Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Eastern Avenue two neighborhoods in one Residents, merchants proclaim area getting better
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    For many, Eastern Avenue is the “good” neighborhood — not the best in the city, but far from the worst.
    Residents there say they can afford to buy a bigger house here, or rent a better apartment, or open a larger storefront than they could in the nearby downtown or Union neighborhoods.
    “To get this kind of square footage, I couldn’t afford it anywhere else,” said one business owner, who asked not to be named.
    Another owner was more blunt.
    “I bought here because it’s cheap,” said Kenneth Franklin, who bought a house off lower Eastern Avenue in 2008.
    He lives amid houses in slight disrepair — lived in, but with peeling paint or broken steps. It was a trade-off for him — he got the house, but not the perfect, manicured-lawn neighborhood.
    “I took advantage of the opportunity of the house,” he said.
    Yet a few blocks away, in what the city considers to be the same neighborhood, manicured perfection is exactly what exists.
    Eastern is evolving into two very distinct places. On upper Eastern, near McClellan Street, the side streets are mostly single-family homes. There, residents say they love their tree-lined, quiet streets and beautiful old homes — houses that cost twice as much as the ones on Franklin’s street.
    Cross an invisible line on Eastern near the Eastern Avenue Deli and the houses are mostly rentals. That’s where Franklin lives, and where many houses are run down, rented out to a revolving door of tenants who don’t care for the property as much as an owner-occupant would.
    Homeowners blame the tenants for a host of quality-of-life problems, from littering to noise.
    “My biggest complaint is the noise and litter on Eastern Avenue. The noise in the summer after 11 o’clock at night and the lit- ter is extreme,” said homeowner Barb McEvoy, who lives in the neighborhood’s one-block historic district on Morris Avenue. It’s the smallest historic district in the city.
    McEvoy and other members of the Eastern Avenue Neighborhood Association hold a litter cleanup day every year, in which they walk down the lower Eastern side streets and collect trash. This year, they filled 15 bags. Three days later, their work had been erased by new litter, said Robert Harvey, association president.
    The business owner who stays because he can afford a larger storefront here says he only hates the neighborhood when he watches residents casually drop their trash on his lawn as they walk down the sidewalk.
    “I really think the density of housing has a lot to do with it,” he said. “They need to get rid of the multifamily housing, really cut back on it. There are way too many people here.”
BAD REPUTATION
    According to the 2010 Census, that density is dropping, but there’s still 3,073 people in an area that is roughly three blocks wide and 1.1 miles long.
    The population fell by about 500 residents in the past decade. As in the rest of the city, there are many more minorities here now than in 2000. The number of white residents has also fallen dramatically, dropping by a third. Only two other neighborhoods saw a larger drop in white residents.
    The census also found that 15 percent of the small neighborhood’s housing is vacant. That’s double the vacancy rate in many other city neighborhoods and far above the 5 percent rate considered “healthy,” according to city consultant Margaret Irwin.
    The rate is highest in the lower half of the neighborhood. In many of the side streets off lower Eastern Avenue, houses are sitting vacant. Some landlords say they can’t even get renters to take apartments there.
    “One woman called me and said, which Eastern? Eastern ‘Ave’ or Eastern Parkway?” one landlord said. “I told her Eastern ‘Ave’ and she said, ‘Oh. That’s kind of a bad area, isn’t it?’ ”
    At times, it has been.
    From 2007 to 2008, police raided dozens of houses, mainly on Prospect Street and Windsor Terrace, and found cocaine, narcotics and other drugs. The empty apartments on those streets had become “drug storefronts,” police said.
    Residents say the raids chased most of the drug dealers away.
    In a series of interviews, they consistently said they are not afraid for their safety now.
    “I feel safe. I like to walk, and it’s a nice, pretty area to walk,” said McEvoy.
    A business owner added, “It’s still a good place for me to stay. It’s not like I’m going to be knifed.”
    At the Eastern Avenue Deli, owner Mohammed Aldhela was one of many who said the main problem in the neighborhood is not dangerous criminals, but merely rude behavior.
    “Big problem [is] the kids here hanging outside,” he said. “They start arguing, they start fi ghting and something happens.”
‘PROS AND CONS’
    But he doesn’t want to leave. The neighborhood is small enough to be an enclave in which everyone knows everyone else.
    “I like nice neighborhood. Everybody know everyone, everybody ask about everyone. I been here 11 years, I know everybody,” he said. “All the kids, I know since they were 5 or 6. They listen to me.”
    He shoos them away when they loiter for too long. And despite a fatal shooting two years ago, he feels safe enough that he sometimes brings his young son to work with him.......................>>>>.................>>>>.................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00101&AppName=1

Another fluff piece, things always look better from Saratoga.

On Upper Eastern near McClellan "manicured perfection exists". How soon they forget? On that exact corner last winter a tragic death, the building now demolished and parcel for sale. No buyer in site. Next door a burnt abandoned home. A 15% vacancy rate-3X the normal rate. Almost heaven-McClellan Street.

     Beyond mere puff piece. Pathetic attempt at revisionism. Everyone is laughing at this "special". Lifelong residents can't give away property. Crime rate is out of sight. Streets in disrepair. Can't wait to hear the Clifton Park view of Vale, Mt Pleasant and HH.

Quoted from benny salami

On that exact corner last winter a tragic death, the building now demolished and parcel for sale. No buyer in site. Next door a burnt abandoned home. A 15% vacancy rate-3X the normal rate. Almost heaven-McClellan Street.

How about some news about whether or not the City ever received demolishion cost back from Popolizio. I'm guessing that Gazette wouldn't do research like that. You know, that FOIL request form is pretty darn long....

Quoted from rachel72

How about some news about whether or not the City ever received demolition cost back from Popolizio. I'm guessing that Gazette wouldn't do research like that. You know, that FOIL request form is pretty darn long....

       ROTFLMAO!! Like they got the demolitions costs back from Brandywine School. You pay. Take it out of the DSIC fund. Take it out of Proctor's fair share tax paid. Working together works! Working together works!

What is Moore the new 'cheerleader' for the liberal socialists???

A family friend of ours was walking home from price chopper....during the day.....on the 'best side near union.....and someone ripped their necklace right from their neck....in broad daylight!!! And that's the 'so called best side'.

This article is creative writing. Eastern is where the last few longtime, decent residents are coming to terms with the fact that their neighborhood is going to hell. This is fact, that article is fiction.
How come city crews destroyed a crime scene and got away with it? Suspicious fires are a crime scene.

Streets off lower Eastern are as bad as the worst streets on Hamilton Hill. Dangerous day and night. Walk only at your own peril. How do you write a story on Eastern Ave and fail to mention St Mary's closure? One of the most beautiful churches in the County, with unmatched stone work. Could not be built today. The City is going to hell in more ways than one. Everyone is laughing at this nutty series of lies. Are they trying to convince themselves or the DEM implosion crew?

True, and not mentioning the ethnic history of the neighborhood.  

The Gazette made it sound like this is a really nice neighborhood,.  And those who said they got homes "they could afford,"   Well, that PROVESS how LOW home values are.   The Gazette should have contacted people who spent decades and multiple generations in that neighborhood (they should do the same for Mt P and Northside too, as they've been those close knit groups back when the city was good).   How come the GAzette didn't ask the former long time residents why they moved out?

So, it said one murder.  

How come the Gazette failed to mention the drive-bys and stabbings?   Never fear, I WILL find the news stories  (yes, DV, it IS dangerous over there).

And how come the Gazette didn't ask the residents if they really like the so called convenience of shopping at ghetto chopper, where some guy slit his wrist and poured blood all over the produce.   Yep, the city's renaissance.

Has Popolizio paid back the taxpayers yet?

And how about Eastern Ave, home to the business location of one of the cities biggiest scumlord tax delinquents who was in cahoots with Stratton, Savage, and Gillen to STEAL from the financially struggling homeowners to the tune of a whopping quarter of a million dollars PLUS making the homeowners pay the delinquent taxes of him and his partner AFTER the DELIBERATELY caused a million dollars of damage to a downtown building.

Love the 'bad reputation' section where the fact that 15% of the homes are vacant in this neighborhood and 500 residents are gone is brushed off as a bad rap. Seriously?

Can't wait until the Hill neighborhood article,

"The night life is full of activity! Children playfully ride their bikes at 10 pm with their unleashed pit bulls by their sides. Some may call them 'women of the night', but this reporter couldn't help admire their keen fashion sense. The neighborhood is very safe as police were never spotted patrolling the area. Plenty of housing available in this improving location."  

This is a common theme in the Gazette.  The city neighborhoods are apparently becoming much more diverse.  It looks like the 2010 Census results are offering Eastern Ave the same "hope for a prosperous future" as Woodlawn.

Quoted Text

The population fell by about 500 residents in the past decade. As in the rest of the city, there are many more minorities here now than in 2000. The number of white residents has also fallen dramatically, dropping by a third. Only two other neighborhoods saw a larger drop in white residents.

Quoted Text

Woodlawn’s 2010 census results are offering the city hope for a prosperous future.
Woodlawn is becoming far more diverse, with its black population increasing by 46 percent in the past 10 years. The number of Guyanese skyrocketed as well.

Woodlawn mirrors the rest of the city in one respect: The number of white people fell substantially, from 7,700 to 6,600 from 2000 to 2010, according to the census. More than 600 minorities moved in, but that wasn’t enough to fill all the empty houses in the neighborhood of just more than 9,000 people.

Quoted from rachel72

"The night life is full of activity! Children playfully ride their bikes at 10 pm with their unleashed pit bulls by their sides. Some may call them 'women of the night', but this reporter couldn't help admire their keen fashion sense. The neighborhood is very safe as police were never spotted patrolling the area. Plenty of housing available in this improving location."  

Plenty of housing available Citywide because of this type of "activity". They fall all over themselves not to admit devastation. And the City DEM morons want to build condos/apartments at ALCO!15% vacancy rate and the DEMS have no money to knock any eyesore down. The entire block of Duane by  Brandywine should be leveled. Years of official incompetence at Metrograft, at the County, at City Hall have destroyed every City neighborhood. Diversity is a positive thing but no substitute for prosperity. Where are the jobs Death Ray?