Creatives Flock to Bklyn, But Are They Endangered?
Brooklynites: Artsy and disdainful of working for the man. Brooklyn experienced the fastest growth in self-employment of any borough between 2000 and 2006, according to stats released yesterday at panel hosted by Center for an Urban Future and the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, with those employed in the creative sector (graphic designers, artists, architects, writers,…

Brooklynites: Artsy and disdainful of working for the man. Brooklyn experienced the fastest growth in self-employment of any borough between 2000 and 2006, according to stats released yesterday at panel hosted by Center for an Urban Future and the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, with those employed in the creative sector (graphic designers, artists, architects, writers, etc.) accounting for the biggest chunk of that increase (their ranks rose by 33 percent). Park Slope, Williamsburg, and Downtown/Brooklyn Heights top the borough, respectively, each with between 2,500 and 3,500 residents who count themselves among the growing class of creative professionals, according to the BEDC, which used figures based on Census data from 2002 and 2005. The corporation calls these neighborhoods the borough’s creative crescent, and some of the talk at the panel yesterday was about how rising residential values in such areas threatens to crack the crescent. There’s no data to support this view, though an article on The Real Estate yesterday tried to come up with some anecdotal evidence. For example, playwright Scott Atkins, who founded the Brooklyn Writers’ Space and Room 58, says, A one-bedroom apartment with an office in center Slope is now $2,700, Mr. Atkins said. It’s unbelievable that rents could be so high and that the market is supporting it… we have seen more people come into Brooklyn, but we’ve also seen a lot of people going to Philadelphia, Jersey, and Vancouver. People go to L.A. all the time… Some move to upstate New York. If there’s a case to be made for Brooklyn’s creative class drying up eventually, the best evidence might be across the East River: Manhattan’s self-employed creative population grew an anemic 6.5 percent between 2000 and 2006.
Brooklyn’s ‘Creative Crescent’ In Danger of A Drought [The Real Estate]
Photo by Luke Redmond.
im currently looking for a place and have seen nothing even close to as expensive as $2700 for a 1+ bed in center slope. Im trying to rent a 2bed with a den for 2295 on Prospect pl just past Carlton in prospect heights right now. Its huge and could fit 3 people without a problem. So 2700 will get you a large 2 bedroom in park slope with room for a workspace. You just have to look.
im going to see a 2 bed in brooklyn heights thats $2100 on saturday. Its kinda narrow but wtf its big enought for 2 people easy.
I dont know where people pull these retarded inflated prices from. maybe their asses.
So to all those people who says that Park Slope is only bankers and lawyers, here we have an article stating that the majority of artists not only in Brooklyn, but in the entire city, have moved to Park Slope.
How interesting.
You mean all these anonymous losers (or one who writes out of his mom’s basement) who hate Park Slope were lying????
Couldn’t be!
The guy in the picture is an Asshat!
The What (keep’n it real)
Someday this war is gonna end…..
i’m an artist who just moved to park slope.
my whole buildings is artists, graphic designers and the like.
“This is another side effect of the general increase in liveability and safety of NYC–a lot of people are sticking around who are not really cut out for city living.”
That statement makes no sense. If the city is more livable, and people choose to live here, why are they somehow “not really cut out for city living?”
You carry the ability to be creative inside you, and unless you are welding 80′ steel sculptures, you should be able to create wherever you live. While it is nice to be able to write or whatever in a great neighborhood with cafes, restaurants and a generally cool and hip atmosphere, it certainly isn’t a prerequisite.
I am certainly an advocate for the creative set, being in that catagory myself, but come on. You don’t have to live in Park Slope to be able to create. More affordable housing is desireable and necessary for everyone, not just “creative types.”
OK, first, I’m a writer, and even though I make a really goood living at it now I didn’t always–so I’m not just saying “let them eat cake” here.
But.
A 1BR + study is $2700 in the Center Slope? Hmmm, what could one possibly do to avoid this expense? Oh, I know: don’t live in Center Slope!
I’ll admit that I was lucky, in that when I was struggling, Brooklyn was cheaper. But even back then, when I needed a 1BR with a study in the mid 90s, I found one by renting in the fringes of the Slope down by 5th Avenue. Yeah, it was a lot cheaper then, but 5th Avenue was a lot sleazier then and you got what you paid for.
I have every respect for artists trying to make it work. But with that commitment comes the acknowledgment that you’re going to give up some comforts of bourgeois life–especially in NYC. It’s in the contract. If you’re an artist or novelist or freelancer who feels it Center Slope or bust for you, then you’re an artist or novelist or freelancer who never should have been living in NYC in the first place.
This is another side effect of the general increase in liveability and safety of NYC–a lot of people are sticking around who are not really cut out for city living.
I generally agree; the so-called “creative types” insist on living in the most desirable neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and then complain that they are being priced out.
I also object to the use of the word “creative.” A lot of these people are journalists who do internet research (real tough) and recycle old information that they did very little to uncover. Hardly creative.
i’m surprised no one has commented on the picture used to represent the “creative sector.”