JenniferW

I have lived here for 16 years and this town has many pros. We are right on two Metro North lines, and I have neighbors who also park at the subway in the northern Bronx to get to NYC.

The wave pool is really great if you have kids and the pool house is gorgeous. Residents also can use the skating rink with rentals for free on Saturdays if you sign up. Skating classes are a mere $25 per child per season-including rental. On the south side you can find just about every major shopping chain, plus a Fairway. The Cross County Mall is one stop over. We are right between a number of major parkways taking you quickly upstate to New York's beautiful natural areas, over to Jersey, Ct and of course NYC.

There is a lot of diversity and you can make friends in the neighborhood from all over the world. There are many multi-racial families. There are many housing options. The grade schools are decent, and the district is re-structuring to a k-8 model so hopefully this will help. Lincoln has a very nice honors, art and music program. There is a lot to be done with it-but a lot of people seem to care enough to facilitate change.

For everyday takeout food-because of the ethnic diversity-we have some of the best Italian/pizza joints, Brazilian barbecue, Caribbean and more. Lots of dedicated fruit/vegetable stores. Fleetwood has several options in the shopping area on Gramatan-Japanese, Asian fusion, tavern, Italian and Cajun.

There is just one beautiful house after the next throughout the town with mature, well kept landscaping which is very pleasant and enjoyable, especially if you like to walk to the train or to school. People are generally friendly and although there is a reputation for crime, I have only known of the petty nuisance type which I believe seems to exist in most towns. I found this out when I went through jury selection at the Westchester court and 50+ people from all over Westchester were asked if they had ever been a crime victim. It was interesting to hear of how pervasive petty crime was, and the more serious ones did not really relate to the "bad" towns in the juror pool.

If you want a super value for a wonderful home(especially the gracious turn of the century type), and want an easy commute to the city, Mount Vernon has it for you. Compared to the crime, rodents, lack of green space and crowded conditions of living in NYC-this is so much nicer-urban yet suburban.