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I will be working at the Federal Plaza in The City and looking for a safe area with easy commute to the city. I have a 12 year old son so public schools are important. Would like a 40 minute door to door commute and looking at spending around 2k a month on rent. We are relocating from Raleigh, NC and I will be bringing a car with me. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I work at Federal Plaza, I live in Brooklyn but since you have a school aged kid(and want good schools), you may want to look at towns close to NJ Transit( that run into Penn Station) then take the 2 train down to Chambers, walk 4 blocks to work or a Metro North line, that runs into Grand Central like the town of White Plains. Its a 15 min express ride at most from Grand Central to the City Hall station, right next to Federal Plaza. However, that 40 min commute time will be tough. I have a co-worker who lives in Montclair and it takes him 40 mins. You may hear things about Long Island but I wouldn't recommend it. Most of my Long Island co-workers take well over an hour to get to work, sometimes 2.5 hours way out. Unfortunately, none of the commuter trains run downtown.
White Plains will be an hour to Lower Manhattan, on an express, and the schools are not great. Better school districts in Westchester that are close-in, might not have a huge supply of rentals. Pelham might have some in co-ops or converted single-family homes. You would be 30 minutes to Grand Central from Pelham.
If you want to remain in the city, you could always look at Riverdale in The Bronx since you can be at Grand Central in under 30 minutes on the Metro-North train, and there's also the BxM18 express bus that goes to Lower Manhattan in about an hour. An even better bet might be eastern Queens, since you can take the LIRR to Penn in 20-30 minutes, and then have a faster ride downtown. District 26 area schools are the best neighborhood schools, by district, in the city, so you would look in Bayside (but not all of Bayside as some is District 25), Douglaston, Little Neck, etc. It's also much easier to keep a car in Riverdale or eastern Queens if you choose to remain in the city.
Some towns in Westchester require that the vehicle be off-street at night, so parking would need to be with the unit, or via town permit in a specific lot. There can also be long waiting lists for a train station parking permit in NJ and Westchester. However, in Rivedale, you would have the option of the Hudson Railink bus that goes from the two MNRR stations to various areas of the neighborhood in a few minutes. You could also be relatively close to a station in Queens, too, so you might not have to worry about driving to the station. MNRR and LIRR are going to be the fastest, both within the city and in Westchester, since the subway is slower, and areas in NJ that are on the PATH don't have the best schools. Forest Hills would also be a consideration in Queens, but parking can be a nightmare, but the LIRR is fast to Penn.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
I have a close friend working there... Very accessible via the 4,5,6 subways and thus Grand Central. Also the N,R. And the Path. You can live anywhere and get to work with little problem. Try to live on the Lower East Side (take M21 bus to B'way, M1 or M6 to right in front of 26 FP... Or... M14 to Union Square to the 4,5,6. Welcome!
I see there is someone else getting very little help from their agency. We are transferring up in July and are having a very hard time finding a place to live.
To laterkiii, where in Brooklyn are you? Any advice on finding a place that is remotely affordable?
Brooklyn Heights or DUMBO, nice, safe, close to work.
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