Bushwick Projects and Environs Safe?
Over on Brooklynian, a concerned mother worries that her attractive daughter is planning to move to a new apartment across the street from the Bushwick projects. The feedback from the peanut gallery is pretty unanimous: She’s got good reason to worry. “Simply put,” responds one board member, “This is a dangerous area and probably a…
Over on Brooklynian, a concerned mother worries that her attractive daughter is planning to move to a new apartment across the street from the Bushwick projects. The feedback from the peanut gallery is pretty unanimous: She’s got good reason to worry. “Simply put,” responds one board member, “This is a dangerous area and probably a bad place to live if your daughter is not extremely street savvy, large, or armed.” The sentiment is confirmed by another commenter: “Lived near there for three years. Nothing ever happened to me but my girlfriend was the victim of an attempted “push in” robbery or perhaps rape.” Yikes. Should mom bail out her daughter?
I just love the notion that criminals are so lazy they will only murder/rape/kill (gotta love demolition man) someone a block from where they live. I guess people in the projects aren’t smart enough to realize someone is living across the street from them because they ALSO don’t have alot of money – which is true in this case.
Street smarts go a long way – or if the mom is so worried about her precious she should just rent her a 2000 dollar a month studio in murray hell and call it a day.
Ha, ha rob, you are such a joke — I LIVED in Paris (in a much less tonier spot than the 8th arrondisment, btw) for 8 years, and was so NOT a tourist. Like anyone else, I let my guard down for one moment, and that was all it took. Seriously, there is a lot more street crime in Paris than in NY in general — a former neighbor of mine from PLG just moved there this summer as a relocating expat and had her purse stolen on the street in broad daylight as well — this is after living in Brooklyn for 10 years with no problems either. And she’s Belgian and speaks French as a native language and was not a tourist either.
Where do you get those stats rob? and bkn4life unfortunately when you live in the PJ’s, you will sometimes hang out on a corner – my parents didn’t allow me too but I soemtimes did it anyway. We didn’t have basements or backyards to entertain our friends and we couldn’t hang in the living room of our apartments because far too often it doubled as someones bedroom. Some projects had rec centers which were literally safe havens but they were often not open due to budgetary restraints. In the winter, it was the stairwell or lobby which if you were caught by the housing cops, you got a trip to central booking for loitering. So it was and is the corner for many especially on a summer night.
rob, please back up that claim with some facts. Anyone should get renter’s insurance in any case, of course, but I really don’t think your contention really holds up. Unfortunately, there is no way to separate burglaries inside a project from those in the surrouding area, but how is this for some statistics (from NYPD web sites):
Burglaries in 78th Precinct, week of 3/16 – 3/22: 7 (up from 4 last year) Housing projects in the 78th precinct: 0
Burglaries in 84th Precinct, week of 3/16 – 3/22: 0 (down from 2 last year) Housing projects in 84 precinct: 1(Farragut Houses)
Obviously I’m having a slow day, or am just so annoyed by rampaging ignorance that I can’t help myself.
And how is it that you are so familiar with Bushwick? From most of your posts, I’d say you don’t get out much at all.
Rob – the weird part of my story is that it was a duo, one guy took my card and ran down the road, I stood there dumbfounded (like I’m from NY Mutheffer) – 2 seconds later the friend actually gives me my ATM card back and apologizes
it was totally random and weird
anyway – my point was one can be robbed anytime anywhere.
my point about not living near the PJS is more that you won’t necessarily be a target but that you will get caught in the crosshairs of some ish poppin off
“your analogies about getting robbed in supposedly nice areas arent totally applicable.”
Plus, there’s a huge difference between a purse snatching and someone busting your face in and then gingerly picking up your purse.
gemini & babs you both got robbed there because you are obvious tourists. to many this girl will look like an obvious tourist. your analogies about getting robbed in supposedly nice areas (i have no idea the area of paris and barcelona you two are talking about) arent totally applicable.
*r*
personal safety aside, there’s definitely probably a lot more apt break-ins in the immediate area of large public housing. definitely get renter’s insurance if you choose to live across from the projects. tho bushwick has a serious burglary problem because it still is for the most part drug infested. crack and heroin for the locals and weak expensive coke for the transplants.
*rob*
gemini, you put words in my mouth that I never said and
I realize that the girl will more than likely not be moving into the projects but if she is going to live near them, I think that the tips are still useful.
I remember when Fort Greene was “discovered.” Brownstone buyers would literally cross the street to avoid “project people.” I must admit that while there were several of my neighbors that I’d rather avoid, I’d never cross the street to get out of their path because I knew all too well that they’d rather harass me than some white girl knowing full well that the police and criminal justice system would take the latter more seriously.