I was not looking for it to be a hot spot but I got the sense that I would have to leave the area often. Not self-sustained. I may not have been in the correct area but I did spend a considerable amount of time researching. I even spoke to some people walking in the street to get their opinions about the area. I also felt that every few blocks, the feel changed rather quickly (pretty houses, not well maintained houses, etc.).
It may change in the next few years but since I was not looking to buy at the time, I preferred an area that already had the ammenities I enjoy rather than investing in an undiscovered area.
Curious to know your thoughts after you look around.
Thanks StrawberryOctober. I am looking for enough of the "basics" to keep me in the neighborhood on weeknights. A decent "normal" bar if I want to grab a beer and a burger, a couple ethnic eateries, grocery stores close-by, and anything else one would use on a day-to-day basis. I know that I may be viewed as an "evil gentrifyer" if I enjoy being able to get takeout from a Thai restaurant or going to a coffee shop. I don't see how those types of things detract from a nneighborhood but whatever, this has been argued ad nauseum already. In my opinion the more options a neighborhood has the better but I don't necessarily need Park Slope. I'm trying to find a balance between amenities and affordability. Right now I'm leaning towards Bay Ridge if I can get over the commute to midtown as I think it offers the most "stuff" for the lowest price.
I'm curious, strawberry October, where did you end up moving?
I sure wish Mott Haven had a couple good Sushi and Thai places...its all about diversity after all.
But Guy, that's ALL wrong. You are supposed to go to the Asian neighborhood for Sushi and Thai, the Italian neighborhood for Pizza, the Irish neighborhood if you want to go to a pub, the hipster neighborhood for a coffee shop, the black neighborhood for soul food...
These should not be mixed together! If you want Pizza you have no option than to take the train to Bensonhurst.
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