Bad Neighborhoods to avoid???

[Fabrizio]

Lol. Good one.

[Schadenfrau]

But thery are surrounded but many luxury high-rises, so there are lots of people walking around in the area who are making enough not be interested in my wife's purse...

Not to mention one reason why UES, I think, is very safe: most luxury apartment buildings have multiple cameras in operation 24-7, so are bank branches and stores. Kind of difficult to do anything without being caught on camera....

You know who else has multiple cameras in operation 24-7? Low-income housing projects.

MrSpice, if you're going to make such weirdly bold and inaccurate statements as telling people never to walk in a neighborhood with a housing project, you have to be consistent. So, which is it: is your neighborhood safe or not? The Holmes Towers are below 96th Street, so you can't use that as a marker.

I think what you're really trying to say is that people should use common sense in sizing up the safety of a neighborhood, which is what practically everyone has been saying ALL ALONG.

[ZippyTheChimp]

But thery are surrounded but many luxury high-rises, so there are lots of people walking around in the area who are making enough not be interested in my wife's purse...

Just for fun, let's compare the neighborhood where Mrs Spice carries her purse (19th precinct) with the intersection in question - Amsterdam and 138th St (26th precinct)

Precinct.....................19th................. .26th
2005
Robberies..................307.................... 264
Burglary....................478................... .111
Grand larceny...........1889....................356

[OmegaNYC]

Interesting find Zippy.

[MrSpice]

You know who else has multiple cameras in operation 24-7? Low-income housing projects.

MrSpice, if you're going to make such weirdly bold and inaccurate statements as telling people never to walk in a neighborhood with a housing project, you have to be consistent. So, which is it: is your neighborhood safe or not? The Holmes Towers are below 96th Street, so you can't use that as a marker.

I think what you're really trying to say is that people should use common sense in sizing up the safety of a neighborhood, which is what practically everyone has been saying ALL ALONG.

I would not advise my wife to walk alone next to the Homes housing projects. Especially in the eveing, I see a bunch of weird characters just hanging around there, doing nothing. I only feel safe there at 8 o 9 when some of the stores are open and lots of people are walking by. Housing projects breed crime. Harlem is just plan bad neighborhood and always has been. I really don't get your point and why you always defend well-known bad neighborhoods when people point it out.

[MrSpice]

Just for fun, let's compare the neighborhood where Mrs Spice carries her purse (19th precinct) with the intersection in question - Amsterdam and 138th St (26th precinct)

Precinct.....................19th................. .26th
2005
Robberies..................307.................... 264
Burglary....................478................... .111
Grand larceny...........1889....................356

You don't even need any kind of statistics to understand 138th street is a bad area. You spend there 5 min at 11pm and you know you should get the hell out of there. Certainly, not a place to be alone for a woman. I think it's obvious to any logical person. Schadenfrau clearly has a angenda because she would never choose to live there alone if she had to make that choice. There's a reason why people pay 2/3 times more to live in other areas...

[Schadenfrau]

What in the world could my "angenda" be?

I do have my own apartment in the Bronx, MrSpice. Which neighborhood are you trying to tell me I would never live alone in?

[lofter1]

hmmm ... maybe the area near 138th + Amsterdam should be reconsidered ...

One killed, one injured in fast-food restaurant shooting

6/18/2006, 12:37 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
LINK

NEW YORK (AP) — A man in a fast-food restaurant shot two other patrons early Sunday morning, killing one and critically injuring the other, police said.

The incident took place around 3:45 a.m., at a chicken restaurant on Broadway near 136th street. The two males, ages 21 and 15, were ordering when another man entered the premises, said Det. Theresa Farello.

The man shot the two men. The 21-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. The 15-year-old was in critical condition, Farello said.

No names or additional information was available. The shooter had not been found.

© 2006 SILive.com.

[ryan]

What in the world could my "angenda" be?

I do have my own apartment in the Bronx, MrSpice. Which neighborhood are you trying to tell me I would never live alone in?

What?! A woman all alone? Who protects your purse?

[Schadenfrau]

Don't you worry about me, Ryan. I sit safely in front of the TV, knitting baby booties and watching my soaps until a nice young volunteer man comes around with the TV dinners and funny pages of the day. One time I ventured out on my own and a strange man whizzed by on a bike, hollering something like, "Hey Mommy!" and nearly scared me half to death. I learned my lesson after that.

[Fabrizio]

I don´t know these projects (Holmes Towers) but the formula to many of them....towers in park like settings, lack of shops and normal street life activities does make for an uncomfortable setting. The bad urban design of many of these projects and how that can breed crime has been discussed and debated by architects, urban planners and sociologists for about the last 25 years or so.


Interesting article (NYTimes) about the Holmes Towers below.


"Three years ago, Rose Bergin watched, beaming, as her husband, James, cut the ribbon on a renovated park beside their longtime home, the Stanley Isaacs Houses. The couple had helped raise government money to install new playground equipment near Isaacs Houses and its neighbor, the John Holmes Towers, two public housing projects at East 93rd Street and First Avenue.

But since last summer, Ms. Bergin has watched the park sit mostly empty.

''We created this beautiful park, but it's sad because my neighbors are too scared to go out there, day or night,'' said Ms. Bergin, who is now a widow. ''Even I don't go out there anymore.''

In June, a 62-year-old woman was stabbed to death in her Isaacs Houses apartment. No one was arrested. The following month, a man who lived in Isaacs Houses threw himself from a 19th-floor window. The man survived, but the incidents sparked fears among residents about the overall safety of the two complexes, the only public housing on the Upper East Side.

The anomaly of a troubled project in this wealthy neighborhood has also frustrated Councilwoman Eva S. Moskowitz, who set aside $75,000 in city money two years ago to pay for two security cameras for the complex. But the New York City Housing Authority, which oversees public housing, never spent the money and it was recently revoked as part of city budget cuts.

When it comes to the safety of public housing residents, Ms. Moskowitz said she sees a double standard at work."

''A person is a person whether they live on Fifth Avenue or in a project,'' she said. ''There shouldn't be such a disconnect in the safety and services here.''

''The neighbors' fears are understandable,'' Captain Clary said, ''but there's a quantum level of difference between the crime at Isaacs and Holmes and the crime at the projects farther uptown.''

Such reassurances are small comfort for Ms. Bergin, who plans to stay indoors for now.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...52C1A9649C8B63

[Ninjahedge]

What in the world could my "angenda" be?

To try and take over the world?

[MrSpice]

What in the world could my "angenda" be?

I do have my own apartment in the Bronx, MrSpice. Which neighborhood are you trying to tell me I would never live alone in?

Bronx is huge. Where is the Bronx? I have been in the Bronx many times. Some areas are scary during the day (South Bronx), while in other one can spend the whole night without feeling any anxiety (Riverdale, for example).

You should feel free to walk alone anywhere you like. But the question was for other people - where would I feel safe for my wife to walk around after dark. If you like hanging around in Harlem at night and risk your life, it's up to you. But let's try to keep other safe.

Fabrizio posted a good story that proves once again - housing projects should be avoided, especially at night.

[ZippyTheChimp]

^
This is what you said.

That is not a safe neighborhood. Everything above 125th street on West Side is Harlem is generally not safe, especially after dark.

Housing projects can be unsafe due to their physical design, the same way any park can be unsafe.

No matter how you rationalize it, the entire neighborhood has less crime than yours.

[Schadenfrau]

MrSpice, that took place a block from your home. How can you talk about avoiding the place?

And I've told you a million times: I live in the South Bronx.