Thoughts on Suburbs?
This may be the most unlikely question to be posted here, but we are really looking for some opinions. We have been in BedStuy for the past 6 years, great house, nice neighbors. Growing family and less disp inc we are reluctantly considering relocating out of the city. Know nothing about NY suburbs. Not a…
This may be the most unlikely question to be posted here, but we are really looking for some opinions. We have been in BedStuy for the past 6 years, great house, nice neighbors. Growing family and less disp inc we are reluctantly considering relocating out of the city. Know nothing about NY suburbs. Not a huge suburb/country person so looking for a place that is diverse, has a nice walking village area, not a 3 hr 1-way commute to the city, “hip”-ish like BK 🙂 and a reputation of happy residents. I know it’s asking for a lot. Some folks have mentioned Riverdale, Garden City, Westport, Hoboken. Just wanted to see what others thought. Thanks sooo much!
Since no-one else mentioned that I saw, I grew up in Norwalk Connecticut and while it’s changed a bit (more traffic mainly, and stores) still a great place – diverse in many ways, still small town while close to the city, and still connecticutty.
Stamford is similar, if bigger, but the express train from Stamford is a huge deal. Taxes are much lower than Westchester, and the gov’t isn’t melting down like Jersey. Norwalk, Stamford and Bridgeport all have great areas much cheaper than the stuffier towns, and your kids might have a shot of having classmates who don’t think they live on the burby version of gossip girl….
Dittoburg – I was not generalizing and talking about all NJ towns. I was specifically talking about Ridgewood, then Montclair (both of which were raised as possibilities for the OP).
Ridgewood is predominately white. There are some Asians, but still not many. You want Asians, try Tenafly or Demarest or Closter. Ridgewood is NOT diverse. It is a very wealthy town, which constrains the diversity of ppl that can live there. I stand by that statement.
Montclair definitely has a railroad track that pretty clearly divides the haves and the have-nots. It is a very pretty town, with a very nice downtown area–but you have to be OK with this kind of class divide as well as the crappy school system.
Sorry, CMU, I’ve done Brooklyn and Northern (almost semi-rural) Westchester and I’ve seen both sides of the educational coin with a fairly large number of kids. 321 was a good school. Great teachers, great parents. Crappy budget, crappy amenities. Crappy programs, compared to what kids get here.
As for independence, I thought it was a great gift I could give my city kids -until they actually got some. Some of them abused it, others were more responsible. There are pros and cons to both lifestyles (with kids). I should know. I’ve been there, done that. Yes, I love the museums, the action, the buzz, and so did my kids. Do I love the wild turkeys and barns and fresh eggs and fantastic public school and door-to-door bus service? you bet.
I wouldn’t discourage anyone from taking their kids out of the city, if that’s what the family wants. We were forced, due to the economic downturn, to seek employment elsewhere. That took is to the Westchester/CT border. Did I ever think for a minute we would live anywhere other than NYC? Not in a million years. Yet here I am, and I think I’m in a position to pass a little judgement on the pros and cons of raising kids in either place.
didn’t have time to read through all the threads, so sorry if repeating info you may have already.
As someone who grew up on Long Island and went to school in Garden City, I would in NO WAY call Garden City “hip” ish. It is a very stuffy, uptight and quite honestly racist community. An African American female friend of mine got picked up by the police in the neighborhood on multiple occasions for “prostitution” when she in fact lived in the area and was walking to school. It was over the top white bread and ridiculously NOT open minded/like areas of Brooklyn. It was the type of place where women wore pearl earring and ralph lauren, and men wore pants with little lobsters on them, not in an ironic way, with names like buffy and biff (no offense to biff on ‘stoner ;)). Anyway, that’s my two cents. good luck with your move.
“What total BS. 321 in PS is a wonderful school. Whatever you think you’re getting in that suburban pit, it cannot compare to living in a city, walking to school, meeting your friends on the street, being independent at 11 and going to the Met on a whimsy.”
Talk about total BS! Having grown up in Brooklyn myself and being the parent of Brooklyn-raised kids I can tell you that running off to the Met on a whim is not what the kids are doing! Try drugs and drinking and parties and stupidity.
As for independence, I didn’t/won’t let mine out on their own in Park Slope until age 15, which seems to be the general age most parents in the area follow. And that’s only staying in the neighborhood.
If your goal is to give your kids early independence, then you should move to a suburb with a village setting. One of my friends lives in Croton and their kids are out on the street playing with friends, walking to school, biking everywhere and having total independence starting at age 7 or 8. Personally, if I left the city I would move to the Croton/Yorktown area and buy an old farmhouse with some land.
CMU – you have friends?
tiptoe, many NJ suburb towns have diversity from asian communities. And there not on the wrong side of the tracks – NJ asians have a higher household income than the general NJ population. I don’t know about Ridgewood but I’d be willing to bet there’s more asians than other ethnic groups.
“It’s a whole different world. As much as I miss sidewalks, subways, population density, etc… I would never voluntarily deprive them of the public education they are receiving in Westchester”
Yeah, we all know ALL public school kids in NY drop out, do drugs, never go to college or amount to a hill o beans.
What total BS. 321 in PS is a wonderful school. Whatever you think you’re getting in that suburban pit, it cannot compare to living in a city, walking to school, meeting your friends on the street, being independent at 11 and going to the Met on a whimsy.
bedford or katonah would be my choice. love it there.