What is a relatively safe and reasonably priced area to live near Brooklyn College?
5 Answers
Flatbush used to be a great place to live. Been living here since I was born. It used to be slightly upper middle class white residents and the streets and homes were nicely kept up. Used to be safe streets also with hardly any crime. However in the past 15 years, the area has changed dramatically and is now 99% Caribbean residents and unfortunately the streets are no longer as clean, several bldgs now have graffiti on them and at Flatbush Junction (one block away from the college) it is not safe at all at nights. All stores are mostly geared to Caribbeans except for Target. Crime and shootings have risen greatly in the area with the changed residency. Best for you to look in Marine Park which is just a short bus ride to the college. Marine Park has more diversity of residents, Jewish, Italian, Irish, than the area near the college.
I've lived in Brooklyn for 32 years coming from a Caribbean country. The notion that caribbean people have made the area unsafe is quite preposterous. My dad owns a brownstone in Bedstuy on Decatur St, and I thought when I first came here that was a damn awful place to live. I moved as soon as turned 18 and got a job to Flatbush. It has seen days of good and bad. I live on East 32nd St, and most of the people there come from different islands. The homes are maintained, those with gardens in the front take pride and for many of the nearby Streets. Of course there is some crime, but comes from overcrowding and levels of poverty and lack of education. I will not say that some caribbean people do not commit crimes, but I see Puerto Ricans, Arabs, Whites and Blacks doing the same thing trying to survive in an increasingly expensive time. Most of the Caribbean people have city jobs and own their homes and now Whites who are out-priced in Manhattan are flocking the area. What I now see is an increase in dogs, and owners who don't pick up after themselves. Most West Indians don't have dogs in their homes since that is quite taboo in the Caribbean countries, where animals belong outside. So don't go stereotyping. As we can say Italians and Russians love being in the Mafia, Jews love to undercut and misrepresent and steal homes from Blacks and blah blah blah.
Oh yea....and use your street smarts. Don't walk around with your expensive phone in your hand, especially at night. I'm a young female from Cali and I do it sometimes, people think I grew up there and they see me all of the time so that lessens my chances of trouble following me. I still would never just walk past a group of sketchy guys with the iphone 5 in hand at 2am.
I live in the Flatbush area, about 3 blocks from the school and 2 blocks from the 2/5 train. I was living in the BC dorms but ended up moving around the corner onto Flatbush Ave. I wouldn't say it's a "nice" area, but it's not terrible. I've definitely seen worse. But it also depends on the type of person you are. If you get intimidated by "urban people" easily, it may get uncomfortable. If you mind your business and don't try to hard to fit in or stand out, you'll be fine (I know that sounds redundant but going too much in either direction will definitely cause a few stares and foul words).
P.S DO NOT use JB Realty on Flatbush. I'm using them now to help look for my new place and it's way too difficult to get a straight answer out of them. They give lots of people the run around and never call you back. The only reason I'm getting closer to finding a place is because I play "extremely sweet & understanding" with them and drop by unannounced.