Is Hempstead really that bad? (New York, Babylon: upper-class, crimes, homes)

[dnalsI gnoL]

Its not that bad. I feel 100% safe walking through Hempstead. I wouldnt live there though...Its somewhat ghetto, but its nothing compared to the ghettos of Detroit, Baltimore or Philly.

Of course some parts are nicer than others, as someone else said, the cathedral gardens area is very nice, and you can barely tell where Hemptead ends and Garden city begins.

[Ebrehm]

Are there any streets in particular where most of the crime in Hempstead occurs?

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by Ebrehm

Are there any streets in particular where most of the crime in Hempstead occurs?

Terrace Avenue has been likened to an open air drug dealing bazaar.

However, our ace DA, Kathleen Rice, claims to have solved that problem by giving the drug dealers "extra chances" to go legit and clean up their acts after getting arrested ...

[Ebrehm]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

Terrace Avenue has been likened to an open air drug dealing bazaar.

However, our ace DA, Kathleen Rice, claims to have solved that problem by giving the drug dealers "extra chances" to go legit and clean up their acts after getting arrested ...

So I shouldn't expect the area to improve any time soon?

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by Ebrehm

So I shouldn't expect the area to improve any time soon?

Not some parts of it, but some parts are nice (like Cathedral Gardens for one example) as others have mentioned. One thing though the property taxes are SKY HIGH for what you get (one of the worst school districts on LI). That's partially (on the Village tax side) because Hempstead has its own police force ... beware of Villages that have their own police force because their Village taxes will always be 2-3x higher than Villages that don't. It is also partially because the schools, while low performing and horrible, are staffed with nonetheless highly paid union members and administrators. In short, Hempstead Village is not worth the property taxes people have to pay for it at this point in time.

I think Hempstead Village needs better government and needs to start cracking down seriously on illegal alien flophouses owned by absentee landlords. Not all illegal aliens are gangbangers, but the vast majority of gangbangers like MS 13 are illegal aliens. If there's nowhere to live for illegal alien gangbangers, Hempstead Village will surely improve.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by Ebrehm

So I shouldn't expect the area to improve any time soon?

Terrace Ave was scary back in the mid 80's. It will take a very long time to get that section cleaned up. It's a shame for the decent people who live there who are trying to live right.

[dnalsI gnoL]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

Terrace Avenue has been likened to an open air drug dealing bazaar.

Yeah, Terrace and Bedell is supposed to be the worst. I used to walk past there when I was a teen on my way to piano lessons, and I knew it was bad, but I never knew it was that bad Until I read the stories in the News papers.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by dnalsI gnoL

Yeah, Terrace and Bedell is supposed to be the worst. I used to walk past there when I was a teen on my way to piano lessons, and I knew it was bad, but I never knew it was that bad.

One of my former coworkers was a single mom who lived on Terrace. Between roach infested tenement type apartments in disrepair and hoods hanging out on dealing, she hated it and was working her butt off trying to save a few bucks to get out. The stories she told about the goings on were horrible.

[UsAll]

One thing to keep in mind in understanding the views of Long Islanders at-large:

Although I don't like to make broad-sweeping generalizations (as one can always bring up an exception to a generalization), I will say that I tend to feel that many Long Islanders (especially those who are longer-term or even lifelong residents of Long Island) impress me as having lived very insular and sheltered lives and this will reflect in their outlook or views on judging a town or village or hamlet or other type of municipality on Long Island. This is NOT really meant by myself as a put-down or judgment of them; it is merely meant as a sociological-type observation of their mindset. By and large, they are used to and expect nearly everything to look pristine and pure, well-maintained and manicured; they much prefer low-density development as differs from higher-density development; they much prefer their environment, wherever they go, to exude prosperousness, affluence, and an upscale air, et al; they expect or want most of their fellow residents to be a mirror image of themselves (in dress, in outlook, in behavior patterns, et al). In other words, they want Long Island to function as a soft of protected haven for the well-to-do and those who aspire to be or want to be thought of as such.

What the above paragraph is trying to accomplish is to have you understand that this outlook of theirs shapes how they will perceive areas such a Hempstead Village. For instance, think about GARDEN CITY (especially thinking of the heart of downtown Garden City, such as Franking Ave. and environs) and they will praise this kind of setting (as do I) . . . for even though it has a city-like look and ambience to it rather than a low-density suburban ambience, it is very kempt and well-manicured, very prosperous, upscale, etc. etc. Whereas the heart of downtown Hempstead Village has the same look and feel of a city (just like if you were in parts of Manhattan or parts of Queens such as Flushing or Elmhurst or parts of Brooklyn such as downtown Brooklyn). It doesn’t, per se, look “bad” all-in-all (if one is used to cities at all); it just looks “city-like” (i.e., urban) . . . having urban-like denser development and urban-like hustle- bustle, and an urban-like diverse population. YET, to many of them, they put it down because it isn’t necessarily pristine, very kempt and well-manicured, very prosperous-looking, upscale-looking, and lower-density suburban-looking but instead more urban-looking. And they don’t like this because this is not why they moved to Long Island or why they have stayed here all their lives. They want to get away from and avoid all those city-like trappings as much as they can. To them, this is "bad" (though to me, it is just variety and I like variety in all or nearly all things in life; it makes life interesting). But that is NOT the outlook of many of them.

Or take HUNTINGTON STATION as another example. If you drive or walk along New York Avenue between Hempstead Village on the north (say, from the Big H Shopping Center) to Jericho Turnpike on the south, it doesn’t look like a slum or ghetto TO ME. It just looks “not prosperous-looking” and “not upscale-looking” but just basic and presentable (like many neighborhoods in the five boroughs of New York City). But many Long Islanders will label Huntington Station (New York Avenue between Hempstead Village on the north to Jericho Turnpike on the south) as being a “slum”- or “ghetto”-like environment . . . yet it doesn’t even remotely compare to East New York or Bedford Stuyvesant or the South Bronx or Southside Chicago, etc. etc. (real slums or ghettos) but, to them, it doesn’t look well-manicured, very prosperous, and upscale (like Huntington Village’s New York Ave. or Main Street to its north does) and the majority of its residents are not reflections of them (racially, ethnically, socioeconomically) . . . so they label it a “ghetto” and constantly deride it. To me, New York Avenue between Hempstead Village on the north to Jericho Turnpike on the south still looks “presentable”; it is not a slum or ghetto in its overall look (to me). But to the native Long Islanders, by and large, it is a slum or ghetto to them. It is either not what they have always been used to or it is not what they want any part of Long Island to be.

In summary: (1) They want Long Island to be low-density development through-and-through (or else, if you must have a higher-density urban-like setting like downtown Hempstead Village or downtown Garden City or downtown Long Beach of Huntington Village or Bay Shore Village or Babylon Village, they want it to look very kempt and well-manicured, very prosperous, upscale, swanky, etc. etc. or else they label it as “bad” or “undesirable”). (2) They want the populace to be middle-class or upper-class through and through (as much as it can be) and want the populace to behave like them as much as can be (e.g., if someone is standing outside a building or sitting on a bench or otherwise “hanging out” in the streets or in public places like parks or outside stores like people do in cities and municipalities of all types, they consider this loitering and label it as “bad” or “undesirable”). It goes against what they want Long Island to be.

Again, the above text is offered up as a sociological- or social psychological-like commentary or perception of what I perceive to be their overall mindset (not meant as a judgment or condemnation of them for being this way but just a dispassionate observation). I myself would prefer the towns, villages, and other municipalities on Long Island to look more ike Garden City or Huntington Village or Babylon Village rather than like Huntington Station . . . but I am a person who has been exposed to and lived in all types of cities, towns, villages, hamlets, et al around the United States over my nearly six decades of living thus far, so I don’t expect everything everywhere to exude an air of being upscale and rich. The great bulk of Long Island’s populace, it seems, want Long Island to be non-urban-like in nearly every way . . . so this will reflect in their stated views on Hempstead (especially Hempstead Village) as well as Roosevelt, Freeport, et al. They don’t want Long Island to be like this. For instance, I’ve driven through Freeport along the main thoroughfares there and it looks like alot of good shopping, commercial activity, and an overall interesting, lively, and presentable area. And yet you’ll see many Long Islanders otherwise making negative comments about Freeport (as well as Roosevelt, Uniondale, Hempstead, Hicksville, and other urban-like conglomerations), because these areas, by and large, do not look like they want all of Long Island to preferably look like. They are not bad-looking areas by-and-large and have many nice sections and features, but they are too urban-like for their tastes.

In summary, those areas mentioned above (such as Hempstead Village) are not all-in-all “bad” in their look; they are just not very well-manicured, very prosperous and upscale looking THROUGH-AND-THROUGHl and have a city-like look and ambience to them . . . and THAT, in and of itself, makes them label such areas as “bad” (I’m not focusing here on the behavior patterns of the populations living there but on the LOOK-AND-FEEL of the areas).

[UsAll]

Where I said in my posting above "For instance, think about GARDEN CITY (especially thinking of the heart of downtown Garden City, such as Franking Ave. and environs)", I meant FRANKLIN AVE.

The EDIT button disappeared before I could correct this typo.