Dumbo: A Bridge Too Far?
Newsflash: Brooklyn’s not for everyone. This weekend The Times reports on a woman who lived in Manhattan for 17 years (mostly in Alphabet City) after moving to NYC from Australia; last year, however, she decided to uproot to Vinegar Hill after visiting a friend who had bought a condo in Dumbo. And now? “I feel…

Newsflash: Brooklyn’s not for everyone. This weekend The Times reports on a woman who lived in Manhattan for 17 years (mostly in Alphabet City) after moving to NYC from Australia; last year, however, she decided to uproot to Vinegar Hill after visiting a friend who had bought a condo in Dumbo. And now? “I feel trapped here in a way, she says, and apparently still spends a great deal of her time in Manhattan, despite the fact that she rents a studio for work only a few blocks from her Front Street home. She’s also been slow to explore nearby neighborhoods like the Heights and Dumbo, and says she occasionally feels unsafe in her new ‘hood. More than anything, the article is a curio for the Times’s real estate section, which so rarely expends ink on neighborhood stories that aren’t seen through a rose-colored lens. The question is, now that the real estate market is cooling, are we going to see more and more of these Brooklyn backlash stories?
She Left Her Heart in Manhattan [NY Times]
Photo by DumboNYC.
12.18 – “The Latin Kings are also on the rise in Williamsburg, the stomping ground of the Dominicans Don’t Play gang, and several Mexican gangs like La Chicanos and Reyes Locos.”
daily news 2/12/08 – its even gotten to the mainstream press.
there are gangs in williamsburg, concentrated around the S streets on the other side of the BQE. I am surprised people don’t know this.
Oh come on, 12:26, we know the stats. It made national news when stats were released. Crime is down in NYC and the only districts crime went up were in parts of Brooklyn that do not have over-million dollar houses. You’re not going to send anyone into a panic here with your vague suggestion of “probably seeing” rashes of crime.
As for muggings you see on police blotters those have always happened. Lower crime does not mean totally crime-free. Not even in Park Slope. People are pretty realistic about that.
Hoo Boy! To have this woman’s problems!
The uptick in crime is happening now, boyo, and has been going on since the end of last year. Just read any Brooklyn blog and it’ll probably have a post about a rash of break-ins, beatings, muggings at gun point, car fires, etc. Definitely nothing like 2006 or the start of 2007.
Budget cuts, police force cuts, increasing unemployment… what did you expect was going to happen? Brooklyn did not gentrify the way Manhattan gentrified.
and there are no housing projects in Williamsburg? Dude, some of the biggest housing projects in Brooklyn are in Williamsburg – look down Lorimer street, you see those humongous high rises? Those aren’t condos, and it takes about 10 minutes to walk from there to where your condo is. and yes, there have been some pretty horrible beatings the past few weekends in WBURG.
So defensive about Brooklyn, my goodness. It’s not about being in Brooklyn or in Vinegar Hill. It’s about being a single woman and moving somewhere without amenities and a bustling community. There are parts of Manhattan like that too. This woman simply did not make a good choice about where to live for her lifestyle. If you are single and want a social life, you need to spend more money to be where the action is. Just the way it is.
11:02 – you are so ill-informed, that i’m surprised you get through the day.
there are no housing projects in williamsburg, no gangs, and several subway lines and stops.
i spent well over $800K, and absolutely adore my home and the area. please keep your idiotic comments to yourself. prefer you don’t trash my beloved neighborhood with your insults and lies.
also, manhattan psf price is still 50-200% more than williamsburg, so they are not remotely equal from a financial viewpoint.
She sounds rather foolish. She moved to Vinegar Hill for goodness sake. It’s out of the way with nothing really there. You can schep over to DUMBO or go on an extend hike to the C train at High Street to get into Manhattan. Honestly, what did she expect. If you want the isolation (desirable in its own way) of Vinegar Hill, fine; but to be surprised about the lack of well, anything (since there isn’t anything there in terms of retail or amenties), in Vinegar Hill is just moronic.
Ms. Luminato must not be such a good psychic, otherwise she would have seen this one coming.