Register to leave a comment, or log in if you already have an account
Well written, slopefarm. I don’t have the patience to spell things out at such length but I’ll say that you have hit each and every point and I’m in total agreement with your assessment of the issues and, rightly or wrongly, what cultural issues drive people’s motivations and prejudices.
However, as I just pointed out above, that sentence that What just posted is markedly different from what we have been hearing.
“My fear is when things get bad, the retards are going to flee bringing down the hood.”
What…this seems to be a markedly different point of view than what many of us have interpreted your stance to be in the past. And, one that I’m in agreement with and siding with you on.
Retards or not, the vast majority of us have no plans to flee. We, along with our neighbors both new and old, will not let any hood be brought down.
What has done what any successful demagogue has done, picked a permanent and ever-changing enemy and a cause without practical remedy. He thinks that if the economy tanks all the way into a depression, then gentrification will reverse itself, so he roots for everyone to fail so that they can abandon their houses at a fraction of current value. There is no nuance at all, and no end to the straw men he might identify as stand-ins for his enemy.
Montrose has written eloquently about the form of gentrification you describe, neighborhoods picking themselves up in the aftermath of the 60s-70s fiscal crisis and improving themselves to the point where others want in. I’m no fan of unbridled free-markets. I believe in a strong regulatory and planning role for government. But I simply do not see how you “win” a war against gentrification. If property becomes more valuable, someone with more means is going to pay for it whenever an owner wants to cash in on the increase. Gentrification is often rough, and governent and community organizations have arole in trying to find ways to curb excesses and help people who are displaced. But there are also a lot of lower and middle class homeowners of all backgrounds in some of the neighborhoods What seeks to defend against gentrification who now have the means to retire beyond their wildest dreams because they made the best of of the run-up in home values over the last three decades.
Many things have raised property values in formerly “ungentrified” areas — drops in crime, parents oprganizing to improve neighborhoods schools, community organizations, gardeners, etc. A depression isn’t going to bring back high crime and de-gentrify the City. The City’s finances are so much better managed now than in the 60s and 70s that drops in revenues are not going to take the same toll. All those empty lots and burned out buildings were the results of decades of disinvestment and destruction (Cross Bronx and Sheridan Expressways anyone?).
In short, there is simply no way for What to get what he wants, which allows him to tilt at windmills here ad nauseum. The frustrating part of What’s arguments — apart from the vulgarisms — is that he never spells out, nor thinks he has to, what he is for. Does he want a freeze on home sales? 100% tax on home sale profits? Racial segregation by neighborhood? A few highly publicized muggings to scare new people away? He just wants the tanking economy to destry everyone he thinks is a gentrifying asshat, while somehow leaving everyone else alone. But an economy that does that will also cause the loss of many more jobs of those in the communities he thinks he is trying to save from gentrification. The enemy seems to be anyone who remotely seems to embrace anything tangentially related to gentrification. If you like a coffee shop that opened where a laundromat used to be, you’re an asshat. If you worry about crime, you’re an asshat (or its variations), or perhaps even a racist.
I have nothing against the feelings that may lie behind some of What’s statements, but real debate and substantive argument is impossible. As much as I am sympathetic to housing and community organizers who do their best to help communities address the many inequities that exist in our City, I see no way to engage meaningfully with What. I don’t hate him, but I can’t attend to most of his postings as charitably as our good friend cobblehiller and others.
That said, I did what you did and agreed with his post on the HOD thread.
“The NYC medical examiner’s office says Natasha Richardson died of blunt impact to the head.
A spokeswoman for the ME says the death has been ruled an accident. The cause of death is “epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head.”
Dr. Wouter Schievink, a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, tells TMZ a common example of someone suffering an epidural hematoma is when a baseball player is hit in the side of the head by a pitch.
He also says that an epidural hematoma can be detected by a CT scan. But sometimes if the scan is performed early on, the injury might not be detected.”
No mention of pre-existing but I guess that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t something…
“This is a testing of NYC during this crisis and my bet is that it will come out just fine and will remain “Capital of the World.” Neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn are doing fine. ”
One of the reason I get along with Cobblehiller is we has born and raised in Brooklyn. We (from our perspectives) have experienced the good and the bad of New York. Most of the posters at Brownstoner never saw the Dark Side of New York City. My fear is when things get bad, the retards are going to flee bringing down the hood. I write from experience not watching Sex in the City or Marry Tyler Moore but hardcore urban living.
Oh my last post to Benson was 45 minutes ago. Where is he??? Yoo Hoo Benson, come out to playa…..
One think that the Assheads can count on “The What” steps to the plate! Now again the whole “Benson” thing is being put to rest. I called him out and he did not show up. Now I know his “Fan Club” will say “he’s not around” and that “Scarecrow” thing, Blow me!
Now for now on if benson Attacks me or someone connected to me, please ignore him…
Well written, slopefarm. I don’t have the patience to spell things out at such length but I’ll say that you have hit each and every point and I’m in total agreement with your assessment of the issues and, rightly or wrongly, what cultural issues drive people’s motivations and prejudices.
However, as I just pointed out above, that sentence that What just posted is markedly different from what we have been hearing.
I smacked my head on a glass coffee table when I was a kid, and got a few stitches…and now you know why I am the way I am! ; )
“My fear is when things get bad, the retards are going to flee bringing down the hood.”
What…this seems to be a markedly different point of view than what many of us have interpreted your stance to be in the past. And, one that I’m in agreement with and siding with you on.
Retards or not, the vast majority of us have no plans to flee. We, along with our neighbors both new and old, will not let any hood be brought down.
DIBS,
What has done what any successful demagogue has done, picked a permanent and ever-changing enemy and a cause without practical remedy. He thinks that if the economy tanks all the way into a depression, then gentrification will reverse itself, so he roots for everyone to fail so that they can abandon their houses at a fraction of current value. There is no nuance at all, and no end to the straw men he might identify as stand-ins for his enemy.
Montrose has written eloquently about the form of gentrification you describe, neighborhoods picking themselves up in the aftermath of the 60s-70s fiscal crisis and improving themselves to the point where others want in. I’m no fan of unbridled free-markets. I believe in a strong regulatory and planning role for government. But I simply do not see how you “win” a war against gentrification. If property becomes more valuable, someone with more means is going to pay for it whenever an owner wants to cash in on the increase. Gentrification is often rough, and governent and community organizations have arole in trying to find ways to curb excesses and help people who are displaced. But there are also a lot of lower and middle class homeowners of all backgrounds in some of the neighborhoods What seeks to defend against gentrification who now have the means to retire beyond their wildest dreams because they made the best of of the run-up in home values over the last three decades.
Many things have raised property values in formerly “ungentrified” areas — drops in crime, parents oprganizing to improve neighborhoods schools, community organizations, gardeners, etc. A depression isn’t going to bring back high crime and de-gentrify the City. The City’s finances are so much better managed now than in the 60s and 70s that drops in revenues are not going to take the same toll. All those empty lots and burned out buildings were the results of decades of disinvestment and destruction (Cross Bronx and Sheridan Expressways anyone?).
In short, there is simply no way for What to get what he wants, which allows him to tilt at windmills here ad nauseum. The frustrating part of What’s arguments — apart from the vulgarisms — is that he never spells out, nor thinks he has to, what he is for. Does he want a freeze on home sales? 100% tax on home sale profits? Racial segregation by neighborhood? A few highly publicized muggings to scare new people away? He just wants the tanking economy to destry everyone he thinks is a gentrifying asshat, while somehow leaving everyone else alone. But an economy that does that will also cause the loss of many more jobs of those in the communities he thinks he is trying to save from gentrification. The enemy seems to be anyone who remotely seems to embrace anything tangentially related to gentrification. If you like a coffee shop that opened where a laundromat used to be, you’re an asshat. If you worry about crime, you’re an asshat (or its variations), or perhaps even a racist.
I have nothing against the feelings that may lie behind some of What’s statements, but real debate and substantive argument is impossible. As much as I am sympathetic to housing and community organizers who do their best to help communities address the many inequities that exist in our City, I see no way to engage meaningfully with What. I don’t hate him, but I can’t attend to most of his postings as charitably as our good friend cobblehiller and others.
That said, I did what you did and agreed with his post on the HOD thread.
I have been knocked out cold a number of times. Don’t know if I would be a smarter man if that hadn’t happened.
“My fear is when things get bad, the retards are going to flee bringing down the hood”
Apparently can’t live with ’em or without ’em.
This just in from the autopsy…
“The NYC medical examiner’s office says Natasha Richardson died of blunt impact to the head.
A spokeswoman for the ME says the death has been ruled an accident. The cause of death is “epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head.”
Dr. Wouter Schievink, a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, tells TMZ a common example of someone suffering an epidural hematoma is when a baseball player is hit in the side of the head by a pitch.
He also says that an epidural hematoma can be detected by a CT scan. But sometimes if the scan is performed early on, the injury might not be detected.”
No mention of pre-existing but I guess that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t something…
“I did injure my head once and required 3-4 stitches but luckily that never had any lasting effect.”
Says who?
“This is a testing of NYC during this crisis and my bet is that it will come out just fine and will remain “Capital of the World.” Neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn are doing fine. ”
One of the reason I get along with Cobblehiller is we has born and raised in Brooklyn. We (from our perspectives) have experienced the good and the bad of New York. Most of the posters at Brownstoner never saw the Dark Side of New York City. My fear is when things get bad, the retards are going to flee bringing down the hood. I write from experience not watching Sex in the City or Marry Tyler Moore but hardcore urban living.
Oh my last post to Benson was 45 minutes ago. Where is he??? Yoo Hoo Benson, come out to playa…..
One think that the Assheads can count on “The What” steps to the plate! Now again the whole “Benson” thing is being put to rest. I called him out and he did not show up. Now I know his “Fan Club” will say “he’s not around” and that “Scarecrow” thing, Blow me!
Now for now on if benson Attacks me or someone connected to me, please ignore him…
BENSON=PWNED!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…