Crime in New York?

Squick · 2003-12-12, 09:27 AM

Hey all,

I have always been contemplating moving to New York for various reasons. I was born and raised in the shadows of Detroit, and from talking with people unfamiliar with Detroit it is clear that the perception of Detroit's crime is drastically blown out of proportion. In downtown Detroit, in the club district/casino district I feel very safe walking alone at night.

So I was curious if my perception of the crime in New York is inflated just the same? How is life in New York? What is the housing price range for a ~1,000 square foot home with two or three bedroms? What about a two bedroom appartment? Is it safe to take a stroll in the middle of the night? Are subways notoriously dangerous, or is it safe to do work on my laptop while being oblivious to my surroundings?

If anyone is actually curious about the Detroit area... The housing cost of a ~1,000 square foot house with two bedrooms ranges from $60,000 in a really bad area of Detroit to about $160,000 for the same house in an acceptable area like Dearborn (my city) which is still a ten minute drive from Downtown, to ~$240,000 for something around four bedrooms in a nicer area like Canton, and of course there are the areas like West Bloomfield and Gross Isle which can take you from the $750ks for a "nice" house to well over a mil for a four bedroom house. Crime is very centralized around the bad parts of Detroit, the east and south sides. Everywhere else in Detroit other then downtown is ghetto looking, but quite safe. All subburbs are safe. We have no usefull mass transit, freeways jam up, but except for certain small stretches never slow down to below 30 mph during non-construction season. Bars close at 2 am everywhere, and with no mass transit you have to be extremely careful driving between 2 am and 4 am.

Squick

Glaynor · 2003-12-12, 10:07 AM

Crime is not much of a problem in NY. There are some very bad areas, but you would have no reason to go near them. There are of course, random robberies and the like, but crime has been way, way down.

The only problems you are going to have is housing. It is expensive as all holy hell. Forget an apartment in NYC. A one bedroom will easily go for at least $400K. So will a one-two bedroom in Brooklyn. Housing in Staten Island is a little more reasonable (that is where I live). It is about 40 minutes from the city during rush hour.

To rent an apartment is also expensive, depending on which area of the city you live in. In NYC itself the rent is at least $2K for a one bedroom. In Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens it is much cheaper. Queens and Staten Island, cheaper than Brooklyn.

The subways are really safe, no problems there. You can take the subway at 2 A.M. and not have any problems. I went to college and law school in NYC, was a prosecutor in Brooklyn for a bunch of years, and now work for the Courts in Brooklyn as an attorney. I grew up on Staten Island and live there now. My wife works in NYC. All in all I know a bunch about the area. If you want, feel free to send my a PM.

Squick · 2003-12-12, 10:11 AM

Thanks for the reply Glaynor! How far does the subway stretch out? Like in the Washington DC area the Metro goes well beyond the boarders of DC into the residential areas. Travel time is not a huge concern for me as long as I can work on my way to and from the office without worrying about getting stabbed and having my laptop stolen.

Thanks again for the reply!

Glaynor · 2003-12-12, 10:19 AM

Public transportation is real, real good. The subways extend from NYC (technically Manhattan) through the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. Staten Island has a bus system which goes to the Staten Island Ferry which goes directly to downtown Manhattan. On Staten Island there are also public and private buses which go into different areas of NYC. I wouldn't worry about transportation at all, as the NYC subway system has the most miles of subway than any other city in the world. With the cities I've visited the subway system in NYC makes all other's pale in comparison.

Here is the subway system in NYC and the surrounding boroughs (Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn)
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/submap.htm

BTW Queens comes down much lower than it looks on the map. Brooklyn isn't that big.

Staten Island is actually the land right below the key. If you are going to live in Staten Island you definitely need a car. If you live in Manhattan DON'T bring a car - parking is expensive, outrageous and the car is absolutely unnecessary.

During rush hour there are litterally millions of people taking public. I wouldn't worry about getting mugged at all. If you were to take the subway at 3:00 a.m. there would still be people on.

The rule of thumb for getting mugged is: Yes random people do get mugged in broad daylight, but most crimes occur in bad areas, or to people who are dumbasses, i.e. walking around shitfaced in quiet areas late at night or equally dumb stuff like that.

Squeeky · 2003-12-12, 10:40 AM

Best/Dangerous cities in the US.

Link: http://www.morganquitno.com/cit04pop.htm

Overall:

Dangerous:
1 Detroit, MI
2 St. Louis, MO
3 Atlanta, GA
4 Camden, NJ
5 Washington DC
6 Compton, CA
7 Dayton, OH
8 Baltimore, MD
9 Tampa, FL
10 Gary, IN

Safest:
1 Amherst, NY
2 Brick Township, NJ
3 Mission Viejo, CA
4 Simi Valley, CA
5 Cary, NC
6 Thousand Oaks, CA
7 Colonie, NY
8 Clarkstown, NY
9 Orem, UT
10 Sunnyvale, CA

Liquidtide · 2003-12-12, 11:28 AM

You could always live in NJ and work in NY. The NJTransit trains run into NYC on about 5 lines in the morning about every 20-40 minutes. The subway is very expansive reaching all 5 boroughs. But you have to watch out, sub stop to sub stop it can drastically change. I was apartment hunting with an ex gf in brooklyn and one stop would be decent and you'd get off the next stop and run right back into the station. If you have an idea of where you want to live I can give you suggestions. If you know how long you would want to commute.

Squick · 2003-12-12, 01:15 PM

I really have no clue Liquidtide... I am still at least two years out on moving... I will be taking a few trips to NY sometime in the coming summer to scout out the area and get a feel for the tech industry there. We are looking to get an office started in NYC, so I will most likely be giving network security presentations and making public apperances to get the NY crowd introduced to us.

I do appreciate all the info so far, NY certainly sounds like a much nicer place then what I have heard.

Oh, and Squeeky... The people that live in the surrounding area around Detroit always laugh about Detroit having the highest crime rate... The east and south sides certainly are very very rough. If any of you have seen 8-mile the movie, one of my clients has a building on the north side of 8-mile (there is a set of roads seperated by one mile each that are east-west roads), which is actually a different city, but the south side is 100% exactly like the movie shows it. I would never ever want to walk through the burned out neighborhoods of east Detroit anytime, even the day! I hate even driving down there during the day!

Liquidtide · 2003-12-12, 01:18 PM

Sure Squick and if you want PM and i'll be happy to give you my email and when you come up in the summer I could give you more detailed info. (PS I live in New Brunswick, NJ a 50 min train ride, a 40 minute car ride)

JetRaiden · 2003-12-12, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by Liquidtide

You could always live in NJ and work in NY. The NJTransit trains run into NYC on about 5 lines in the morning about every 20-40 minutes. The subway is very expansive reaching all 5 boroughs. But you have to watch out, sub stop to sub stop it can drastically change. I was apartment hunting with an ex gf in brooklyn and one stop would be decent and you'd get off the next stop and run right back into the station. If you have an idea of where you want to live I can give you suggestions. If you know how long you would want to commute.

pfft...Its takes at least an hour to get anywhere from new jersey. As long as you live in the good part of town, you wont have problems. anywhere in teh Upper west is ok. brookyn aint bad anymore, but its still not very nice. I grew up in the upper west side, nice area, I would recommend living there to anyone. As for like harlem, queens, and staten island and such, you should be ok if you dont drive a ferrari around. and if you did, you'd be in the upper west anyway.

firecrackerNC · 2003-12-12, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Squeeky

Best/Dangerous cities in the US.

Link: http://www.morganquitno.com/cit04pop.htm

Overall:

Dangerous:
1 Detroit, MI
2 St. Louis, MO
3 Atlanta, GA
4 Camden, NJ
5 Washington DC
6 Compton, CA
7 Dayton, OH
8 Baltimore, MD
9 Tampa, FL
10 Gary, IN

Safest:
1 Amherst, NY
2 Brick Township, NJ
3 Mission Viejo, CA
4 Simi Valley, CA
5 Cary, NC
6 Thousand Oaks, CA
7 Colonie, NY
8 Clarkstown, NY
9 Orem, UT
10 Sunnyvale, CA

Dayton ohio?? I live close to there and never hear about any trouble or problems.And Sunnyvale Ca? Aint that where that Buffy shows staged?I dont know i'd think LA and NY would be on there for sure.

Lexington_Steele · 2003-12-12, 10:36 PM

I heard a report on the radio that in the catagory of cities with over 500,000 people, NY city is one of the top 5 Safest cities in America.

I have heard commentary on this saying that this change in crime rate probably has alot to do with the 9/11 attacks and how they seems to have brought the city together.

JetRaiden · 2003-12-12, 11:04 PM

Originally Posted by Lexington_Steele

I heard a report on the radio that in the catagory of cities with over 500,000 people, NY city is one of the top 5 Safest cities in America.

I have heard commentary on this saying that this change in crime rate probably has alot to do with the 9/11 attacks and how they seems to have brought the city together.

that definately is true. during the blackout there was a total of 400 arrests taht night. the average is around 900.

Squick · 2003-12-12, 11:11 PM

I think that was common everywhere JetRaiden... Even Detroit was fairly calm, lol...

It was very neat, even normally really rude people were very talkative and friendly during the blackout... If it went on for another two days though things would have got ugly.

BUGGER · 2003-12-12, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Squeeky

Best/Dangerous cities in the US.

Link: http://www.morganquitno.com/cit04pop.htm

Overall:

Dangerous:
1 Detroit, MI
2 St. Louis, MO
3 Atlanta, GA
4 Camden, NJ
5 Washington DC
6 Compton, CA
7 Dayton, OH
8 Baltimore, MD
9 Tampa, FL
10 Gary, IN

Safest:
1 Amherst, NY
2 Brick Township, NJ
3 Mission Viejo, CA
4 Simi Valley, CA
5 Cary, NC
6 Thousand Oaks, CA
7 Colonie, NY
8 Clarkstown, NY
9 Orem, UT
10 Sunnyvale, CA

wts, Oakland CA isn't on the bad list? They get a killing every day. Hell the whole bay area gets several killings a day....stupid hit and run drivers.

Sentrosi · 2003-12-13, 12:36 AM

There's always upstate NY. You're only a 3 hour trainride to the city if you want the nightlife and clubs, but we do have our fair share of nice clubs up in Albany as well. And if you like skiing and winter sports, you're only about an hour or so from some great resorts too.

Housing is typical of Detroit though. Renting an apartment up here is nice too. When I first moved here four years ago I got a 2 bedroom 1 bath for $600/month. Granted the bedrooms weren't that big, but it had hardwood floors throughout the kitchen and a very big living room. Just hunt and peck and you'll find a nice apartment.

My wife and I just bought our first house. It was an unconventional way to get a house so I won't compare it to houses here. But, a nice 3BR 1.5 Bath will get cost you around $150K.