Spring Creek Towers (New York, Livonia, Granville: section 8, rent, home)

[Swede in Brooklyn]

I was considering moving to Spring Creek Towers which overlooks Jamaica Bay.

Does anyone know if this area is good? We would be a family of three - two adults and a 4 year old.

Any help you guys could give me would be great!

Matt

[nyctovt]

Spring Creek Towers aka Starrett City is the safest area of East New York if you choose to live in that area.The services within the complex are quite good including the janitorial and security services.Mass transit to the city is pretty awful and always has been.It is a bus ride to any of the closest subways which would be Rockaway Parkway Station- L train,Broadway Junction A,C trains or for those looking for a bit more adventure you could catch the 3 at Livonia and Pennsylvania.If you have to travel to the city every day I wouldn't recommend it.If not it's fine for what it is,A huge relatively safe housing complex. Your 4 year old would grow up in a very diverse community which I would think is a good experience.He/she will interact with just about every culture you could imagine.The schools are the best by FAR in District 19.The best and most dedicated teacher I ever had was my 6th grade teacher in Starrett City and people who also had him 30+ years ago stilll keep in touch with him. The Junior HS are in the basement of parking garages and are kind of cramped.7th grade in the G-Section garage and 8th grade in the F-Section garage. We were only evacuated once due to a car fire in the garage. I am not sure what the High School choices would be since the city has closed South Shore and Canarsie which were the closest public HS.
The bedrooms are HUGE,there is an enormous amount of closet space and if you have a balcony on one of the higher floors of one of the 20 story buildings the views are incredible.
I personally found the shopping center within Starrett City as well as the Pathmark just outside Starrett to be a little lacking. The Gateway Center complex opened within the last 5 -8 years is definitely an addition to the area.If you can buy in bulk at BJ'S there you won't have to deal with the Associated or Pathmarks inflated prices as much.
I will be honest with you it was much safer and cleaner when there were (racial)quotas in place.Those quotas were ruled unconstitutional in the early 90s and some problems arose.I think most of the bad eggs have been weeded out and it is a nice place to live again.
I lived there from 77-89 and my mom and dad lived there until 2005.I have life long friends from there who are very close to me,of all races,something I don't think I would have experienced growing up in other areas of Brooklyn.
2 more things.If you have a car pay the extra money for a garage parking space or you will be looking for parking all night AND nobody calls it Spring Creek Towers.It will always be Starrett City no matter what the sign says.Good Luck.
It is worth it even at market rate which includes heat,air conditioning and electricity.

[Fred314X]

I would like to add one quick transit comment to nyctovt's post:

One other bus-to-subway route to consider is the B-82 anywhere along Pennsylvania Avenue (officially renamed Granville Payne Boulevard, but again, nobody calls it that) to the Kings Highway station on the B/Q lines. (Or, for that matter, if you stay on the bus for another 16 blocks, Kings Highway station on the F line).

[nyctovt]

Fred314X-I forgot about that one.When I worked 3rd shift in Manhattan I would take that way into the city since I was really in no rush.This was back when it was the D train. I also thought it would be a little safer as this was in 1987-1988 (the crack days) I took the L back home in the morning. The D was really much safer for 3rd shift travel, although I witnessed a pretty good "mugger reaches his hand through the window from the platform and rips the gold chain off the neck of the passenger trick" at Parkside Ave.station on the D.

[Nu Nu1989]

I was also looking to move there is the rent subidized/income based there?

[nycjowww]

im moving to spring creek not the towers but the area its really nice, the only thing that sucks is waiting for the 83 by the 3 train at penn ave, bad area.

the b13 at euclid by the a train is bad also , i think ill take the q to kings hwy for the 82

[stefann22]

do you know what the Income Requirements are for a 2 bedroom?

[checkmatechamp13]

Originally Posted by nycjowww

im moving to spring creek not the towers but the area its really nice, the only thing that sucks is waiting for the 83 by the 3 train at penn ave, bad area.

the b13 at euclid by the a train is bad also , i think ill take the q to kings hwy for the 82

The B13 serves Spring Creek the neighborhood, but not Spring Creek Towers.

And the B82 also connects to the L as well, so there's no need to go all the way to East 16th Street for the B/Q.

There's also an express bus directly to Manhattan (BM5), but it's very infrequent.

[Delldell]

Keep waiting ���� they take people with section 8 before they take working families.

[HellUpInHarlem]

I know that the quality of life issues at Starright City/Spring Creek have inflated in the past few years, due to a lot of Section 8 recipients that have moved in. They have good and bad sections there. Also, if you don't have a car, Starrett City is a 2 fare zone so the transit, coming and going is a bit difficult for the express busses don't run there overnight. So if you're coming in from a night on the town in Brooklyn, Manhattan, or any other boro, and it's past 12am, you're in trouble. I know that Starrett was built on marshland, so the ground is sinking. They've undergone major renovations on their buildings, and garages in the past few years because of structural damage. A sewage plant is nearby so you can smell the raw sewage in the air sometimes, its near the Jamaica Bay. I'mma give it to you as real as I can. I wouldn't do it. I don't like the issues, the neighborhood its in, the transit. It screams ratchet to me.