LOL-few, decades, centuries. Can you top this?

Posted by: therealflyintheointment at September 25, 2007 5:04 PM in response to Market Slump? Not At The Mill Building

"Sounds like you equate "better" with soul-less."

Hardly. Maybe its just that you have a very narrow definition of soul.

Do you have to be a poor starving artist to have soul?

Or can you be a successful one with a enough bucks to but a condo? One of my new neighbors is a successful photographer that moved out from the city for more space. He is very artistic.

I collect art and bought for the space to display it. Are all of the new galleries hurting the neighborhood? Come on now, I think not.

I consider myself one of the people that helped make it what is by patronizing the area for years, before moving there. And encouraging friends to make the trip for the art scene and restaurants.

I agree that neighborhoods can get ruined, it happened to West Broadway in SOHO. But the new residents love it, so good for them.

Williamsburg has a few good years left in it.

The biggest threat is guys like Badillo and Quadraid that are trying to game the system for their own profit. The current zoning should stay. Tall at the water, short everywhere else. I am a big believer in renovating and preserving existing buidlings as much as possible. That is why the Mill stands out.

Toll has no idea what they are doing. Their buidlings are completely out of character with the nighborhood. It is that type of development that maybe we can agree is hurting the area and soul-less.

Posted by: therealflyintheointment at September 25, 2007 4:28 PM in response to Market Slump? Not At The Mill Building

"and yes, crime is going up. why else would the cops be -everywhere - in the neighborhood now? Everyone who lives here knows things are starting to get bad. I get pushed around now, and all my friends know at least one person who's been jumped recently."

So the cops are suppressing the truth. I see.

That flies in the face of classic gentrification theories. As more and more of the neighborhood gets "fixed up" crime typically gets pushed out. The 90th Precint stats seem to bear that out. If there were only 14 more robberies commmitted, I can kind see the Willy Sutton theory at work. Criminals will go were the money is and with more street traffic in that can make sense. But still it is no epidemic.

I just find all the negative comments ammusing. I was at Galapagos when it opened and have been going out to Williams burg for years before that. The neighborhood has done nothing but improve and has exploded since the zoning change. Anyone that denies this or cannot see it, I am sorry to say has some other agenda.

Posted by: therealflyintheointment at September 25, 2007 4:04 PM in response to Market Slump? Not At The Mill Building

With all due respect even if that were true, I doubt that there is a rash of UNREPORTED beatings. The ratio of reported crime to unreported is a pretty constant thing, so I highly doubt that there is some epidemic that is going unreported.

Maybe you should stop taping signs to your buddy's back that says "Kick Me".

Posted by: therealflyintheointment at September 25, 2007 2:28 PM in response to Market Slump? Not At The Mill Building

Funny, you must know something the NYPD does not.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs090pct.pdf

Crime is down significantly in every category save one and robberes are up 4.8%, but in absolute numbers that is exactly 14, year to date.

Sorry, but you are completely wrong.

Posted by: therealflyintheointment at September 25, 2007 2:07 PM in response to Market Slump? Not At The Mill Building

But that is one of the things that is easy to change.

I am moving into the Mill Building.

Either petitioning the City to plant trees or putting them in planters in not a big deal.

I think that with all of the development going on, all of the new owners/residents will push to beautify their blocks.

They would have to be crazy not to.

Posted by: therealflyintheointment at September 25, 2007 1:19 PM in response to Market Slump? Not At The Mill Building