The Post did its best this weekend to drive a divisive wedge into the multi-culti image of Fort Greene by writing about a car alarm incident on Lafayette Avenue. In case you missed it, here’s the play-by-play: Man (who turns out to be black) has a car whose alarm frequently goes off in the middle of the night; residents (plural) leave notes on car to ask him to fix his alarm; car owner does nothing to fix alarm; one of the residents, who turns out to be white, calls Council Member James to complain; James calls the car owner, who uses his anger over the changing demographics of the neighborhood and his Brooklyn cred to justify his inaction: “I don’t know what my fellow neighbors think goes on at night, but people come by and pillage vehicles! All of these little white people over here are not gonna dial 911 for a car alarm going off if it’s only once. The article goes on to quote a older African American woman irked by the new arrivals and their wide-load strollers (never mind that the sidewalk on that stretch of Lafayette is barely wide enough to accommodate a single pedestrian), though she attributes the differences more to class than race. The article’s attempt at pushing the race button feels like a stretch to us, but the one thing that does resonate is the attitude of people who’ve lived in any neighborhood for a long time—regardless of location or race—take towards newer arrivals who want to improve certain quality of life issues. “You haven’t lived here long enough to deserve an opinion” or “If you don’t like it then move” are familiar refrains. Last time we checked, though, we all pay taxes and there’s no reason anyone should put up with illegal or unneighborly behavior simply because it’s the status quo.
A Car Alarm, Gentrification and Fort Greene [NY Post]