I stayed at Christine's great accommodation which is on the top floor of the house. There is privacy which I liked, things were very clean. The block is a family oriented and pretty quiet. Occasionally you'll have someone bumping the sound system in their car, but it's NYC!
There plenty of Dominican/Latino restaurants, businesses and grocery stores to choose from. Overall I kept to myself, went to work and back. Parking was not that bad, just don't leave anything in your car that may attract the wrong element.