movin on up (or down)

bkques

Hi there. I have lived on the border of prospect heights/crown heights (dean & washington) for five years and it's been great. Great neighbors, etc. My bf and I wanted to save money on rent and though we had found the perfect place. Brand new apt on St. Johns and Underhill. Super close to the park and what seemed like a better deal. I just moved in and have already had an altercation with someone in the building. Plus... the place wreaks of weed every night. Also everyone is telling be it was a bad move and, although close to the park, it is not as safe as my old area. One blog even said it's a "problem corner". Am I just driving myself insane looking online? What do you guys think?

whynot_31

I would argue there are two blocks West of Washington that have not been fully gentrified:

St. John's between Underhill and Washington,
Lincoln between Underhill and Washington.

We've discussed in detail in the past.... typing in "crazy lane" brings up some good, albeit them old, results.

It seems that the tenaments have just not gone condo.... one may be better renting on the less dense streets.

catwalkertexasranger

Subject: Re: movin on up (or down)

bkques wrote: Hi there. I have lived on the border of prospect heights/crown heights (dean & washington) for five years and it's been great. Great neighbors, etc. My bf and I wanted to save money on rent and though we had found the perfect place. Brand new apt on St. Johns and Underhill. Super close to the park and what seemed like a better deal. I just moved in and have already had an altercation with someone in the building. Plus... the place wreaks of weed every night. Also everyone is telling be it was a bad move and, although close to the park, it is not as safe as my old area. One blog even said it's a "problem corner". Am I just driving myself insane looking online? What do you guys think?

I think that if you walked or drove down Underhill and used Atlantic as your turnaround came back on Washington and zigzagged your way back using Eastern Parkway as the other border you should be happy that the weed wreak is coming from another apt. Instead of the hallway or stairway from non residents using your new pad as an ashtray.If you are on some test lease that's cool but otherwise buy some papers and get comfortable for a year or 2.This is a Rasta/Carib area smoking some weed doesn't always mean criminal behavior to everybody. Every street throughout the area has somebody burning one walking,standing or sitting but everybody is smoking. All this buyers and renters remorse stuff is a chuckle. If you are freakin now you should get a prescription for summer. wait until you see how the youth of the neighborhood spend their summer vacation. Go against the grain and instead of tensing up relax and give things a chance. All the drug dealers on my street are very nice to me.

niner

We live on the corner of SJ and UH - yeah, it's like that most of the time. Wait until the roving groups of teens are out on the streets every night, yelling, fighting, and simulating sex - it's fantastic.

We try to keep to ourselves, but we certainly make an effort to say hello to those we see regularly in the neighborhood and in our building. We found that if you say hello and chat frequently, they are less likely to be pissed when you ask them not to blaze up at 3 a.m. because it comes right into your place and you have to work in the morning.

We've enjoyed (most of) our time in this part of town, but I think it may be about time to move on.

bkques

Yea I mean the ween. no prob. i don't really care. but wow its just so weird to me that this one block could be so different than the rest of the area.

whynot_31

bkques wrote: Yea I mean the ween. no prob. i don't really care. but wow its just so weird to me that this one block could be so different than the rest of the area.

Theory #1: As opposed to most blocks in the hood, that block is composed of large buildings. These large buildings didn't go "market rate" b/c the landlords decided Section 8 was a better bet (the landlords were likely better off as a result of this decision.

Theory #2: Rent control and rent stabilization have prevented much turn over.

Theory #3: A combination of 1 and 2.

asil

Yes -- theory #3.

Also, I think most of the other blocks on that side of Washington have a much higher percentage of homeowners as opposed to renters. Makes a big difference.

hatemail

I think you were better off down. I used to live on St. Marks and moved up to Lincoln Place. Kind of regretting it! It was nice an quiet down there!

bkques

Thanks all. When I was over on Dean I would come to my new area every weekend and was always thinking wow I wish I lived over here. i haven't gotten a bad impression of the block at all this first week. I'm basing my reservatons solely on what I've been reading online. Maybe I should have never done that initial search! I think I'm going to give it a chance and see what happens.

bkchickie

I guess it's a moot point--you already moved. My opinion agrees with WhyNot.

If you want to give living over there a try, then definitely do so! The neighborhood clearly needs more people like you in it

jeffrey

Silly side question...

How do most folks think of "moving down to..." and "moving up to..." in the area?

I've noticed that most folks here say "moving down to..." when they are actually talking about moving northward. Is it a function of topography (a hill) as opposed to North and South?

arches

I'm with you Jeffrey..."down" is always "south" in my mind. Although I suppose there's that pesky little problem that downtown brooklyn is north of here!

architecture biscuit

I'm on the down=south and up=north team, myself.

whynot_31

In this instance down might be related to the subway?

...one goes South to get to eastern parkway, then down the stairs?

bkchickie

jeffrey wrote: Silly side question...

How do most folks think of "moving down to..." and "moving up to..." in the area?

I've noticed that most folks here say "moving down to..." when they are actually talking about moving northward. Is it a function of topography (a hill) as opposed to North and South?

The topography up/down versus geography up/down has me SO confused. My gut is telling me that down is north, but my brain is trying to tell me that down is south. :-)

maryk

Back to original topic....
I just moved to that block but closer to Washington. I was very weary of the move after reading a lot of different blogs, but actually am very pleasantly surprised. People are nice and friendly for the most part. At night I take the 2/3 home, get off at Eastern Pkwy and walk home on Wash. I am cautious but feel relatively safe (as opposed to taking the Q and walking through the quieter streets). Haven't spent a summer here yet, and know it's quite different, but we'll see. I used to live at Dean/Underhill and love being so close to the park, museum, botanic garden, farmer's mkt....
Welcome to the block.

thinkdream

i agree with maryk. i've lived on st johns, closer to underhill, for 3 years now- it's not too bad... you get to know a lot of the folks on the block and theyre pretty friendly for the most part. but of course, using caution and being aware of what is going on around you is a necessity. i, too, take the 2/3 home late and get off at eastern pkwy instead of the Q or even getting off at grand army and walking the quieter streets. and altho i've been there for a short time i think there has definitely been some amount of gentrification in that amount of time. and those few buildings very close to underhill have seemed to undergo extreme renovations on the outside as well as what seem to be new floors up top. and being so close to the park, farmers market, botanical gardens is a huge plus.

clearly i am pro st johns pl b/w wash and underhill

whynot_31

thinkdream wrote: altho i've been there for a short time i think there has definitely been some amount of gentrification in that amount of time. and those few buildings very close to underhill have seemed to undergo extreme renovations on the outside as well as what seem to be new floors up top. and being so close to the park, farmers market, botanical gardens is a huge plus.

clearly i am pro st johns pl b/w wash and underhill

I'm rooting for you, I am.

...and I sincerely hope that there will never be another out of control "huge concert" following what was otherwise a "neighborhood block party" (as was the case last summer).

In addition to the huge concert, last year's event was marred by two murders.

http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=609578&sid=ef16902a9270e0116a43b03dbbbf28f2

....Summer is just around the corner. We will see.

thinkdream

agreed, whynot. i missed that day- was gone from morning til night and only heard about the incident through the blog later on. very unfortunate.