Can Ditmas Park Save The Middle Class?
Despite tremendous quality-of-life gains, more residents left New York City in 2006 than in 1993. (Brooklyn was the one borough that bucked that trend.) The main reason, says an article from the American Enterprise Institute, is the the rising cost of living for middle-class families. In fact, New York now has the lowest rate of…
Despite tremendous quality-of-life gains, more residents left New York City in 2006 than in 1993. (Brooklyn was the one borough that bucked that trend.) The main reason, says an article from the American Enterprise Institute, is the the rising cost of living for middle-class families. In fact, New York now has the lowest rate of middle-income families of any city; and, except for Los Angeles, it also has the smallest percentage of middle-income neighborhoods. One exception—and a model for the future—is Ditmas Park:
The ‘place’ Ellen and Joe looked for was not just a physical location but something less tangible: a sense of community and a neighborhood to raise their hoped-for children. Although they considered suburban locations, as most families do, ultimately they chose the Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, where Joe had grown up. At first, this seemed a risky choice. While Joe was growing up in the 1980s, the neighborhood—a mixture of Victorian homes and modest apartments—had become crime-infested. The old families were moving out, and newer ones were not replacing them. Yet Joe’s Mom still lived there, and they liked the idea of having grandma around for their planned-for family.
Politicians genuflect to the idea of maintaining a middle class, yet their actions suggest otherwise. In a city that has been losing middle-class families for generations, the resurgence of places like Ditmas Park represents a welcome change. In recent years, child-friendly restaurants and shops have started up along once-decayed Cortelyou Road. More important, some local elementary schools have shown marked improvement, with an increase in parental involvement and new facilities. Even in hard economic times, the area has become a beacon to New York families, as well as singles seeking a community where they will put down long-term roots. There’s an attempt in this neighborhood to break down the city feel and to see this more as a kind of a small town, notes Ellen. It may be in the city, but it’s a community unto itself, a place where you can stay and raise your children.
If cities like New York want to nurture their middle-class populations, the article suggests, they will need to shift their priorities away from “subsidizing developers for luxury mega-developments, new museums, or performing arts centers” and instead focus on “those things critical to the middle class such as maintaining relatively low density work areas and shopping streets, new schools, and parks.” In our opinion, at the end of the day, it’s all about the schools.
The Luxury City vs. the Middle Class [The American]
The importance of “maintaining relatively low density work areas and shopping streets”
Ha. Enjoy that one. Ditmas Park is “suburban” for NYC and its population density is 52,000 people per square mile. Downtown San Francisco (and I’m using 94111) is 6,500 people per square mile and the densest parts of Chicago, in the Gold Coast are just 29,000. In other words, “neighborhoody” Brooklyn is still one of the densest parts of the U.S.
At some point, can’t we just accept that New York is a different place? And that if people want low density that they should move to the suburbs? There’s nothing wrong with the suburbs or wanting to move there. This city can’t be all things to all people.
A neighborhood with $1 million dollar homes isn’t a middle class neighborhood, so Ditmas Park isn’t going to do it. However, there are plenty of other NYC ‘hoods where houses are still significantly less expensive, both in Brooklyn and Queens, and I don’t understand why middle class families aren’t moving there and improving the schools. PS 321 and nearly every other neighborhood school (PS 8 excepted) became better way back when homes WERE priced for the middle class. Fifteen years ago, you could still buy a house in nice parts of South Slope for $300,000 or less, and 10 years ago the same was true in Cobble Hill (and both with rental income). Salaries have not risen in any comparable amount since then, but home prices are through the roof. So to me, it’s insane when the house prices are high BEFORE the schools get better — it should be the other way around.
Dirty Hipster, you make a silly comparison. 321 is an elementary school. It does compare quite favorably to elementary schools in the suburbs. What exactly are you basing your claims upon? Suburban schools are only better in the most expensive suburbs, with high property taxes, which middle class families can’t afford anyway. So what is your point? That there is someplace too expensive for people to live that has better schools?
Chicken – I went through grammar school trying my best to stifle my working class roots (betrayed by my pronounciation). It would have gotten me bullied and marginalized. Nowadays though I thought it was de rigueur to promote your working class roots so as to impress everyone how far you’d come.
i dont hide my working class roots, im proud of it!
i just thought of something, nyc would be so much less expensive if we cut costs by educating children with online classes instead of having schools. it’s eventually going to happen anyway. it’s been happening for college for a long time, why not let high schoolers and grammer school kids take their classes online? (yes i KNOW there are certain drawbacks) but since kids primarily prefer to communite via their phones and computer anyway, it makes sense. we wouldnt need teachers, school staff, etc. then all those schools could be turned into affordable housing for the PROPER middle class. those making about 50K. we are so primative as a peoples it’s not even funny.
*rob*
“$200k makes the cut for middle class in NYC ($150k at a push) but I’d consider that the lower cut-off point.”
Oh come ON. Here we go again. There are zillions of affordable places in New York City, from the Bronx to Queens to the upper part of Manhattan to the lower part of Manhattan to areas in Brooklyn and Staten Island that are affordable to families making $80,000 to $150,000 a year, where you will not be killed, and where the elementary schools are decent (you do have to test into a magnet school for junior high and high school).
The problem here is that families without dual doctor/lawyer/executive income cannot afford the fancy parts of Brooklyn but they think they should be able to. Thus the perception that New York City is “unaffordable.”
Also, didn’t we already read this exact same article about Ditmas Park being the last bastion of the middle class in New York Magazine or the New York Times about a month ago?
> “to some how convince yourself that only white people frequent
> 5th ave resturants is silly.”
THANK YOU. One need only open their eyes.
And wine lover, your comment “ps is as white as it gets and very generic in every way” is just flat-out stupid.
why don’t people in NYC want to admit that they are working class? The City was/is built on immigrant sweat (nationally and internationally)!
It does pi$$ me off when people try to hide their working class roots – there’s nothing dishonourable or shameful about it. Like Groucho’s views on clubs, if being middle class means holding a view that it is superior to working class then I don’t want to be middle class.
> “codswallop”
Triple word score! Good to have you back, ditto.
haha w&p – people need their fifi wine bars!
love the “city” and would never want to leave – but it amazes me that people delude themselves that certain “good nyc schools” like ps 321 can actually compare to a top notch suburban school district (syosset, jericho, cold spring harbor)
for the most part – being the best school in nyc is like being a gold medalist in the special olympics. i realize there are some prestigious charter schools – and I went to college with some of those kids, and was not at all impressed as a whole.