How many of you New Yorkers (and newly New Yorkers)...

[BroadwayDreams2]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 8:58pm

For those of you who haven't lived in New York for your entire lives, how many of you have been mugged, raped, or shot at? I've been accepted into Marymount Manhattan College (My first choice, I'm ecstatic) but my mother is dead set on not letting me go because she thinks the school will be bombed by terrorists and that I'll get raped or shot. She told me that I'm a seventeen year old country girl who is too niave to see that this will happen if I go. I tried explaining to her that those things can happen everywhere and you just have to be extremely careful. I just want to see how true my mom is.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:01pm

ny isnt about getting mugged......that rarely happens....if u watch the news too much, then ull get the wrong impression.

[magic8ball]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:02pm

The city has cleaned up a lot. You'll be fine.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:04pm

I got to college in the city - I go to Columbia. My parents were petrified at first, because we're right near some really sketchy areas bordering Harlem, but I also grew up in New York, not very far from the city. My parents both grew up in NYC, which I think made them a bit more afraid, because in some ways it's safer now than it used to be. They also exposed me to the city when I was very young, and although they'd been trusting me alone in the city for a couple of years before I left for school, letting me *live* there was a completley different story. The issue may lie not only in your mom being afraid of New York, but in that she's worried that you can't fend for yourself. You need to prove that to her, although I'm not sure *how*. Ultimately, your mom also needs to know how important this is to you, and that in the end, it needs to be your decision for the right reasons. I think the bottom line of going to college in New York is that you need to have a good head on your shoulders. The city as a whole is not a particularly unsafe place, but it *does* have unsafe areas, of which you need to make sure you are aware, just like you need to be sure you're aware of what to do and not do in a city like New York. Being in college in NYC allows you to live in and experience the city, while still having somewhat of a controlled environment. Explain that to your mom, see if it helps. Good luck!

Updated On: 1/13/05 at 09:04 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:05pm

Tell your mom New York City is one of the safest cities in the U.S., a feat that's especially remarkable given its size. I'm sure violent crime rates are avialable online, too. And it's not like you'll be spending all your time in nasty neighborhoods in the Bronx or something.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:23pm

In what neighborhood is this college?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:30pm

Marymount's on the East side, in the 70's, I think, Plum.

Seasons of Love, we agree a lot, don't we? Weird.

Updated On: 1/13/05 at 09:30 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:31pm

Very nice and safe neighborhood. Tell her your Auntie Rath will watch out for you - oh wait - better not.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:33pm

Well, there ya go. Columbia is in a scarier neighborhood than that, as someone pointed out.

[zippyjen]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:34pm

NY is absolutelly fine! I live just outside of the city and i have roamed it alone many times and late at night as well. Never experienced a problem in any of the bouroughs. BEG BEG your mom to let you go becuse ny rocks everyone's socks!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:35pm

Yep, CU is just South of some very scary stuff, but we hold our own. The neighborhood directly surrounding the school is wonderful. It's all about being alert, and cautious. You know, the obvious things like not going places alone, etc.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:41pm

The funny thing is, a lot of the colleges that you'd think would be in nice areas are actually the types of places where you never, ever want to leave campus. *cough*Yale*cough*

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:51pm

i've been shot and killed three times and have robbed hundreds of people and before i slipped this ring on my finger, i was even raped a few times by lovely young ladies.

*disengage sarcasm filter*

had one bad experience, almost 10 years ago, at about 3am in a place that charged by the hour. shouldn't have been there, lesson learned. i feel safer in nyc than i do going back to ohio to visit my folks.

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 10:09pm

I was born and raised in New York and have lived in Hartford for nearly 25 yrs. I was mugged in Columbia, Missouri and in Hartford as well. Go figure.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 10:12pm

yeah, when they say "show me" down there, they ain't kiddin' huh?

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:11pm

I dunno. It's a question of invidual priorities.

When I moved here I figured I'd rather take the risk of being robbed, mugged, raped, shot, stabbed, garrotted, hung (no comments), boiled in oil, dropped into a nest of vipers, anything rather than experience a slow agonizing death of stultifying boredom in my hometown.

Oh yes. I told my mother that the worst that could happen was that I didn't like it and I'd move back home. That was more years ago than most of you can remember.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:18pm

Right, my friend and I were reluctant to even get on the subway en route to 116th so that we could walk around the Columbia campus (mostly due to a sense that if we were concerned about the safety of the neighborhood, we wouldn't want to consider the university for grad and law school anyway). I think part of the stigma of that neighborhood might, sadly, have to do with the black population. There's a false assumption in most American cities that where there's black, there's danger. Updated On: 1/13/05 at 11:18 PM

[Chloe]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:19pm

I live in the suburbs now, but lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for ten years. The worst thing that happened to me was having my wallet stolen once - and that was because a friend had stupidly checked my purse at a club when she got tired of watching it for me.

[Corine2]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:25pm

Hi honey-
I am a born and bred Ny Manhattan gal.
I was mugged twice and once last week for a pair of leather gloves. It was right before my La Cage event and it was 11 degrees outside. I went into starbucks to make a call and took off my gloves. This girl picked them up and said they were hers.
I said no they are mine. She said do you want my knife in you.
I said enjoy the gloves.
Not a great way to start an event. But being a New Yorker, I would not get myself killed over a pair of leather gloves.
Go figure. NY is safe you just have to use common sense.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:27pm

I wear a backpack virtually everywhere I go, and in NYC, I always feel someone pulling at it and its zippers. Note to all.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:28pm

Which is why I always wear a purse with a strap that crosses over my chest. It's almost impossible to snatch from me.

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:33pm

I never carry a wallet, and never anything over $5.

I wear a bullet-proof vest under my clothes at all times, and I carry a gas mask wherever I go in the 5 boros. I never venture out after the sun goes down either.

I feel perfectly safe.

[OhSoWicked]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 1:36am

"And it's not like you'll be spending all your time in nasty neighborhoods in the Bronx or something. "


*sigh* the Bronx is not all bad. I've never been shot or mugged or anything. The city is actually alot safer than a lot of other places. You'll be safe :)

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:47pm

I know DC is not the topic of this post, but this is directed to the person who posted that she should tell her parents that "at least she is not going to college in DC". Yeah, DC has crime- mainly in NE/SE, but don't judge the whole city by some neighborhoods. Like all cities, we have good neighborhoods and not-so good ones. Our whole city is not a ghetto. I moved down here in 2001 to go to grad school, ended up staying and have never had a problem.

[Mamie]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 3:38pm

And I've lived here (DC area) since 1960. Like any large areas, there are a few places I wouldn't go to and many, many more I would. I love DC and spend as much time as possible in the city. I do the same thing in New York. You sound like a reasonably intelligent person - so you should be just fine.