Diverse areas in Westchester vs Diverse area on Long Island (New York: home, gated communities)
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Well you might as well avoid times square with your attitude. Just because some housing is subpar in accordance to other homes and neighborhoods doesn't mean the town is a slum. You are foolish and primitive.
This is not how I feel. These are the comments I read on the LI forum. I was trying to see if the feeling is mutual in Westchester but I can happily say it is not.
Where Long Island creates killers like those boys who were out "hunting" day laborers in Patchogue, those things are less likely to happen in Westchester.
It appears that one bad apple doesn't spoil a town in the county north of the Bronx.
No, it certainly does not. But you seem to be characterizing Long Islanders as complete idiots. While I have noticed that many have Westchester-envy, it has not been my experience that Long Islanders are collectively a bunch of morons (except the guidos weaving in traffic and tailgating on the parkways, but they're everywhere in the NY area).
Long Islanders tend to see things at face value. Your town is only as good as your downtown. Ex. White Plains has a housing project by its downtown, that's urban blight, therefore it's not a suitable place to raise a family. Yet, the reality is that White Plains is a magnet for coporate companies and upscale shopping. That would be downplayed and the drug dealing or gang violence taking place in the projects would be the issues of concern.
That's simple absurdity. Just like Manhattan, but on a much smaller scaler, White Plains is a diverse city. Yes, it has housing projects. It also has mansions, it has million dollar penthouses. It does have upscale shopping (as well as $1-stores). Many middle-class and even upper middle-class people send their children to White Plains public schools.
Based on your "perspective" -- Manhattan is a slum, simply because it is diverse.
What I've seen of Port Chester, it would have the respect of say Patchogue.. Basically, a haven for degenerates and illegals.
Degenerates and illegals??? Port Chester is a working class communities.. With homes priced around $400,000-$600,000, instead of $800,000+. Still, I don't know many "illegals" or "degenerates" that can afford homes in that price range.
Crime is not particularly high in Port Chester. Even the schools are "fair," with a graduation rate over 75%.
Meanwhile, Port Chester has been attracted major commercial tenants, and upscale restaurants. (Try getting a reservation at Mario Batali's Tarry Lodge).
This thread is turning my stomach. The "this isn't how I feel, I'm just saying what others would say" cover is a vey thin and feeble excuse and it really does not make it okay to say intolerant and racist things. Some people might think that the OP is a narrow-minded, moonshine-guzzling, redneck, confederate flag waving, KKK member. I don't feel that way, but some people might.
It's nice to see Westchester residents defend their diverse towns. It's a different story on the LI threads. You think I'm an idiot, just read threads on towns like Baldwin, Valley Stream, Lakeview, Hempstead. Having houses priced at $400,000 means nothing to these posters.
What I think is sad about the topic is that you see it across the other forums in different states, even if the whole community isn't that bad. So, Long Island is not alone in terms of how certain communities are viewed in terms of perception.
What I think is sad about the topic is that you see it across the other forums in different states, even if the whole community isn't that bad. So, Long Island is not alone in terms of how certain communities are viewed in terms of perception.
Really? Thanks for the info. I never gave it much thought beyond the NY suburbs and wanted to dismiss it by saying wealth and education plays a factor. Although, Westchester is in general a bit wealthier than Long Island, both are known for having well educated residents. Now it seems you're tellimg me that Westchester may be atypical of this opinion on diversity.The bashing of a whole town because of a few bad apples may be prevalent in other metro areas. Food for thought.
People I know on Long Island, and I know some who have lived there for generations, tend to be a tad more provincial. Someone I know who lives in a nice part of Garden City, fears everything outside the village limits because it's not GC. Similarly, at their summer home on the east end, they have neighbors who are neighbors, or from surrounding areas of Garden City, so that it's basically the same social set transplanted out east. They also act as though Westchester is a foreign country, and Connecticut -- Well, you just may as well ask them to go to Canada for lunch as opposed to meet you in Westport.
I do not know why they are so provincial, but it's not only a GC phenomenon, at least in those I have noticed. People I know who live in gated communities, or in places like Sands Point and parts of Manhasset actually tend to be worse, fearing anything that's not an exact clone of where they live as being dangerous. Perhaps it's a function of density on the island, since LI tends to be more populated, especially close to the city, but there is a degree of hysteria that I have noticed with people I know that they are truly out of their comfort zone quite easily.
In contrast, people in Westchester are less likely to be virtual shut-ins, and are open to going to different communities, and different places. One other thing I find curious is the association with NYC, primarily The Bronx and Manhattan, in Westchester, where there is no fear of the city; hence, no fear of more urban planning elements, like public housing, in denser areas in Westchester.
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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)
Why do residents in Westchester praise their diverse areas, while diverse areas on Long Island get bad reps as ghettos, dangerous, unsafe, infestations? Places like Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Port Chester, White Plains, Peekskill, Tarrytown, Elmsford, Ossining and of course Yonkers would be considered slums, unsafe, even ghettos by Long Island standards. Yet, I've seen threads where many Westchester posters praise these cities and towns, using words such as quaint, walkable downtowns, having great restaurants, lovely big homes, upscale neighborhood. Are people from Westchester blind and crazy or are we Long Islanders the blind ones?
As a Long Islander (Suffolk) now living in Westchester, I can say that based on cities you've listed and I've ctually been to, that (southwest) Yonkers and Peekskill, are pretty damned run down, with a stabbing or shooting, what, every other day?
Even LI ghettos like Wyandanch, Mastic Beach, Hempstead, and Uniondale dont have that level of violence.
For the record, I preferred LI to Westchester, I work in North Manhattan and the commute was killing me, so I moved to Tuckahoe. Its too damned crowded here, and all the parking meters drive me nuts, free parking pretty much wherever you please is the norm in Suffolk. And why are Westchester residents deemed too stupid to not make rights on red? 90% of intersections I come to in lower Westchester have those idiotic signs. Was there a rash of deaths a few years back?
Last edited by Kreutz; 07-20-2010 at 08:36 PM..
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This is not how I feel. These are the comments I read on the LI forum. I was trying to see if the feeling is mutual in Westchester but I can happily say it is not.
