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Tobain, that is a wonderful ideaology but IMO the problem lies more with lack of respect for fellow human beings, drug use, people having no respect for authority or laws. how long have you been in the area BTW??
I lived there a long, long time and I will tell you I sincerely hope Newburgh pulls out of the tailspin it has been in for decades. But I will not recommend people relocating to the area to move to Newburgh. There are too many NICE towns around it with little to none of the crime and issues.
Look at Wallkill. The crime index is like 38. Goshen, Montgomery and the surrounding area don't even get out of the double digits. And the people there are great too, traffic is much better. Why on earth should I tell people to move to Newburgh? It makes no sense. I just went through Middletown a few weeks ago and I will tell you there is a difference between a city being OLD and a city being DANGEROUS. Middletown is a much safer city than Newburgh, it always has been.
Thank you for finding more recent info - the newest stats I could find at the FBI site were from 2004.
As I have said before, I am no country bumpkin and I have been just about all over NYC including some of the worst areas of the Bronx and some really crappy areas in Brooklyn and Harlem. I have had people attempt to kidnap me before, been shot at in the middle of an armed robbery, had a knife pulled on me a few times and have been almost carjacked twice..among other unfortunate near misses. If you think because my birthplace is not NYC means I am a moron when it comes to crime and street smarts then you are sadly mistaken because I am still standing here today.
I like Tobian's perspective and I hope all these communities improve. I do see hope. Winnie, I've been mugged in NYC several times, so I can understand you presenting your views on things. But I believe in Newburgh. Maybe I'm a fool for doing so - but the only way to improve a community is by bringing in good hard working citizens. It's not for everybody, I agree. But I'm not one that is just going to give up on what I consider to be one of the most beautiful areas in the country. And I don't stand alone in having such an opinion. The one thing I do agree with 100%, is that politics in this city are horrible. They are the true 'undesirables' of the community. Who to trust?
The things that are needed to pull Newburgh out of the doldrums are unpopular with a lot of the residents there.
Taxes need to be raised to provide more police and training for them, and if not done already, the NFA campus needs to be closed instead of having open campus where kids can wander on and off campus. The area around St.Lukes could use a good scrubbig too. I think that Newburgh should take steps (should have years ago) to restrict growth until they get their own issues under control. Montgomery and Wallkill have had provisions to restrict building for years now. Where is Newburgh on this issue?? Let people build house on top of house near Temple Hill School.
And I do not think that kids with Newburgh addresses should be allowed to go to Wallkill or Marlboro schools. It attracts the $$ to those areas, switches the tax $$ to another town and it makes it so the rich/upper middle class people don't give a darn about the quality of the schools that area actually IN Newburgh.. I think it segregates people more than anything. Do you think that those rich people turning over the river front in Newburgh are actually SENDING their kids to NFA? They more than likely private school. Some of the nicest housing with a Newburgh addy is in the areas where the kids attend another district. I doubt it conincidence.
My elementary school friend's dad worked at NFA for years and wound up sending all his kids to private school, even with the "favorable" VCHS district he lived in. Now what does that tell you?
You have to remember that I have been in this area for 24 years now, most as a full time resident. This talk of Newburgh improving is nothing new. And most people familiar with this area for a long period of time are still really gun shy when you mention that area as a potential relocation site. There are some of us who still remember when there was a Clydesdale horse tied outside where 300 meets 17K, and when there was no Stop and Shop or Walmart and when Llyods was there where the Kohls now stands. And when there was children clothing outlets down on Broadway and families used to get together and go shopping there and it was a pleasant experience. I am not angry that Newburgh has gotten bigger or more busy, I am angry because for a town it's size and location there is just NO EXCUSE for the crime stats to say what they say and for the area to be as dangerous as it is.
My apologies if I repeated myself, I am getting "help" from my 18 month old son today.
The things that are needed to pull Newburgh out of the doldrums are unpopular with a lot of the residents there.
Taxes need to be raised to provide more police and training for them, and if not done already, the NFA campus needs to be closed instead of having open campus where kids can wander on and off campus. The area around St.Lukes could use a good scrubbig too. I think that Newburgh should take steps (should have years ago) to restrict growth until they get their own issues under control. Montgomery and Wallkill have had provisions to restrict building for years now. Where is Newburgh on this issue?? Let people build house on top of house near Temple Hill School.
And I do not think that kids with Newburgh addresses should be allowed to go to Wallkill or Marlboro schools. It attracts the $$ to those areas, switches the tax $$ to another town and it makes it so the rich/upper middle class people don't give a darn about the quality of the schools that area actually IN Newburgh.. I think it segregates people more than anything. Do you think that those rich people turning over the river front in Newburgh are actually SENDING their kids to NFA? They more than likely private school. Some of the nicest housing with a Newburgh addy is in the areas where the kids attend another district. I doubt it conincidence.
My elementary school friend's dad worked at NFA for years and wound up sending all his kids to private school, even with the "favorable" VCHS district he lived in. Now what does that tell you?
You have to remember that I have been in this area for 24 years now, most as a full time resident. This talk of Newburgh improving is nothing new. And most people familiar with this area for a long period of time are still really gun shy when you mention that area as a potential relocation site. There are some of us who still remember when there was a Clydesdale horse tied outside where 300 meets 17K, and when there was no Stop and Shop or Walmart and when Llyods was there where the Kohls now stands. And when there was children clothing outlets down on Broadway and families used to get together and go shopping there and it was a pleasant experience. I am not angry that Newburgh has gotten bigger or more busy, I am angry because for a town it's size and location there is just NO EXCUSE for the crime stats to say what they say and for the area to be as dangerous as it is.
My apologies if I repeated myself, I am getting "help" from my 18 month old son today.
Big problem is having all these "landowners" in the city who prefer to collect their section 8 money and run. Only time will tell.
Do you think that those rich people turning over the river front in Newburgh are actually SENDING their kids to NFA?
Few of them have children. Most of those were spec buyers hoping to flip. They were probably sold a bill of goods by realtors and developers who all sung the praises of the Newburgh Renaissance. They haven't lived here long enough to know these reanissances come and go and nothing ever changes.
The slumlords of Newburgh are in HUD programs to get discounted taxes along with all that Section 8 money. Even if Newburgh raised taxes, there aren't enough ratables to do so without causing all the few remaining merchants to flee. Newburgh government is more of the same. They know it's those very landlords who fund their campaigns and, given the legal trouble Newburgh's officials have had, a lot more. It's a troika of slumlords, corrupt government, and HUD working to keep the status quo.
Winnie, i was born in warwick and raised there til i was ten and than my family moved to greenville, ny. Lived in the area til i was nineteen and left for the Navy, for oh i don't know twenty or so years, been back for ten, or so, my eyes are eyes that have watched our country grow not just newburgh or new york. My sadness comes for there is soooo much anger and blame. As long as we believe there is no hope than there is no hope. A good life is simple to create just not easy. We as the leaders of our communities need to reach out to others and give love and kindness to one another. Do you really think that the young man or woman on the street selling drugs or people likes his career??? (it is this person's career) Do you think that this person really enjoys the bringing down of another human??? Think about what i am saying, try to put yourself in the shoes of a person with no hope to ever get past the history of the family he/she was raised in? Mother in jail, father selling the neighbor dope, and the sister is selling her butt. Where in the universe's name can there be a light at the end of the tunnel? Have you ever been hungery? Do you really know what it is like to need not want but need???? Yes i am a bit of a bleeding heart liberal but some of us just don't know how to act for the light has gone out and our spirit has left. We all need to call to our spirit and allow our spirit to rise and shine and get us all out of this complete state of unconsious behavior. Hope is the way to give to newburgh the strength to believe in change. No i would not tell people that newburgh is the most serene place to live but i would be a person to stop and talk to persons in need. My veiw is not popular and my view seems so fu fu but thats cause its simple, not easy but simple. Be well and happy to all who encounter my thoughts.
Tobian, my husband had a severely manic depressive mother who did absolutely nothing for him and was around drugs, had him when she was 15. Father was not involved in his life until he was much older. She used to lock him outside as a 3 year old in upstate NY's wintertime for hours on end and I could go on and on about the "woe is me's" in his life but he would not want me to...
I come from a family on my father's side who came to this country literally starving and poor, my grandfather used to have to go to school wearing a burlap sack, my grandmother worked overtime in a sweatshop in NYC's garmet district from the age of 8.. None of my ancestors sold dope or robbed people. My husband is now a sucessful person who takes care of his family despite his not so good upbringing, yet his rich, spoiled (former) highschool friend is a drug abuser who has no career or motivation.
I also worked at a very popular children's hospital and took care of kids from some of the poorest areas of this world - santa domingo, vietnam, equador..and kids from this country with backgrounds that are really sad and desperate. I am not living life in a fantasy, believe me!
I know this may sound harsh, but the choice of crime and destroy the lives of others with drugs is a choice not made by everyone who is on dire straits..so what does that say to you? The choice to stay on the path of goodness and law abiding behavior goes far beyond simple socioeconomic issues. I know rich kids hooked and dealing, one who robbed his own father at gunpoint for more drug money. Rich kids who have stolen. Poor people who lived on less than 8K/yr salary - no health insurance with 3 kids who would go hungry so you could sit at their dinner table as their guest, and who refused food stamps or welfare.
It is nice that you are caring and compassionate. But there are plenty of people who don't deserve it, such as a well taken care of military wife I knew that was selling drugs out of base housing (caught with kilos of coke while he was away) and nearly cost him his career. In some instances such as this, our system really does work - the husband won full custody of the daughter and the wife want to jail.
It is not that I have no compassion for those less fortunate. I have plenty. But in most cases, I refuse to sympathize with those who choose right from wrong.
Winnie,
Not sure where this turned to a contest just trying to express my thoughts and freelings as i have been asked. I agree with you and know that there are lots of persons that have had it very rough.(And ones that are without any morals and lots of money) Just yesterday i met a 16 year old male that left his country and family for a better life here in america. My heart broke when he said that he had no home. I agree with you on many points of your last post. There is a choice and abuse is like a illness in our country. I seem to have upset you and that was not my intention. My intention was to ask our society to be an example of love and respect. This is also contagious to others as well. It just sounds like there is much anger and i believe that whatever we concentrate on will expand and as long as we as a community concentrate on the negitive it will only prosper. Be well and happy always
Your attitude is quite refreshing and can be really helpful. All I am saying is there are plenty of people out there who don't deserve your pity or support..I hate to see nice people such as yourself feel too much pity for people who just blatently are destroying our communities because a lot of times those people just will victimize you like they do others. My point was just that people have a choice between being good and bad, not to say I have had a worse experience or seen more in this life time or anything like that.
On that thought - have a Happy Holidays I will not be around these boards for awhile as I have family coming up and a crazy to-do- list!
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My rose colored glasses are available for sharing
