From the West Village to Fort Greene, With Few Regrets
This weekend’s real estate section in the Times has a story that’s likely to resonate with many ex-Manhattanites who’ve moved to Brooklyn and find the living across the East River a whole lot easier. The article is about Hali Lee and Peter von Ziegesar, a couple with three kids who uprooted from the West Village,…
This weekend’s real estate section in the Times has a story that’s likely to resonate with many ex-Manhattanites who’ve moved to Brooklyn and find the living across the East River a whole lot easier. The article is about Hali Lee and Peter von Ziegesar, a couple with three kids who uprooted from the West Village, where they’d lived for 15 years, to Fort Greene. The pair bought a house (a former crack den, actually) on South Portland Avenue in late ’05 and say that while they miss a few things about the city (chief among them their old proximity to the Village Community School on West 10th Street, which their kids still attend), Brooklyn has presented a number of quality-of-life advantages. The perks, according to Ms. Lee, include an environment that doesn’t feel like a high-end mall, as the Village did; a space where their brood’s noise doesn’t disturb the neighbors; their new borough’s down-to-earth population (There are mixed-race couples, and black people here who aren’t nannies); and the fact that their kids can now go play on the sidewalk and in the backyard.
In a House, You Can Make All the Noise You Want [NY Times]
Photo by lunalaguna.
I also disagree with with 4:03 and am not a teacher or in a union.
Sneaky Pete
4:18 you said “Do you really beleive the government is better at doing ANYTHING than the private sector?”
Hmm yes I do. The govt can do lots of things “better” than the private sector. for example – don’t we have the finest military on the earth? Is that not a great public organiization? Do you think that Blackwater is a better military than the US Govt?
Careful about your answer or some republican will question your patriotism.
“What planet are you from? There isn’t a person alive, except teachers all gung-ho about their unions maybe, who disagree with what 4:03 has been saying.”
1. I am from planet Earth
2. I am alive.
3. I disagree with 4:03
4. I am not a teacher or in a union.
“ease dropping”
it’s called eavesdropping.
and it’s believe.
Yikes…I wish we had dictated state sponsored education back when you were going to school.
4:16
Actually, 4:06 diagreed with you.
And I agree with 4:06.
4:06 – They do, and it has nothing to do with Republicans.
BTW – Where in the constitution does it say the Federal Government is supposed to Educate our Children and dictate eductaion policy?
You seem to be of the same ilk that hates the government ease dropping of terrorists, allowing religious icons on government property, and dictating what a woman can do with her body. So Why is OK that they dictate education and the schools system through “Grants” with strings attached and policy mandates?
Do you really beleive the government is better at doing ANYTHING than the private sector? Do you really beleive they are entitled to do anything they want?
Public school vs. private school is a legitimate debate, but regardless of what kind of school a person attends, if the student and the parents are decicated to learning, the kid will do fine. Case closed.
“There is no trying to reason with someone with your attitude, 4:03.
None.”
So…..you disagree that politics and unions are a problem in the issues public schools? What planet are you from? There isn’t a person alive, except teachers all gung-ho about their unions maybe, who disagree with what 4:03 has been saying.
I’m not 4:03 and am not the person who was posting their perspective about the public school system but I can say I am definitely not one who thinks all it takes is a “positive attitude” to solve everything. That’s so granola. Take a reality pill.
3:40, I think your dad was pretty awesome and brave for sending his son to an all-white private school. He wanted you to have a special education, a different experience from what he had and from what your peers had. My parents did the same thing by sending me to private school. But if I’m to continue this spirit of pioneering and enriching MY Children’s lives, then I have to take a risk on my neighborhood’s schools, and on my kids’ having the intelligence and strength to navigate their very special and different circumstance. I would hate to send them somewhere where the only challenge would be to be “better” than everyone who’s basically the same as them.
You didn’t do that, you were different from the get go. You had nothing to prove to anyone but yourself. IF yuo’d been a white kid with a bunch of rich white friends, your education would have had a very different effect on you. BElieve me.
And yes, as someone with a CHOICE to send them to public school, the greatest fulfillment is that I excercise this choice wisely. Will my kids be denied certain things (like teachers who have time and rest and patience to have a one-hour chat with them about some favorite writer after school)? Yes. Hopefully I will be smart enough to let them know that these are things they could be getting at a private school; and that they can perhaps, perhaps, start to ask for it in their public school environment.
Change is the most inspiring thing you can give kids. Your example is one of change. I hope you understand that my kids’ would be too.