After Three Strikes, Is Recent Bed-Stuy Arrival Out?
Writer Douglass Rushkoff made headlines last December when he announced in a blog post that he and his family were leaving Brooklyn after he was mugged on Christmas Eve outside his Park Slope apartment. While many people thought the response was an overreaction, getting mugged is a traumatic experience against which the rationality of statistics…
Writer Douglass Rushkoff made headlines last December when he announced in a blog post that he and his family were leaving Brooklyn after he was mugged on Christmas Eve outside his Park Slope apartment. While many people thought the response was an overreaction, getting mugged is a traumatic experience against which the rationality of statistics are of little comfort. Now another blogger is questioning whether he should stay in his neighborhood after having been mugged on Monday night for the third time in as many years. After five years in London and one on the Upper West Side, blogger Eating for Brooklyn scraped together enough dough for a down payment on browntone fixer-upper in Bed Stuy in 2003 only to get a rather jarring reception:
By the time we unloaded the last box from the rental truck, it was 1am. 1am and raining. The asphalt was shiny and slick and the street lights reflected yellow, red and green. Our block had the feeling of a movie set. It was picture perfect. Just as we closed the door to the truck with a thump, a passerby turned around and held us up. He ripped through my pockets frantically searching for cash. And I stupidly had $500.00 in my front pocket. I slipped a few singles off the wad of dough and gave it to him. He started walking away and came back with a vengeance as if the few singles I had given him were like spitting in his face. He ransacked my pockets again. Nothing. He never found the $500.00. Picture perfect and no one around.
We felt nothing but horror and panic later that night as we searched out the safest corner of the house to sleep — the fourth floor front room overlooking the top of the sycamore tree. With our sleeping bags on pine floors, our hearts pounded and kept us up all night. We had spent our life savings only to be held up at gunpoint. We felt we had been had.
All was quiet until February 2006 when the writer was pummelled in the head by a gang of teenagers; then on this past Monday night he was mugged again a block from his house.
I feel paralyzed. The rational voice says “Leave now.” The voice of fantasy says “Stick it out. It’ll be worth it in the long run.” Maybe I was stupid for not having left three and half years ago. With the neighborhood in transition and deep into renovation and debt, what would you do?
Well, what would you do?
3 Muggings in 3 Years, What Would You Do? [Eating for Brooklyn]
so first you say you have no use at all for the restaurants in brooklyn and then you say you frequent them all? which is it?
did george bush move to bed stuy?????
at least g.w. would have given me a laugh in mispronouncing petit bassam as petite bossom or something…
5 Star Guy here. I’m sorry for not making this perfectly clear but I do in fact live and breathe Bed-Stuy everyday. I was simply making the point that if I ever wanted to do something different I do indeed have many options. This is New York City after all. In terms of local spots, I’m a frequent patron of Petit Bassam, Toukelour, Kush, Locanda Vini, Solomon’s Porch, Bread Stuy, Common Ground and a slew of other nearby eateries. But you want to know my favorite, Golden Krust on Fulton! I can eat there everyday. I try to spend my hard earned money locally as much as possible but if I ever wanted to do something differently, I have options too. I was only addressing the common misconception that if you live in Bed-Stuy you are isolated and marginalized. I don’t feel that way at all. I have the best of everything; at my door step and if not, just minutes away. I hope this clears things up for those whose first instinct is to spit hate. No worries.
David was talking about his own neighborhood, so cut him alittle slack. But David, I have some advice for you and I don’t mean to be snarky or offensive in any way. It sounds like you’ve had it with the city. Perhaps you’re a native and you’re burnt out (happened to me) or you’re not from an urban environment and it’s too much for you to handle. Whatever the case, you don’t seem happy here.
5 star restaurant guy, I walk to the supermarket. Foodtown on Fulton. I can also hike to Petit Bassam, Toukelour, Kush and Locanda Vini. Maybe not up to parr with your fine taste, but they are good enough for working slobs like me. I understand you’re coming from a positive place, but you really should explore the neighborhood more. It does have alot to offer.
4:26, you didn’t read all the posts. Natives of BS were mentioned…not much, but they were.
Brower Park, well said, as always.
Are you people stupid!!!! Most of these posts are from people who don’t live here but obviuosly live in fear of black and brown people. That is why so many of you have weighed in on this subject. I understand… you couldn’t pay me to live in Bensonhurst or Howard Beach. Given their history I’m scared to death to live with a bunch of whites.
“for someone who claims to be a churchgoer, you sure do seem to be obsessed with material things…shamelessly talking about private schools, wine cellars, 5 star restaurants, etc.
is THAT was god teaches you to strive for??
you make me sick.”
5:09 PM. Take a chill pill. Lay off the guy. It’s his house and lifestyle. Sounds great to me. The guy spent a lot of money in BS, let him enjoy his home the way he sees fit. It’s his perogative. No need to beat the guy down simply for living differently from you or I. He lives in NYC, the greatest city in the world, why not drive around and enjoy it? It’s his choice. Further, “shamelessly talking about private school’? Is this a crime? Whoah..you might have issues of your own. Sorry.
Look at the picture of Stuy Heights at the top of the thread. Yes, David it sure looks pretty crappy and filthy to me too. NOT!!!
What an asshole….
I think in summarization of this amazing thread we can only come to one sane conclusion:
Park slope = good
Bed Stuy = bad
I never said that Bed-Stuy was crappy – what I said is that like MY neighborhood (which is lower slope, not South Slope), there is too much crappy things going on – like I listed- for SOME people to pay so much for housing.
And sorry if you are trying to say that you can walk a normal radius ( to the subway, bus stop, bodega etc… ) around virtually any house in Bed-Stuy you are going to see experience the things on my list MORE then you should and more than SOME people are willing to pay 800k+ for. And I am not putting anyone down since I have a similar experience where I live, despite the claims by many that PS is some sort of nirvana.
And I acknowledge you can experience ALL of these things in virtually every neighborhood in New York City (which BTW isnt all bad – since I dont want to be insulated from all reality) – it is simply a matter of degree and how much of these things people want to see and how often.
And while I wasnt robbed (even once) I actually think that my ambivalence regarding Park Slope is very relevant to what ‘EFB’ is coping with (i.e. the point of this whole post).
While it is great that all of you people love to be boosters of your respective neighborhoods, I am not a broker and I’m not trying to ‘sell’ anything – so I dont think an honest account of the negative aspects of various areas (including my own) is making “sweeping generalizations” about “communities” but rather calling things as they are – if you want to have a post about all the positives about PS, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, etc… I can send you that list too.
the difference is that ft. greene, carroll gardens, boreum hill and dumbo are not “crappy neighborhoods”
clinton hill has turned the corner and i’d say is nicer than it is crappy. red hook is more crappy than not.
park slope, not crappy. south slope a lil crappy.
bed stuy crappy except a few blocks.
there, cleared up?