Moving to Cypress Hills in Brooklyn, question about safety for a young woman (New York: crime, house)

[Velvetmind]

Originally Posted by Metromoxo

It is further out but here's the logic

1. Your Bushwick friends most likely won't visit you most of the time at your place whether Cypress Hills or Woodhaven since - you'll go to them, so what's a few more stops on the train. And if they do visit, same goes for them - I don't think an extra 5 minutes on the same train line is going to bother anyone.

2. Your quality of life will be higher in Woodhaven so your day to day, while not doing social things w/ Bushwick friends, will be nicer

I think most people get basic necessities where they live - like pharmacy, laundromat, produce market, grocery store, so you want to make sure wherever you go that you have access to at least basic, nice stuff. I went on streetvieew and looked at Jamaica Ave near van siclen and the retail area looks bleak

I don't know about safety but if you're coming home late and Woodhaven is safer, you probably want to be getting off in Woodhaven and walking to your place vs a less safe stop/area on train.

Yeah, I mean I work at a bar a few times a week, while I’m almost always taking an Uber home I’m still walking into my house at around 4 am, so I guess I was a little bit worried by that

[martinjsxx]

Originally Posted by Honda718

Yeah I don't understand why the OP isn't interested in Woodhaven. It literally is a better version of Cypress Hills.

And Woodhaven has a shopping district on Jamaica Avenue including banks, the post office, and a nearby library. There’s not much on Jamaica Avenue in Cypress Hills besides cemeteries, Highland Park, a YMCA and maybe some bodegas. For someone without a car, Woodhaven is a much better place for shopping.

[Honda718]

Originally Posted by martinjsxx

And Woodhaven has a shopping district on Jamaica Avenue including banks, the post office, and a nearby library. There’s not much on Jamaica Avenue in Cypress Hills besides cemeteries, Highland Park, a YMCA and maybe some bodegas. For someone without a car, Woodhaven is a much better place for shopping.

I believe Fulton Street is the main commercial drag in Cypress Hills.

[Metromoxo]

The other thing to think about is what kind of people are living in the building you move into. So I suggest asking to look at the basement/garbage area (might give you an extra insight), and also if you are able to go back once before signing a lease on your own without the agent, ask people coming in and out what they think of living there.

If you end up with criminal/weed smoking/gang banging/irresponsible/extremely loud neighbors or a LL who allows things like the door locks on the outer doors to be broken, or won't fix heat or leaks, etc then you'd be in trouble no matter which neighborhood.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by Velvetmind

Hi,

I just scored a deal on a beautiful spot in Cypress Hills on Jamaica Ave, close to the Van Siclen stop. I am a musician and artist so the space is necessary for me. I’ve been living in NYC for 8 years and have lived in Bushwick, Bedstuy, Ridgewood, and east Williamsburg. A friend of a friend introduced me to this spot so I know it’s a legit deal, and the landlord seems very nice. A good friend of mine lives on Sunnyside Ave. It’s true I’m a young italian woman, so I know I’m going to potentially be a target in the neighborhood and I’m wondering about safety. I’ll be living alone for the first time. Obviously I would try my best not to walk the streets at night but I also am a little on edge about the neighborhood itself. Of course I know anything can happen anywhere and that street smarts are a must, but I’m wondering if you think it’s a bad idea to move there all together and if there are some areas around there that I should avoid wholeheartedly. A lot of my friends live off of the J a few stops down and a lot of the venues I frequent are in the vicinity which is also why I chose this neighborhood. I plan on being a part of the community and culture there as much as I can, learn to speak Spanish, but again I just have been reading that there are a ton of shootings that may happen in broad daylight/ muggings

Your good friend actually living in that neighborhood can probably tell you better than anyone else on this forum since they know the neighborhood pretty well from living in it and know you pretty well as your good friend. I'd weight that counsel much more heavily as probably no one opining here lives in or has ever lived in Cypress Hills as a renter.

It's a working class Spanish Caribbean community undergoing some gentrification of new residents especially those who are deadset on buying but are priced out of home ownership in Bed-Stuy and Bushwick. I wouldn't put it in anywhere in the same category as the roughest Brooklyn neighborhoods and it's a lot better than Brownsville which while close in proximity is a very different neighborhood as is a lot of East New York. I'm more familiar with a bit further east and closer towards and within Woodhaven, Queens which I think is nicer though it'll be further away. I think with deciding between the two, the question would be more like how good is this friend in Cypress Hills and do you have such in Woodhaven, and just how great is this deal and how tight is your budget? I think raw distance also should be considered with the bit that if you're using mass transit, the two aren't that different in total real travel time since a lot of the time might be distance of walking to and from your home station and the wait time for the bus/train.

Other places to consider since you want to be close to people in Bushwick will be Ridgewood (which might also be too pricey now), plus Middle Village and Glendale on their western edges closest to the M train.

I think all of this to some extent goes back to just how good of a deal is this and how constrained is your budget.

[martinjsxx]

Originally Posted by Honda718

I believe Fulton Street is the main commercial drag in Cypress Hills.

I guess so although my family never shopped there when we lived in Woodhaven. It did seem to have a lot of businesses when I drove by.

Looking at the original post in this thread the OP says they were moving to a place near Van Siclen Avenue which is pretty far west from the Queens border. The OP should know that Cypress Hills is part of East New York which is a very high crime area in general.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by martinjsxx

I guess so although my family never shopped there when we lived in Woodhaven. It did seem to have a lot of businesses when I drove by.

Looking at the original post in this thread the OP says they were moving to a place near Van Siclen Avenue which is pretty far west from the Queens border. The OP should know that Cypress Hills is part of East New York which is a very high crime area in general.

That far west also has a small commercial strip on Jamaica in addition to the Fulton Avenue one under the elevated and the one along Atlantic. That pocket of development on and north of Jamaica between the trainyards and Highland Park is kind of an oddball and interesting to wander around with some really eclectic architecture. East New York is in general a very high crime area, but Cypress Hills is noticeably different in a lot of ways from the rest of East New York which covers quite a bit of area and population.

[zamanyc]

Originally Posted by Honda718

I believe Fulton Street is the main commercial drag in Cypress Hills.

There's also City Line (Liberty Ave) with a bunch of good food places+a few clothing stores

[Tiredofnyclife]

What OP should do is rent an airbnb in the neighborhood for at least 1 week to get a feel for the neighborhood. Do this irrespective of whatever "Deal "you get.

[mathemusician]

Cypress Hills is a nice, family oriented neighborhood. I live near there and my aunt has a house in the same neighborhood.
I play tennis and bike ride in Highland Park ALL summer.