Flatbush Ave near Prospect Park - how's the neighbourhood?

I have lived here for 3 years so far (a block or so away from the location you mention, but not on Flatbush) and absolutely love it.

The article above does a pretty good job of giving a sense of and feel for the neighborhood, with a few minor exceptions.

As for safety, I lived in Brooklyn Heights for a few years and Cobble Hill for several years before living here for 3 years and feel no more threatened here than in those areas (so long as you keep all phones or iPods hidden and exercise NYC streets common sense, as in any neighborhood). Sure, there may be a lot more crime in this NYPD precinct than in other neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill or Park Slope for example, but the sense I have is that much of the crime in this rather large and wide precinct happens several blocks outside the general area you mention.

There are always exceptions, the area definitely does experience a certain level of different types of crime. But in general this is somewhat of a pocket neighborhood that has a great sense of community, a strong and visible police presence (both uniformed and undercover) and a pretty darn safe feel to it as a result. It does perhaps vary block by block or corner by corner, but that's the overall sense I have of living here for the last 3 years.

And loving every minute of it.

Good luck...

dave_f,

Realistically you will see occasional drug dealers on some corners in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford Stuyvesant, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, this neighborhood and other parts of Flatbush. Same thing goes for the ultra-hip (said sarcastically) East Village and other parts of Manhattan.

There's honestly no getting around that.

On the bright side I can report that there are a ton of uniformed and undercover/unmarked police that maintain an ongoing visible and covert presence in this specific area to reduce and remove that sort of activity.

As I understand it from my neighbors, that sort of activity has gone down considerably around here in the past 10 and even 5 years.