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So I guess the Financial District wasn't on your top list of neighborhoods to move to then (let me know if you caught the joke)
The higher crime a neighborhood has, the less money the people have.
Unless your Parkchester "neighbors" are doing drive-bys in Maseratis
When I was young, I lived for a while in a city upstate that had a large student population. People who lived downtown were all poor... but some of them were poor grad students and junior college staff, while the others were uneducated poor. The parts of downtown (certain streets), where the people associated with the university lived, were much safer than the other parts, although all of the downtown was equally scruffy, with boarded windows and graffiti, and if anything, I suspect the student/junior staff population actually had less money than the uneducated poor who were either employed in low-paid jobs or were on welfare. I do specifically remember this: I had a friend who was going for a master's degree in the same field in which I was going for a PhD. She valued education, but was not really successful at it, and was asked to leave the program. She ended up being a nurse eventually, but at that point (after being asked to leave the graduate program) took a temporary job at McDonalds. She was making about twice as much flipping hamburgers (with benefits, like healthcare) as I was paid in the form of research stipend during grad school (without any benefits). I used to know a doctoral student who was literally homeless - lived in his car for a year, washed up in the bathroom at school, never ate warm meals but only sandwiches!
So, as I said, while crime does correlate with poverty, that correlation does not hold if you factor education into it. The educated poor are not prone to crime. The educated poor are far more likely to intelligently budget their low resources, to not have kids they can't support, and to be somewhat or entirely oblivious to acquiring money, because they have other interests and preoccupations.
When I was young, I lived for a while in a city upstate that had a large student population. People who lived downtown were all poor... but some of them were poor grad students and junior college staff, while the others were uneducated poor. The parts of downtown (certain streets), where the people associated with the university lived, were much safer than the other parts, although all of the downtown was equally scruffy, with boarded windows and graffiti, and if anything, I suspect the student/junior staff population actually had less money than the uneducated poor who were either employed in low-paid jobs or were on welfare. I do specifically remember this: I had a friend who was going for a master's degree in the same field in which I was going for a PhD. She valued education, but was not really successful at it, and was asked to leave the program. She ended up being a nurse eventually, but at that point (after being asked to leave the graduate program) took a temporary job at McDonalds. She was making about twice as much flipping hamburgers (with benefits, like healthcare) as I was paid in the form of research stipend during grad school (without any benefits). I used to know a doctoral student who was literally homeless - lived in his car for a year, washed up in the bathroom at school, never ate warm meals but only sandwiches!
So, as I said, while crime does correlate with poverty, that correlation does not hold if you factor education into it. The educated poor are not prone to crime. The educated poor are far more likely to intelligently budget their low resources, to not have kids they can't support, and to be somewhat or entirely oblivious to acquiring money, because they have other interests and preoccupations.
I wish we could compare a college town in upstate NY to NYC. They couldn't be at farther ends of the spectrum.
Either way, the beautiful thing about your situation is that you don't have to do anything about it. Sit back, wait 10 years, and see what happens. Either it gets better or not.
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
I wish we could compare a college town in upstate NY to NYC. They couldn't be at farther ends of the spectrum.
Either way, the beautiful thing about your situation is that you don't have to do anything about it. Sit back, wait 10 years, and see what happens. Either it gets better or not.
Why can't you compare it? Btw, the city upstate wasn't a college town: it was larger than town (ie, it was a real city), ie, the university - while being quite a prominent item in the city - was not the only or the main thing in the city. In many ways, it was exactly like the area around Columbia Univ in NYC. So, actually it was the same end of the spectrum as some areas in NYC, except that poverty in Upstate NY is really an effing crushing poverty, incomparably worse than anything in or around Parkchester, the Bronx. It was already that way in the 1980s when I lived upstate, and it is even worse now when the worst poverty (and the worst crime) has already moved north of NYC.
Yeah, my situation with Parkchester is okay. I am not on this forum to complain about my situation, but to keep an eye on the direction in which Parkchester might be going.
I believe you. They aren't as common as the grey squirrels. Maybe I just see them more because I live here. I think it's funny they are called "Melanistic" squirrels. Basically a recessive gene that makes them black.
Right, I have also seen melanistic squirrels in Parkchester (acutally they are the only kind of squirrels I have seen there in recent years), and am wondering whether they compete with other rodents for the habitat. If so, I am definitely in favor of having them around (since the other, less desirable, types of rodents do show up in Parkchester from time to time, but have to say that the Parkchester Condo management has been dealing with that very well, and any time a mouse is seen indoors, they will send exterminators, and the place will be mouse-free for a few years thereafter). I find Parkchester melanistic squirrels more skittish and avoidant of people than urban squirrels tend to be, wonder why.
That's my whole point, you do understand the crime situation there, because you understand the fact that you are not 100% comfortable there. It's frightening to live among people who make less than you, isn't it
So anyway, Seventh Floor, check out today's Bronx Times online: a news report of a massive drug dealing operation (heroin and fentanyl, major distribution relay to Baltimore MD) being run out of a Parkchester condo on Metropolitan Ave. The guy who ran this lived at this Parkchester address (and stored the drugs there as well) - the news report says the police has been watching him to collect the evidence, and finally apprehended him and 18 other guys connected to this drug business. Now, tell me truthfully: was this guy making less than I? He was making millions, he probably made more than my entire life's savings in a few months. But I definitely do NOT feel comfortable living among that type of people. This type of guy is what is frightening to live among, not the decent people who make less than I.
A couple of other neighborhoods for you to avoid elnrigby
It doesn't say where on UWS (there are indeed some northern areas of UWS that I would avoid). Also, Riverdale and even more so UWS are both much larger than the Parkchester Condo complex, and obviously do not have Parkchester's allegedly strict procedures for screening off criminals. It bothers me that these people can get into Parkchester despite the screening and background checks. Also, these Riverdale and UWS guys were only headquartered in Riverdale/UWS, and appear to have been conducting their drug selling (and probably shootouts with business rivals) elsewhere, while the Parkchester guy (in addition to exporting stuff to Baltimore) was apparently selling right in Parkchester. Who wants armed turf disputes between drug sellers on the street where one lives and walks to subway or grocery store?
I am actually a person that is in favor of legalizing all drugs - but then getting the drug trade strictly into designated areas, far from people who want nothing to do with it.
It doesn't say where on UWS (there are indeed some northern areas of UWS that I would avoid). Also, Riverdale and even more so UWS are both much larger than the Parkchester Condo complex, and obviously do not have Parkchester's allegedly strict procedures for screening off criminals. It bothers me that these people can get into Parkchester despite the screening and background checks. Also, these Riverdale and UWS guys were only headquartered in Riverdale/UWS, and appear to have been conducting their drug selling (and probably shootouts with business rivals) elsewhere, while the Parkchester guy (in addition to exporting stuff to Baltimore) was apparently selling right in Parkchester. Who wants armed turf disputes between drug sellers on the street where one lives and walks to subway or grocery store?
I am actually a person that is in favor of legalizing all drugs - but then getting the drug trade strictly into designated areas, far from people who want nothing to do with it.
It doesn't matter what neighborhood it is now. Riverdale and the UWS are seen as safe havens, which means fewer cops patrolling which is why drug dealers target such areas. They feel as if they will be under the spotlight less. Riverdale is VERY safe, perhaps one of the safest neighorhoods in NYC, with very low crime. The thinking is more of these operations will happen in safe or "safer" areas.
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