If you want to be close to your apartment then you’re better off finding a place with parking in mount vernon. Street permits are cheap ($20 for the year) but it feels like there’s more cars than spots sometimes. It is likely there will be times where you will need to circle for 10-15 mins and may end up a couple blocks away. A lot of newer building with 4+ units are not street permit eligible so make sure to check if you are going to go the street parking route.

I never had any issues parking in mount vernon. Break ins/window smashing does happen. You should try to leave nothing visible if someone were to look into your car.