Wednesday Links
Crown Heights. Photo by dietrich. Subprime Problems Spreading Into Commercial Loans [NY Times] EDC Looks to Place Park, Parking on Willoughby Street [NY Post] Meet Tracy Collins, AY Photodocumentarian [Brit in Brooklyn] Surprise! Quotas Driving Parking Ticket Writing [Gothamist] Is Gentrification Transforming Public Spaces? [City Room] Red Hook ‘Soccer Tacos’ in the Crosshairs [AM New…
Crown Heights. Photo by dietrich.
Subprime Problems Spreading Into Commercial Loans [NY Times]
EDC Looks to Place Park, Parking on Willoughby Street [NY Post]
Meet Tracy Collins, AY Photodocumentarian [Brit in Brooklyn]
Surprise! Quotas Driving Parking Ticket Writing [Gothamist]
Is Gentrification Transforming Public Spaces? [City Room]
Red Hook ‘Soccer Tacos’ in the Crosshairs [AM New York]
Midwood Condo Wooing Orthodox Jews [The Real Deal]
NYU Has Its Eyes on Brooklyn & Queens [Metro]
10 Easy Pieces: Clothes Hooks [Remodelista]
I love the expression “random interaction”. First of all, that doesn’t sound like something I seek much. But anyway, it seems like a nice way of saying chaos or free-for-all.
Mysideofstuy: you’re totally right and I can see why you’re offended. Lance Freeman, the Columbia prof, is black and I’m pretty sure from Clinton Hill. You can listen to an interview with him if you’re curious here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5569466
“Affluent residents and tourists appreciate heavily policed public spaces”
“For example, one woman in Clinton Hill described changes in Fort Greene Park to Dr. Freeman. Previously, she said, mostly black residents used the park, and often barbecued there during the summer. “Now that’s where you see a lot of white people,†she said. “They sit outside tanning and walking their dogs. The folks in the brownstone are complaining that the smoke bothers them.—
“Gentrification brings to the fore clashing ideologies on public space. You have on the one hand the more romantic view of public space as a place where people can come together unfettered unrestrained, compared with the view of public space as a place of ordered, controlled recreation. Gentrification is typically associated with the latter, as a place where space is controlled and privatized, with less opportunity for random interaction.”
We get it! White people are boring and those cute ethnics are so flavorful! Listen to the academics.
Okay…..I am so insulted by this, I am African-American and to be honest I hate seeing people hanging out on the corner, loitering in front of my house, drinking beer on the street, littering….my pet peeves can go on, but I believe in quality of life, yes I understand that I live in Brooklyn an urban area but I hate when i see people who do not take pride in themselves and in the neighborhood! this article should have interviewed progressive non-whites that believe in the uplifting of a
neighborhood.
Guest at 10:10, I don’t really know what you’re trying to say but what the “middle-aged man” doesn’t seem to understand is that one of those drinking situations is legal and one isn’t. And that’s nothing new and has nothing to do with any particular neighborhood, gentrification or the color of the people involved.
This article is also a fine example of just how far out of touch academics are with reality.
8:57–totally agree with you. the article is ridiculous. it really stinks when placer are in better shape and safer. and boy is it lousy to have to be considerate of others!
“A middle-aged man Dr. Freeman interviewed did not understand why the police harassed him and his friends when they stood on a corner, drinking beer, while nearby, customers sat in an outdoor patio, drinking wine.”
this is laughable. Customer or dood drinking on the street.
that entire article is insulting. Poor people dont like nice things? wtf is that?
That article about gentrification and public spaces is spot on. I propose that we let the grass in all parks become overgrown, allow the masonry to crumble, cease garbage collection, permit drug dealers to openly ply their trade, stop mowing the grass, and encourage recently released inmates to rob people. Then, and only then, will all New Yorkers feel comfortable in our public spaces.
I thank the author for highlighting the evils of gentrification in our fair city.