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Carnarsie has always been one of those neighborhoods that was considered not the best place to live and not the worst either. I hear its quiet area nowadays but thats only been comin from people who grew up in rougher places i.e Bed Stuy, Bushwick, Brownsville. When talking carnarsie, I just always keep in mind that it connects with NYC's murder capital known as East NY. Not to mention its the last stop on the L with not many other subway options so its a big hike to get to Manhatten.
I have lived in Canarsie up until 2 yrs ago. It is not a slum by any means it is an average Brooklyn neighborhood. The only sketchy areas are the the two projects one is Seaview near the Belt Parkway. The other is Breukelen by the northern end of the neighborhood. Other than that the neighborhood is fine. As far as the high schools being closed it was not due to violence but due to poor graduation rates and low test scores which is a problem that affects all NYC public high schools in recent years. But the nieghborhood is in general average as far as crime goes. The best way to tell how bad crime is in a NYC neighborhood is to put the zip code into city data and check the average household income. In New York neighborhoods with the lowest income are usually the worst for crime. Canarsie's household income is in the middle for Brooklyn.
My niece and her husband currently live in upstate NY. He recently was offered a job and are looking to relocate to Canarsie. They have 3 young children 5 yrs and under. Can anyone give me information on the area as we are not familiar with it. Thanks for your help!
Canarsie I don't think that would be the best suitable area for a family with 3 young children to be honest.
It is predominately African and Haitian, a couple of crimes in the area and no subway nearby either you have to have your own vehicle or wait on the bus and I would not recommend waiting for that bus at certain times of the day especially late at night
Perhaps the Gravesend or Mill Basin area even near Marine Park might be more like it.
I moved to canarsie in the early 80's. I attended John Wilson Jr. High and then went to Canarsie High school. Back then there was lots of racial tension in the neighborhood. I lived right across the street from Canarsie High. We could not go across the street when the white boys were playing baseball. In fact one summer we witnessed a black guy attempted to ride his motorcycle around the track while they were playing baseball, me and my older sister knew what was going to happen next and tried to yell and warn him, but it was too late. They yelled "get the Mod cut: language and proceded to break beer bottles over his head. He finally managed to make it across the street where we called an ambulance and the police.
In fact being one of the first people of color to actually live on Rockaway Parkway we were subject to all types of racial slurs. The L boys would drive by in there cars and yell out racial remarks at us and spit at us etc. Eventually more blacks moved into our neighborhood and the white Italians did not like it. The neighborhood started to get more diversified. This led to even more race riots and racial attacks against us. Eventually this race riots spilled into the schools. Canarsie High school discontinued there lunch period due to the race riots in the cafeteria. Being mixed race and jamaican my sister would get compliments which were not really compliments at all. They would say you are so pretty for a black girl. I myself got jumped by a bunch of white boys just because i was walking up ave L.
Anyway with more middle classed West Indians and african americans moving into the neighborhood this started the gradual exodus of Italians and white jewish people from Canarsie.
My mother and father still reside in Canarsie and for over twenty years,our house has never been robbed nor has anyone ever harmed them. I now live and work in Jamaica (West Indies) however I still consider canarsie my home. I remember getting hot bagels on sundays at the bagel shop going to canarsie pier to fish and hang out.Riding my bicycle to Reese beach to watch the naked people on the nude beach. The Cheerleaders who used to wake me up on weekends with there big mouths. Go Chiefs...... Canarsie may have not been as violent in the past for white people but for blacks...Hell yea it was.....
Last edited by Viralmd; 11-10-2009 at 05:54 AM..
Reason: Language
I am a 51 year old white Special ed teacher there it is. I REALLY don't give a crap where I teach as long as i KNOW i am making a difference. I have an interview at the Former HS . Listen I teach because i love it. I truly do. I have no qualms where or who I teach, as long as what i do matters.
Location: Red Hook Brooklyn-winter Derby Line Vermont-summer
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Not this subject again! It is a slum.No it's not ENY or Brownsville but it is still not safe.Yes I am white,yes I went to Canarsie HS in the mid 80s.Yes I was bum rushed and had my chain stolen by residents of the Breukelen Houses on my way home to Starrett City on the B-50 bus.It was never perfect and there was a lot of racial tension in my school but it was certainly a safe place to raise a family back then.It was the "outsiders" that caused most of the school tension and petty crime.Fast forward 20 years and you have an unsafe slum.It is also not that close to Marine Park as a previous poster said. And the only post i have seen that makes some sense is the one that says if you are going to live in that part of Brooklyn then Mill Basin/Bergen Beach/Georgetown area is the only family friendly area in that part of the borough.And if you can afford 500k for a home why choose Canarsie? You would be better off renting in Starrett City which is not great but safer and more family friendly. If this makes me a bigot than so be it.
Not this subject again! It is a slum.No it's not ENY or Brownsville but it is still not safe.Yes I am white,yes I went to Canarsie HS in the mid 80s.Yes I was bum rushed and had my chain stolen by residents of the Breukelen Houses on my way home to Starrett City on the B-50 bus.It was never perfect and there was a lot of racial tension in my school but it was certainly a safe place to raise a family back then.It was the "outsiders" that caused most of the school tension and petty crime.Fast forward 20 years and you have an unsafe slum.It is also not that close to Marine Park as a previous poster said. And the only post i have seen that makes some sense is the one that says if you are going to live in that part of Brooklyn then Mill Basin/Bergen Beach/Georgetown area is the only family friendly area in that part of the borough.And if you can afford 500k for a home why choose Canarsie? You would be better off renting in Starrett City which is not great but safer and more family friendly. If this makes me a bigot than so be it.
im sorry but slum is an exaggeration.....to me its nothing more than an average midde class neighborhood....not good but not bad either...i used to date a girl in canarsie and walked around there all hours of the night, parked my car in a dark spot and nothing ever happened to it, and took the L train home too, plenty of times past midnight still nothing happened.
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
i lived in canarsie up until the mid 70's.. i have to say i was so impressed when i passed thru there last year.. i expected to see like east new york but to tell you the truth except for the names on the stores it looked the same as it did when i lived there.
i expected the worst and except for the ethnic change i gotta say it was like i never left .
i cant comment about the crime or gang issues , but just from how things looked i was blown away
Canarsie is not a ghetto but quality of life has gone down in recent years (primarily from congestion). In the early 90's they lowered the income requirements for the housing projects in the area (from middle to low income) inviting the folks from the surrounding areas (E. NY and Brownsville, E. Flatbush) and White Flight (those folk took their services with them) Then the increase in youth crime (which accounts for the bulk of crime in the area) backed by gangs vs the Mafia Crime that existed from the 70's to the 90's on a smaller scale, Lastly Canarsie these day is a great place if your a renter from rougher parts of Brooklyn (E. NY and Brownsville, E. Flatbush, Bed-Stuy, Flatbush, Crown Heights) trying to upgrade but if your middle to upper middle class family looking for a home in Brooklyn and better schools/ Quality of life consider Mill Basin, Georgetown, or Marine Park.
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I don't think that would be the best suitable area for a family with 3 young children to be honest.
Canarsie was just as violent in the past...
