Numoneaunt

Well my title about sums it up. Old Town Road runs from Richmond Road to Hylan Blvd (about 2 - 3 blocks). The homes look decent and the person I know on the block is a decent person. The good thing is that there is the Old town train station which will get you to the Ferry (to Manhattan). There aren't any shops on Old Town Road except for a tattoo place off of Hylan Blvd (on Old Town Road) and a hair cutting place. I guess it would be pretty good to live on Old town road because you can get to Richmond Road & Hyland Blvd pretty easy. There is also an assisted living home on Old Town Road as well. The cars do zip by though.

Arden Avenue strengths from Hylan blvd (probably a little past) to the west shore expressway. I often use this avenue when traveling to my house (drive the entire length) the avenue is mainly homes and is often used to cut through traffic elsewhere. A good part of Arden Avenue has really nice homes on it and connects with a number of main roads (Hylan Blvd, West Shore Expressway, Amboy Road). Personally, I would recommend living off of Arden Avenue only because I wouldn't want to live on a busy street. There really is no shopping on Arden Avenue expect for a strip mall type establishment new the greens off of Arthur Kill Road. There are no local buses or express buses that run the length of Arden Avenue.

I am not sure why we had 2 cars when we were living there because we always had to park one on Arden Avenue (outside the development). The home were so close together you could not escape your neighbors. There is no shopping in the area except for a little strip mall that had an overpriced King Kullen and a few other overpriced convenience stores - although it does have a CVS for the pharmacy. You need a car in the area (the homes have a driveway in them). The people who lived in my green were nosy beyond belief - everyone knew everyone else business. Too close for comfort for me but if you like the tight community feeling (along with the family like bickering) then it might work for you. You get a lot of house for your dollar, the fees are reasonable, the greens have a decent park (and a swimming pool - you pay extra for passes though).

There is not much around the area as far as shopping but there is a nice park. The street has some older homes that are for the most part taken care of but there are a number of them that are rented out that could use a little TLC. It is off a main street (Forest Avenue) so there is an express bus and a local bus that doesn't run far from there. You can grab a coffee and a Dunkin Donuts / Wrap place about a block away but that is it as far as food goes. If you want to walk a few blocks (5-6) there are other places like a diner and some shopping but nothing great. My husband lived on the block and I hated it when I went over there. There is a building complex that the back was on Myrtle Avenue and almost every weekend there was a fight or something going on in the building. The good news is that rent was very reasonable but forget about parking.

I love my block! within walking distance you have 2 pharmacies, an Italian bakery, a perkins, liquor store, basic deli - really, there isn't much you would need that you would have to go very far for (3 banks as well). I lived there for 6 years without a car and was just fine - that isn't something you can say very often about Staten Island. You have 2 local bus lines and 4 express nus lines (X1 being one of them that runs all the time!) The hospital is literally a 5 minute drive away and you can walk it in 20 minutes. You will want to make sure you tell people Jerome Road and not Gerome Avenue (which just happens to be about 6 blocks away - there are problems all the time with the mix up). The blocks itself that make up Jerome Road are made up of nice homes that are generally well kept, neat and clean - the owners take pride in their homes. Parking is usually OK but people often commute to catch the bus and will often park on Jerome Road during the week. Come for visit - you will love it!