Renting an Apartment on Utica x Montgomery. Safe?

akroor

I am new to the forums and been checking up on how safe it is in Utica x Montogomery, that area. I just put down 500 for a deposit for a place there, and only after doing that had the sense to look up the safety issue. Some of my roommates are white girls new to the city, and I dont want anything happening to them. Im from Baltimore and have lived in some pretty rough neighborhoods, but I dont myself want to worry about walking 10 minutes south from the Utica Avenue 3,4 stop. My work means Ill be coming back at 4 - 5 am. Should I worry? Thanks!

akroor

Info and Input from anyone living in that vicinity would be greatly appreciated!

whynot_31

Spotcrime.com will give you reported crime for that immediate area.

There is are a lot of buses and dollar vans that run down Utica, in the event that you feel unsafe walking.

Be safe. If you don't like the area, you can always not renew your lease...

eastbloc

Utica has always been the border of the area I've been harassed for being white. Multiple times. I can't say I've felt unsafe, but I'm 6'4" and 240lbs. I've certainly felt unwelcome.

Your mileage may vary.

mrsfoil

Just go there - go there Friday night at 10pm, then come back at 12pm, then come back at 3am. Do the same on weeknights and Saturday nights. < My mom's sage advice from 30 yrs ago. I have a friend, a white woman in her 60's, that went out to that area to look at an apt and was harassed coming and going by black guys and even a few women said shit to her, in the day time.

Safe is how you feel right? Safety isn't just crime stats. Most crime committed is black on black & white on white and at times late at night on certain corners on certain blocks, etc.

whynot_31

Mrsfoil is giving good advice.

...If our original poster ends up not taking this apartment, or moving in the future, I hope they will follow such advice BEFORE putting down a deposit on the next apartment.

xlizellx

I never felt unsafe but I was called at and what not as I walked around the area. The B46 runs up/down Utica and is pretty reliant. That said, new to the city people might not enjoy it - if only because the only restaurants are take out Chinese or Caribbean or chains (White Castle,McDonalds, Wendy's)

xlizellx

I never felt unsafe but I was called at and what not as I walked around the area. The B46 runs up/down Utica and is pretty reliant. That said, new to the city people might not enjoy it - if only because the only restaurants are take out Chinese or Caribbean or chains (White Castle,McDonalds, Wendy's)

the psycho-ologist

Wow I love reading these posts. I wonder why no one ever comes here and posts about the safety of Bay Ridge, Boro Park, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace or Kensington?

Why is Crown Heights such a popular moving destination if all you new jacks are so damn scared of it?

Just curious

xlizellx

The Psycho-ologist said:

Wow I love reading these posts. I wonder why no one ever comes here and posts about the safety of Bay Ridge, Boro Park, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace or Kensington?

Why is Crown Heights such a popular moving destination if all you new jacks are so damn scared of it?

Just curious

I moved to Crown Heights because it has great subway and bus lines. I now live in an area where I would not ask about safety ... But I'm also bored out of my mind and take cabs/dollar vans way more than I want to since I have an unlimited metro card since the subways are not as great. People probably ask because it is legit not safe fairly often.

From where the OP is asking, head a few blocks south. there...I saw people shot. I saw blood on the street as I walked to work. I saw bars/stores closed because of slayings there the night before. So y, they warrant questions on safety. Dd I feel unsafe? Periodically, but usually no since I was not a target of the violence. But look at crime stats in eastern CH compared to the areas you listed. That would be why they asked.

eastbloc

Probably because this is the Crown Heights forum.

Why are you here, and reading it with such great interest? Jealous that your nabe isn't thriving as well?

the psycho-ologist

Probably because this is the Crown Heights forum.

Why are you here, and reading it with such great interest? Jealous that your nabe isn't thriving as well?

Hmm, why am I here???? Maybe because as soon as you type www.Brooklynian.com and the forum page comes up, whatever topic has just been recently posted appears irregardless, of its topic or location.

Having stalked, haunted or maybe sat around gazing at this site for one too many years, I have noticed the following repeating patterns:

Summer noise complaints

Please adopt this cat/pitbull

Im new and looking for a cheap apartment

and.... Drumroll... IS this--- in Crown Heights safe?

I vote for a GIGANTIC sticky, on the front page of Brooklynian saying: Sooo, you are thinking of moving to Crown Heights? Peek here at a block by block listing of all the safety posts, and pick your block. A sticky like that might actually be so helpful.

Actually scrap my last idea, I love the amusement of watching various posters divine the racial/class/gender/gentrification motives of the poster and the responders.

whynot_31

In my view, to use this website as a indicator of where new jacks are moving to is an error.

While CH is among the Brooklyn neighborhoods that are rapidly changing, Brooklynian started in Prospect Heights several years ago, and has largely gained new members through word of mouth.

CH is where we seem to have the most active posters, but this has not always been the case....

Similar questions are asked on Facebook and redit forums about many neighborhoods.... In my view, Brooklynian has had relatively few discussions re: Bed Stuy and Williamsburg despite the huge changes that have taken place there.

cool the kid

The Psycho-ologist said:

Hmm, why am I here???? Maybe because as soon as you type www.Brooklynian.com and the forum page comes up, whatever topic has just been recently posted appears irregardless, of its topic or location.

Having stalked, haunted or maybe sat around gazing at this site for one too many years, I have noticed the following repeating patterns:

Summer noise complaints

Please adopt this cat/pitbull

Im new and looking for a cheap apartment

and.... Drumroll... IS this--- in Crown Heights safe?

I vote for a GIGANTIC sticky, on the front page of Brooklynian saying: Sooo, you are thinking of moving to Crown Heights? Peek here at a block by block listing of all the safety posts, and pick your block. A sticky like that might actually be so helpful.

Actually scrap my last idea, I love the amusement of watching various posters divine the racial/class/gender/gentrification motives of the poster and the responders.

You didnt really answer the question

You claim to be tired of the repetitiveness + narrow scope of the topics here, but you keep coming back...?

ehgee

I'm pretty new to the city myself, and moved to (far western) Crown Heights because it was the best place I could find for the price. I know a lot of young, new-to-the-city coworkers and friends moving to Crown Heights, too. For some folks, it's the second place they find once they know the city better; for others, they find their first sublet here on Craigslist. It's mostly western-ish Crown Heights, though, not much beyond Nostrand.

Other folks are in South Slope or Windsor Terrace, and a few in Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. The rest of Brownstone Brooklyn has just gotten too expensive for young folks, and, I reckon, pretty much anyone else who isn't rich and doesn't own or have a rent-stabilized place.

eastbloc

Like it or not, the western part of north Crown Heights has been the Brooklyn nabe fastest changing for the positive over the last four or five years, and that change is only accelerating. The trend is happening for good reason, with solid housing stock, excellent transportation options, and skyrocketing property values in neighboring Prospect Heights, not to mention the efforts of the CHCA and developers and retailers smelling opportunity.

The only folks who can claim that Franklin Avenue has not arrived are those who haven't been there lately, and the changes are slowly but inexorably trending eastwards as prices begin to rise out of reach of the young families and professionals who are interested in moving to this developing neighborhood.

Crown Heights encompasses a broad area and varies considerably depending on where you are. So people will rightfully ask what a given area is like, and others will cite Compstat to disparage the entire 77th as if it was equally representative of every block.

Haters gonna hate what they can't have.

booklaw

Chloeroyale, i've just sent you a PM. Please read it carefully.