Monday Links
Rising Property Taxes Overwhelm Many Who Are Living on the Edge [NY Times] Space for Spices, Gadgets and Guests Found in Williamsburg [NY Times] Retired Guidance Counselor Dies as Blaze Displaces 100 in Flatbush [NY Times] More City Construction Action for Women, Minorities [Crain’s] Amazing Photo of Greenpoint Terminal Market [NYS] Pedicab Drivers Welcome Tougher…
Rising Property Taxes Overwhelm Many Who Are Living on the Edge [NY Times]
Space for Spices, Gadgets and Guests Found in Williamsburg [NY Times]
Retired Guidance Counselor Dies as Blaze Displaces 100 in Flatbush [NY Times]
More City Construction Action for Women, Minorities [Crain’s]
Amazing Photo of Greenpoint Terminal Market [NYS]
Pedicab Drivers Welcome Tougher Laws [MSNBC]
Crown Heights’s Past, Baltimore’s Present [WSJ]
Dumbo Conversion Moving Along [Curbed]
The Sketchbook Project Comes To Brooklyn [Gothamist]
Sword Dancing Invades Brooklyn [Gothamist]
Rats Invade Clinton Sreeet [BHB]
The Union Street Project: 131-133 Union St [Lost City]
Andy Disses Vito [BK Paper]
Photo by md888 from the Brownstoner Flickr Pool.
In light of today’s holiday, posting will be light and sporadic.
Just fyi, the “space for spices, gadgets and guests” was found in BOERUM HILL, not Williamsburg.
I’m afraid so, ENY.
It’s clear the press will continue to beat that poor, old Crown-Heights-black-man-vs.-Jew-riot horse for at least a few more years.
Maybe they should stop reading so much and get out to see the real world. Especially Crown Heights. Most people who have moved here quickly learn that Crown heights is a com[lex, and great neighborhood. I get so tired of them bringing up the race riots- they were 20 years ago and many people have worked long and hard to bridge the gaps. It isn’t perfect, but it is indicative of how people of good will can work together to bring about positive change. Of course, that kind of story doesn’t sell newspapers.
“Brownstone Belt” for the WSJ is a demographic term not a reference to actual architecture. It means wealthy white demographic in Brooklyn that reads the NY Times or the WSJ.
What the WSJ does not bother to state is that since the Crown Heights riots, which were twenty years ago, a lot has changed. First of all, we have ALWAYS been part of the “brownstone belt”, as the brownstones and rowhouses weren’t built yesterday. The story makes it sound like, as per usual, that the neighborhood didn’t really exist until some upscale condos, on its far, far western borders were built, which actually has nothing to do with Crown Heights proper, anyway.
Secondly, and more importantly, there have been black and Jewish people living here together since the 1940’s. I’m not trivializing the riots, but they were not typical of race relations for most people in this area. Since the riots, there has been much work done by people of good will on both sides to bridge the very real gaps between the communities, and there are long standing organizations established to promote harmony, and diffuse conflict. Hopefully Baltimore can do the same.
In the meantime, we are so much more than blacks and Jews sitting across borders looking for a reason to fight. We are a growing and thriving community that’s getting better everyday. The Wall Street Journal needs to come out here and cover THAT, but that is not as interesting as depicting Crown Heights as either a riot zone with overturned police cars, or the new high rise heaven for condo buyers.