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The NYT continues its obsession with Crown Heights with article on 500 Sterling — Brooklynian

The NYT continues its obsession with Crown Heights with article on 500 Sterling

eastbloc
eastbloc
edited August 2014 in Crown Heights/Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Interesting to see that she preferred a studio in a new building in Crown Heights to a 1BR walk-up in the Slope.

Comments

  • eastbloc
    eastbloc
    Also bonus points for keeping "ProCro" alive.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    If I was her age and single, I would also prefer Crown Heights.

    Park Slope lacks the number of young people that western Crown Heights has, and I would not want to deal with fixing up an old apartment in a building I was only going to live in for two years.

    Re: the NYT, the writer of the article (Joyce Cohen) writes about so many neighborhoods that she probably only has time to learn about neighborhood by reading prior NYT articles about said neighborhood.

    http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/joyce_cohen/index.html?action=click&contentCollection=Real Estate&module=Byline&region=Header&pgtype=article

    By using the same writers all of the time, the NYT has become very good at merely circling the drain.

  • eastbloc
    eastbloc
    I prefer Crown Heights now.  Park Slope is a nightmare.
  • mugofmead111
    mugofmead111
    edited August 2014
    Gothamist posted its snarky take on the Times article. 

    @eastbloc, She wanted to live in Park Slope, but the realtor would not accept her guarantors (i.e. her parents) because they are from out of state. (They're from Minnesota.) 

    This unit in Crown Heights has an in-unit washer and dryer. So jealous.
  • booklaw
    booklaw
    Eastbloc, why do you consider Park Slope a nightmare?
  • eastbloc
    eastbloc
    It's super crowded and unbearably white.
  • eastbloc
    eastbloc
    Ah right, mug.  I missed that part.
  • mcpoet
    mcpoet

    "Then she arrived at a brand-new 77-unit rental building on Sterling Place in Crown Heights on the border of Prospect Heights, a neighborhood sometimes called ProCro."

    Who?!  Who calls it that?!  I mean, beyond real estate developers and brokers, and of course the Times.

    Having a washer/dryer would be lovely.  In the absence of that though, after years of walking to do it myself I've started using Waverly Wu's pick-up/drop off service and I doubt I'll be doing my own laundry again anytime soon.  Yeah, it's more expensive, but no lugging laundry back and forth.  Just a quick call, someone shows up to pick it up, and then it comes back nicely folded and separated.  Essentially you're paying someone minimum wage to do some fairly labor intensive work, something I'm more than willing to do at this point in my life.  And it's still cheaper than paying the several grand a month you need to pay to have a washer/dryer in your building these days.

  • pheightsresident
    pheightsresident
    edited August 2014
    I would not prefer Crown Heights to Park Slope, if only due to the differences in violent crime between the two neighborhoods. That said, Park Slope does have some major drawbacks in that I can't find the types of ethnic food markets/eateries that I'm used to, etc. Also, the lack of overall ethnic diversity is a problem to me as well. Still, that's nothing that a simple hop on the subway or bus can't fix. 
  • eastbloc
    eastbloc
    I don't feel significantly more at risk for violent crime in western CH than I do in Park Slope.  The violent crime seems to be mostly internecine between certain segments of the population and largely further east.

    I personally feel safer in either of these neighborhoods than my previous haunts in the East Village, where the greater population density and relative anonymity of your neighbors made me feel more exposed to muggers and the like.


  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited August 2014
    I avoid certain blocks because I don't like the people there far more often when I am in Park Slope than I do in Crown Heights.

    ...legions of strollers and food coop carts taking up the sidewalk.

    (this is written only partly in jest)

  • mugofmead111
    mugofmead111

    I have to prefer Crown Heights to Park Slope for economic reasons. However, when there were a lack of "amenities" that certain people want (and expect) now, this was my attitude: 
    Still, that's nothing that a simple hope on the subway or bus can't fix. 
  • pheightsresident
    pheightsresident
    I don't feel significantly more at risk for violent crime in western CH than I do in Park Slope.  The violent crime seems to be mostly internecine between certain segments of the population and largely further east.

    I personally feel safer in either of these neighborhoods than my previous haunts in the East Village, where the greater population density and relative anonymity of your neighbors made me feel more exposed to muggers and the like.


    Oh, I certainly agree that violent crime overall in Crown Heights isn't that bad (particularly toward its western border), and that, to the extent it does exist, its largely between certain segments of the population (e.g. gangbangers).  This is especially so when comparing Crown Heights of today vs. even 5-10-15 years ago. That said, these gangbangers can make life uncomfortable at certain hours of the day depending on where you live. It's nothing you can't live with, but not something that I particularly care for either. 
  • eastbloc
    eastbloc
    Fair enough, though even that element has been severely constrained and appears destined for extinction.  It inversely correlates with the real estate values...
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited August 2014
    As a strange hobby, I record violence in Crown Heights on this thread:

    While I don't claim to record every incident, I have the vast majority of the serious ones recorded. Patterns are apparent to me. 
  • Davina
    Davina
    I would chose CH, too. Washer/dryer in unit AND an easy subway ride?
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