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.
Yeah 12:50, but the comment is too general. African-American woman born here are not nannies. The little sewing circles in the park are filled with nannies mainly from the carribean and african nations. Most are here illegal and are comfortable with these jobs because they performed them in their native countries. The experience of the African-American woman to being a nannie is derogatory based on the history. It’s really a Black thing and I wouldn’t expect you or the asian woman to understand. But you should know there is a difference and certain parts of our community will read it differently. Contrary to what you think, not all blacks are alike.
I love how white people in NYC think they aren’t living in truly DIVERSE neighborhoods unless those said neighborhoods are PREDOMINENTLY BLACK!
Anybody know that the U.S. is 12% black, not 80%??
Actually, 12:53…
I am 12:42 and I already own property…in a NICE neighborhood already.
So no…I didn’t actually get bitch slapped.
I’m not trying to stock up my “portfolio” on overpriced crap in an overpriced neighborhood.
I’m trying to enjoy my one life in my beautiful home in a neighborhood I love and feel comfortable in (imagine that…referring to a house as a HOME and not as a “portfolio”).
That’s more important to me than $$.
But to each his/her own.
12:50 – You are wasting your time. Reading most of these posts, it seems most of the people here have no concept of saving, sacrificing, investing, planning, and living for tomorrow.
These are the same people who are having kids when they are 20, or at the bar with friends every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night living like rock stars.
They will scoff at people who scrimped, saved, worked 2 jobs, went to school at night, or whatever else they didnt do, just to dismiss them as “Trust Funders”.
Sorry people, I understand you are frustrated, but middle class people actually do make it in this town.
12:18, you are correct that education is key. However, you are not correct that there is no improvement in Bed Stuy and Crown Heights. As a whole, no, the schools in our communities are not up to par. But positive gains in the public education in our areas are not generally covered in the New York Times.
For years we have had successful magnet programs at the Old Boys High, in Bed Stuy, and more and more parents are getting involved in all of the schools. There are many success stories coming out of these schools, due to caring teachers and involved parents. There are very active PTA’s and advanced education groups in many of the schools.
In addition, there are several fine parochial schools in both communities, which are successful alternatives to public school, but keep the kids local.
While we still have a very, very long way to go, step by step, improvements have been made. I’m not saying rush here for the schools, but it is a fallacy to think that no one here cares. You can’t erase generations of neglect in a few years.
If the average income of a Ft. Greene resident is $40K and year, and the majority of them are renters (70% of New Yorkers rent) then these people are at risk of getting booted out of the neighborhood. When landloards see trustfunded progressives paying $2mn to buy brownstones in the area, they’re gonna raise the rent. Goodbye Ft-Greene-as-you-once-knew-it. It’s a story told many times over in Brooklyn.
12:42 you just got “bitch-slapped”
A lot of families buy into FG(and other nabes w/inferior schools) assuming they will simply send their kids to private school.
The dirty little secret is that there isn’t enough private school space available. Poly Prep had 2000+ applicants to middle school last year with less 80 spots available. Thats less than a 5% acceptance rate. The same can be said for St. Anns, Packard and any one of the other brooklyn private schools.
W
I’m 12:34 and I just bought my first place in Park Slope last year. Loving it, but not interested in the false information that is constantly spread around this blog.
Park Slope and Ft. Greene are mostly middle class neighborhoods, with a sizable upper class contingency. The median incomes of both are still less than 50K, though, and I prefer to stick with actual facts and numbers over speculation and stereotypes.