Car Alarm Incident Reveals Tensions in Fort Greene?
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…
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]
I agree with DIBS. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been forced awake (and to remain awake!) in the middle of the night by wretched car alarms that owners refuse to turn off. I know exactly which cars they are, and I don’t give a crap if the owners are black, white or purple – I would happily torture them equally. This has nothing to do with living someplace a long time, its a common courtesy. Does this guy in the article think that white people that just moved to the neighborhood are the only ones who get woken up?
minard- not I, the organization I worked for and my boss. Who did nothing to deserve what they did to him. In fact the Post made an official retraction but I doubt too many people saw it and the damage was done. We had to shut down last December. My ex-employer was a great guy who did nothing but help people and they took everything he did and twisted it into something sinister or bad. I’m not exaggerating. Unfortunately for the Post he had all the documentation to prove them wrong, hence the official (but small and almost impossible to find) retraction. Someone told him the Post never does retractions so the fact they did here shows what liars they are.
billyboomer, you made me laugh.
I see a surprising number of hot women reading the Post on the subway.
> “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.”
> ” Regarding this jerk’s gentrification/culture-clash complaints, he’s basically saying he prefers to live around people whose standards for quality of life are really low.”
This proves the “jerk’s” point. Yeah, the race-baiting is a manifestation of his hostility, but the hostility itself comes from the fact that no one likes being condescendingly told that they way you live is “unneighborly” or “really low.” You should do your homework and know what a neighborhood is like and what quality of life issues are important to the residents before raising a stink about it. That’s just as much a part of renting or buying a home as the floorplan is. Did the “jerk” overreact? Very, very much so. But does he have a right to be upset? Without a doubt.
All Brooklyn neighborhoods have their “ancien regimes” including places like Brooklyn Heights, and Carroll Gardens.
Even where race is not an issue, people improvise.
A young woman of color challenged my husband once, in a friendly conversation. She was admiring my dog and then asked “did you know so and so — oh, YOU wouldn’t remember him.” Translated meaning: “you’re white so you couldn’t have possibly EVER known this person”. My husband gently asked the girl how old she was. When she answered him, he pointed out he’d been living here for fifteen years before she was born.
This has never been a good or smart kind of conversation, but sadly it usually comes up with the kind of conflict where there’s no basis to the eventual discussion except “You are an ***hole”. In this case, it’s best to back off in any situation.
Where is the What when you need him?
He’d take a goddamn crowbar to this fools window… or at least make menacing threats on message boards
Smash the ignorant assholes car windows out. Dick. Fuck you and your stupid race shit. You car is probably a piece of shit anyway who would steal it.
NY law requires that an car alarm reset to silent in 3 minutes. If it keeps going off(recycling), its a violation. The PD are allowed to come and disconnect the car battery and fine the owner of the car.
The car owner is wrong. Its a violation no matter what his race is.
Car alarms rarely stop anything but novice crooks.