Question on safety

yomister · July 2009

Hi,

I'm about to sign a lease on the apartment building at 480 St Mark's Ave, and just wanted to get some opinions on relative safety/safety reccomendations in the area. I currently live in Fort Greene and have a feeling I'm moving to an area a little less safe than I'm used to, but who knows. Please let me here opinions from both sides of the "safe," "not safe," debate I seem to find on a number of message boards about this address.

MOD NOTE: moved to the Crown Heights board

brokechick · July 2009

i was mugged walking home from my apartment a little after midnight on a weekday when i lived a few blocks from there (bedford and park), but before that i lived there for a year and never felt unsafe or uneasy. i moved last november and have talked to a few people since then who said they moved around the same time i did because they just didn't feel comfortable anymore--but they (and i) are all single girls who are often coming home late. when i was mugged, the police who took my statement were somewhere between stunned and smugly condescending about my living in that neighborhood by myself (one of them actually said to me, "you can't be from new york if you didn't know about crown heights"), but the other people in my building were kind of shocked and said nothing like that had happened there before. maybe the safety level has declined recently. i can't say for sure. i do feel safer where i live now and wouldn't go back, but i recognize that bad things can happen anywhere. the address you're talking about is certainly not the worst neighborhood in brooklyn. ultimately only you can decide whether you'll be happy there. spend some time in the area during times of day when you're likely to be out. if you're uneasy, it probably isn't worth it to live there.

xlizellx · July 2009

i live not that far from there and as a white young female living alone, i've never had any serious problems. in all honesty, the only issue i've ever had was 2 years ago when i was walking to a bodega to buy some granola bars for my students and a guy was talking to me on the street...i was in a really bad mood that night and it was really late, so i just kept walking into the store...he and his friends then started saying i was a bitch and other things cause i wouldn't talk. it turned into "the girl thinks she's too good for us...i wouldn't care if something happened to her" and when i walked past them again one had a gun out. there was no direct threat to me, but they sure made me know i wasn't welcomed there.

that said, i find that if you say hi back to people, keep your head up, appear confident, you're generally ok. I would stay on Franklin walking back from the train until you get to St. Marks and then turn - while Franklin's business is not always legal stuff, it generally makes people just ignore those just walking by. It's the quieter, darker, side streets that often times make people think it's ok to harrass/attack someone.

For the most part, it's NYC - not too different from most I think.

jack krohn · July 2009

This area has seen some very rought time over the past 30 or so years, but is currently improving by the day. I'm sure you'll be fine, especially if you take the time to say hello to others and appear friendly. The main barrier to good relations with others is an appearance of aloofness. Provided that you can demonstrate you don't fall into that camp, you should be just fine. I think the area will only continue to go up from here on out.

cool the kid · July 2009

I lived in 475 St Marks for a while... that whole Alma complex is prob one of the safer blocks in the neighborhood. I know people who have lived in that building since it opened who have never been mugged/robbed/w/e, mainly single women. Difference is though they travel in packs and take cabs when its late. You have to change your strategy a bit but its easy to stay safe here.

yomister · July 2009

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It was really helpful and generally the same things I heard from other people I know who already live in the area. Just always like to do my homework.

the chipster · July 2009

Once again I would recommend right rides. They provide free transportation to women and trans gender folk-drunk or not. It's from Fri to Sat? but check other post for latest info.

capt. planet · July 2009

Sometimes pioneers take a few arrows, but they also get the good land! It's all a matter of how much you want to be a pioneer.

carnivore · July 2009

Many people might find the "pioneer" language objectionable, seeing as how there are already people living in the neighborhood, and they have been for years. Do they not count somehow? I know that's not how you meant it, CP, but it's important to think about how your words might sound to someone coming from a different perspective.

catwalkertexasranger · July 2009

The area is pretty safe. There are lots of drug dealers from EP to Atlantic on Franklin.They usually mark their areas with a bandanna or two on the street signs or their hat color. They are looking to sell and not get hassled by the cops because of strong arm type crime.There have been a few shootings that have not put more cops on the beat.They put up an NYPD observation trailer on Franklin that gives the them a perch to watch things.There are some good places to drink and eat.It is not a no mans land so you can get food delivered by most places before 10.Depending on which part of Ft Greene you live in it is about the same,with a little less food and drink,but ever improving.

arrbecca · July 2009

I don't live there but a good friend recently moved to 475 so I'm in and out of there all the time, at all hours. It's been fine so far, and everyone I've talked to or said hi to has been really nice. It's a 'desolate' looking block, but doesn't seem like an unsafe block.

A city is a city - you just gotta be a bit careful wherever you are.

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