Living Around the Crown Heights/Utica Avenue 2/3/4/5

Psycho-ologist your post on the other thread was spot on. If we ever get a sticky post about "safety" on Brooklynian your post should figure prominently. Your ideas about how to visually spot high crime areas was pretty thoughtful. I usually get a gestalt about a place and go with what I feel without thinking about it too much. But your post is a handy dandy checklist.

I do have a checklist for buildings I would want to live in. I use this checklist to see if the building is well maintained and whether I will be living with a good landlord.

From the Curb: is there overgrown grass or broken windows visible from the outside or other signs of visible disrepair that you can see before entering the apartment building?

Lobby Test: Does the buzzer work? Does the front door have a working lock? Does the lobby look rundown(water damage, no paint, cracked tiles), is there trash or other litter in the entryway every time or most times you visit?

Elevators/stairwells: do they smell horribly, are they dirty, have trash strewn around?

In the apartment: are there any of the signs of disrepair like

-water damage

-broken and rickety windows

-years and years of paint stuck on walls and radiators

-visible holes in the floor and walls

-spaces between the floor and walls, holes under the sink and behind the stove

-exposed or broken light fixtures

-visible signs of pests like dead cockroaches or mouse feces etc

If more than one of these are true you are probably not going to be happy as the landlord/super doesnt do a good job of keeping up the place. Of course if the apartment is cheap and spacious you might think you can fix up the apartment. I know from personal experience that I ignored some of these signs and was absolutely miserable with the landlord esp. pests/lack of heat and other problems.

i go to that area i get harassed by the locals sometimes, i stop visiting a friend who lives in the area. it seems to me the more east you go the worse it gets. or near the park.

Yes, Queens, wonderful Queens. Transit-challenged, used to be farm land in the 50's, might as well live on Long Island, Queens. But anything to avoid dealing with racists or confronting you're own inner demons. Just keep it all on the DL. At least Armchair Warrior has the perspective to engage in a little self-deprecating humor.

The rest of y'all can always move to Queens.

I rather live in manhattan than live in queens .

ohhhhh he said it used to be farmland in the 50s!!!

Just because people are getting priced out of neighborhoods in the west (Manhattan, PS, PH, "crow hill, pro-cro, faux-pro") doesn't mean they should look restrict their search so much that end up only going east. There may not be a need for them to live on Utica.

It is a big city. Explore it before you decide where to live.

...that's what we are saying.

Hey you want safe and cheap, check out Kansas. You'll have nothing to keep you awake at night and the only muggers are guys that Truman Capote writes about. You'll love them.

Me, I like a little something, something in my life.

To each his own.

Capt. Planet said:

Hey you want safe and cheap, check out Kansas. You'll have nothing to keep you awake at night and the only muggers are guys that Truman Capote writes about. You'll love them.

Me, I like a little something, something in my life.

To each his own.

Muggings, robberies, gunshots, etc.? Why does it have to be Crown Heights or Kansas? I suppose any RE deal made out of your jurisdiction might as well be Kansas. God forbid anyone explore the options beyond what Capt Planet deems alright (and profitable)