Closing Bell: Corcoran Shifts Some Borders
Today Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who has been in the news for trying to curtail the practice of real estate agents making up names for neighborhoods, sent out a press release commending the Corcoran Group for “changing their advertising practices by moving the eastern boundary of the Prospect Heights community back to its proper border, and…
Today Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who has been in the news for trying to curtail the practice of real estate agents making up names for neighborhoods, sent out a press release commending the Corcoran Group for “changing their advertising practices by moving the eastern boundary of the Prospect Heights community back to its proper border, and correcting several listings that had improperly marketed Crown Heights properties as located in Prospect Heights.” According to the release, Jeffries sent a letter to Corcoran asking the brokerage to recognize the traditional boundaries of Prospect and Crown Heights in its ads so as not to “inflate housing prices in the Crown Heights community to the detriment of both working families who reside in the neighborhood and the prospective residents who are being deceived.” (While he’s at it, the assemblyman may want to look into Corcoran’s borders for Clinton Hill, which evidently stretches to Bedford Avenue.) Jeffries still plans to intro legislation requiring the city to set up an official process for renaming neighborhoods, so “Pro-Cro” is safe for the moment.
ok, so after reading the other thread about this, i realize i misunderstood the intent of the bill. this is just about inventing new neighborhoods, not about misrepresenting the neighborhood of a property… given that, it’s basically neutered from the start. the new names are only a small portion of what i perceive to be the problem (as well as, to my understanding, what jeffries himself seems to think it is). sigh… so this really is just political posturing.
I love it! After he introduces the legislation, can we rename the area around City Hall, Five Points instead of that sissy Civic Center moniker? And then, we can re-name the politcal party of which he’s a member – The Dead Rabbits from the Gangs of New York?
backbackbackback – it’s Gone!
And here’s a link to an article from 1905 referencing Prospect Heights, “that fashionable section of Brooklyn.” http://brooklynian.com/forum/prospect-heights/park-slope-prospect-heights-love-triangle
Note the reference to the doctor’s maid, and then let’s talk about what is “traditional” in the area, and whether we ought to set cultural norms in stone for all time.
I have no particular love for brokers, but in my view, Jeffries’ action is just as racialized and insulting as what misleading owners and brokers are doing.
I appreciate what Jeffries is getting at. The only reason the names and boundaries of these neighborhoods is shifting is to bait investors with promises that they’re buying into an area that has an upscale reputation. If brokers can make you think that Park Slope stretches as far as Bay Ridge and charge accordingly, they will. In my mind, it seems a way of robbing the neighborhood of what it has to offer while pricing poorer residents and would-be owners out. And, I know I’m opening a can of worms here, but changing these names and, even worse, making them up (“Prospect Lefferts Gardens”? Geez!) is a highly racialized tactic that’s frankly insulting. It suggests that Flatbush is not safe or desirable for middle-class and/or white buyers because it’s traditionally been the home of working class and/or black folks. So better call it something that brokers think middle-class and/or white buyers like better. It’s insulting all around! If people find a place they like, move in and get along with the neighbors, then all is well, even if it’s just plain old Flatbush.
The city neighborhoods are official here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neighbor/neighl.shtml
Montrose, I assume you meant Eastern Parkway, not Flatbush, and there is nothing technical about Franklin Ave being in Crown Heights, granted – the north side is now like a Mini-Williamsburg and the south side is stuck in 1994.
That’s right, Petebklyn!
Crown Heights extended all the way to Flatbush Avenue and encompassed half of Grand Army Plaza, the “lynchpin” with Park Slope, at least during the 50’s and early 60’s when I lived there as a youngster.
In Crown Heights were the library, zoo, Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Museum, Children’s Museum — everything (and everything a kid needed) all the way to Empire Boulevard from as far away as Fulton Street.
“Fulton-Nostrand”? The keystone between Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, that is until Crown Heights became predominantly African-American (and Caribbean), and it was labelled Bedford-Stuyvesant, whose border then extended at least until Eastern Parkway.
Of course neighborhood names matter. But it depends on who’s saying them to invest them with meaning — and when they’re saying them. Just ask the developers and residents of early apartments around Grant Square and St. Marks Avenue. They called the area Bedford to reflect the gentility of an old “aristocratic” quarter, even though a later generation would call it Crown Heights to distinguish it from the emerging racial signifier of Bedford-Stuyvesant across Fulton (before then, separate neighborhoods called Bedford and Stuyvesant, until racial change made them monolithic).
Who “owns” these neighborhood names? Not you. Not I. And certainly not Corcoran.
Just ask our dead forebears.
Nostalgic on Park Avenue
it is a rare day when you are agreeable.
Some years ago when my friend bought his place in Prospect Heights, it was referred to as “Park Slope adjacent.”