Is Bushwick Safe?
Dear 10-20 people a day getting to this site by searching for “is Bushwick safe”: the internet does not answer questions like that with literal answers. So what you’re possibly searching for is crime stats: they indicate that Bushwick is not much more prone to crime than Chelsea and certainly not more dangerous than Alphabet City. So what that leaves is anecdotal evidence of crime for you to find. Which brings you to this site, the only online repository of all five or so assaults that had people in a froth a little while back. I wonder why we haven’t heard of any more since then.
I don’t know what to conclude for you, since everyone’s tolerance for the risk of crime is different, as well as their definition of “safe.” But here’s some advice: visit Bushwick. Walk the streets, pop into the shops, check out the subways, sit in a park, look at apartments. If the mere presence of a non-white or -Asian majority is enough to freak you out, it’s probably not for you. If you’re not unusually concerned about the possibility of being mugged in unpolished neighborhoods and a little grit doesn’t bother you, you might find Bushwick suitable or even ideal. But then if you didn’t worry more than average, you probably wouldn’t be the type to ask Google if Bushwick is safe. QED, etc.
Also, is Bushwick dangerous, Bushwick crime, Bushwick safety, etc.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:19 pm
A cool way to prevent muggers from attack or having your IPOD stolen, try this? Turn your IPOD into a Taser! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLIvZ20jhbQ
April 1st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Hey Jeremy,
Thanks for the reality check.
I would like to add that Bushwick is no different from most other NYC neighborhood - A little common sense goes a long way.
Be aware of your surroundings.
Don’t walk alone late at night especially if you’ve had a few drinks
Don’t make yourself a target by carrying valuables - i.e. ipods, purses etc.
Stay on well travelled, well lit streets if at all possible.
This is good advice whether you live in Bushwick or Chelsea
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
however true it may be, i call for a moratorium on the phrase “be aware of your surroundings.” seriously, if you need to be told, ‘hey, let’s be aware of our surroundings,’ maybe you deserve to be mugged.
if advice needs to be offered, i will take one of your lines, with caveat:
don’t make yourself a target: mug them first!
that’ll show ‘em!
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
In big cities like NYC, while thinking about safety, also think about the overall facilities in the neighborhood.
When I looked at an apartment close to the subway station in an area of Brooklyn, I noticed there were no bank branches, grocery stores, or drug stores near by. There were only cheap corner bodegas.
Pretty bad if you ask me. I ended up renting in bed stuy, close to the subway, bank branch, grocery store, drug stores, etc.
If that stuff is not available in a neighborhood, sometimes that’s a really bad sign of the neigborhood’s safety. When conditions improved in Harlem and Bed Stuy, then they put in retail businesses and banks. If no one is willing to invest in an area like that, either the area is unsafe, or it is an otherwise dumpy area (contaminated ground, too far from Manhattan to realistically commute to work, etc.)
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I am mid twenties and a woman who lived in bushwick for 2.5 years. To go to work I was catching the myrtle ave J between 1:30-3:30am and I never had a real problem. You’ll be hissed at from cars and get some offers for “recreational activities,” but just ignore them or say no and keep walking. I lived close to where the J and M line split. I do have friends who lived closer to the L, off the M line, and they mentioned crack houses and said they’ve been made uncomfortable in the middle of the afternoon. A lot depends on who you are and what you’re comfortable with. My best advice is not to read, but to go to the neighborhood and use your instincts.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I agree with jimmylegs. If you need to be told to be careful in any part of any city, cause believe it or not people still get mugged on the upper east side, much less Bushwick, then you need to go to a more pastoral situation. I’m a native of NYC, but have only lived in the unhip East New York end of Bushwick for four years. When I first arrived here, aside from the drug overdose in our alley, I felt fairly safe. I never saw another white person on the streets aside from my loftmates who mostly had lived here for six years prior to my arrival. My non-white neighbors seemed to sympathetically view us as some major life fuck-ups to have ended up here. We are, of course, mostly artists, who historically make areas safe for bourgeoisie. Only when there was more of an influx of white people–oh my god I saw 4 white people getting off the train!– did I notice attitudes cool and heard of more street crime. It seems to have leveled off now.
Two weeks ago I saw a man get on the train with a Jack Spade bag. Oh the horror! It will be interesting to what the recession does.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
B-wick is safe,
if you can walk down the street like
YOU HAVE A PAIR
or
ARE READY TO THROW DOWN
at any given moment.
Otherwise,
please go fuck off until
you are intelligent enough to live
in a gated community
or some Manhattan soap opera.
I think I just summed it all up, no?
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I am moving to Bushwick in under a year so I was just checking out this site. Im a native New Yorker and I love living in the upcoming neighborhoods and cant wait to see it grow. You guys have made me laugh today! thanks.
Adopt a big dog, maybe that’ll help….
April 4th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
You guys are so ridiculous. I have lived in Bushwick over 20 years own 10 buildings and I am white. You divisive white trash hipsters should get a real job, stop whining and stop living three to an apartment. Grow up, become an adult then I will take your comments with two grains of salt. Also take a look at what not to wear on cable … oh yeah sorry cable is not in your budget. Also I guess real pizza is a new thing for you guys.
April 4th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Lilly,
I have a real job, wear a real tie, and a real suit.
And I know what you mean by hipster white trash.
Seriously.
Dis-fucking-gusting culture -
gross-fucking-fashion.
I am truly
in HATE
with the
demographic.
But …
they are lost,
in a specific sense.
COMPASSION FOR HIPSTERS
is born.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Lilly: I don’t understand the hipster hatred. They are not white trash, they are not at all divisive — they tend to be inclusive to a fault. Some dress ridiculously, but other dress impeccably. Most have “real” jobs, though to someone who has lived in Bushwick for 20 years, “real” probably means something manual and greasy. The comment about them living three to an apartment, and cable not being in their budget — are they trustfunders or are they poor? Because they seem to get pegged with both extremes, which just proves how hysterical and unspecific the hatred for them is. No IDEA what the pizza comment could possibly mean.
Dresden, stop posting drunk.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Meh. I think LillyWhite is either a complete idiot or a complete fake. troll much? Mentally masturbating on the innernet to the tune of ‘I hate hipsters’ is so 2007, yo.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
And defending hipsters while pretending not to be one is so “last year” as well. I love the little “yo” on the end of your sentence… it’s so, like, clever and ironic.
Real job = “manual and greasy?” Is this a thinly veiled reference to a handjob or what?
April 8th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Heh. Pretending not to be one…does not compute. I’m too old and too boring to be considered a hipster. Oh, and…yo.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Ha ha… I took the “real job” comment as just a bit of snarkiness, the sort of thing you might hear from someone who never changed his own oil, gapped a sparkplug or fixed a busted faucet–and fancies himself somehow better than those who can do these things. But your interpretation is certainly more amusing, although I’m sure Jeremy will insist we’re both wrong!
Matt, hipsters ARE boring. But you’re right about the old vs. young part. Does this mean that you’re a yuppie?
April 9th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Heh. Maybe so, BOWA.
I’ve never had tats or piercings, a kooky haircut or donned the fullblown skinnyjeaned guise of the hipster but I do like tha indie rockness. I hate PBR, love microbrews, I’ve always held a relatively ‘professional’ job, I like fancy cheese, and mac n’ cheese…maybe I’ll go by ‘hippie’ or ‘yupster’, hows that? Semi fringe hipster without the visual trappings, semi fringe yuppie without the material posessions.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Let’s put things in perspective. East Village,
1987. 6th Street near 1st Ave. Every morning leaving the house there was at least one car window smashed.
I moved in that year: I never carried a purse for the first 4 years because I did not want to be robbed. You carried $10. in your pocket so they wouldn’t kill you.
Even the worst here in Bushwick sounds better than those crack years.
For what it’s worth.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:19 am
I didn’t live there, but did hang out a lot in the EV in the early and mid ‘80–and indeed, it was a rough place. ‘87 is about when I stopped coming down there on a regular basis, so I guess I missed the worst of the crack epidemic.
The EV is a lot safer/cleaner now but also goddamned vapid and annoying compared to what it was then. I think it’s possible to clean up a neighborhood and make it safer without sucking all the character out of it, but it just doesn’t seem to go that way in New York.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 am
ladies, it is true, you will get a lot of comments from men on the street, particularly closer to knickerbocker or irving by myrtle and especially if you are blonde. personally, i hate it. it’s a cultural difference perhaps, but i just don’t like to hear a constant barrage of “hey mami” “you have nice eyes” “you’re beautiful” or “ooh, i think i found what i was looking for”. now i know those are all pretty nice things, and not vulgar, but personally, i just don’t like to talk to guys on the street. i’m doing my own thing and just want to get home. i don’t want to get honked at by random dudes in cars or hear that stupid kissing noise when i’m jogging. (i don’t jog outside when it’s hot, it bugs me that much.) it’s always such a relief to get into manhattan where nobody’s gonna do that. much.
so if this kind of thing bothers you, ladies, you can do what i used to do and ignore it, and know they’ll think you’re a stuck up bitch, or what i do now, which is wear a wedding ring and headphones, and just give em a nod when i walk by.
July 7th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Hear, hear.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I agree with “Lillywhiteliving in Bushwick” and I totally get the pizza comment.
I lived over 20 years in Bushwick/Wyckoff and it has had very bad times but much more good times. Never been mugged, robbed, or hurt in any way. No one whistles at me so that’s disappointing.
The problem with these trashy-hipsters is that they come in raise prices by ten times and then after 5 years they grow up and leave.
They leave behind ridiculously overpriced living conditions that will then turn into slums.
For these hipsters it’s an “experience” like college, just another thing to try, an experiment with with no consequences to themselves let the neighborhood be damned.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Yes, thank you for this scintillating analysis of the dynamics of the New York real estate market. You must have a degree in economics from teh lolcats university. Quite prestigious.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Oh Mr. Sapienza the degree I hold is in engineering and why the bad vibes is because I’m pro-state, anti-anarchy, and can see what is happening in my neighborhood without having to protest or start a petition.
40 years ago this block was German, then Hispanic know it is mixed soon it’ll be hipster then Latino. It’s a simple pattern.
I like your sarcasm it translates well online which is hard to do these days.