ACORN Protesters Storm The Beacon Tower
The anti-gentrification movement stepped it up a notch yesterday with ACORN protesters storming the open house at the Beacon Tower, Shaya Boymelgreen’s 23-story condo development at 85 Adams in Dumbo. What a shame! What a pity! We can’t live in New York City, the 50-odd protesters chanted while blanketing the sales office with flyers that…
The anti-gentrification movement stepped it up a notch yesterday with ACORN protesters storming the open house at the Beacon Tower, Shaya Boymelgreen’s 23-story condo development at 85 Adams in Dumbo. What a shame! What a pity! We can’t live in New York City, the 50-odd protesters chanted while blanketing the sales office with flyers that read, Beacon Tower developers get rich off the backs of working families.” The protesters main gripe? That luxury projects like the Beacon still receive tax breaks in a holdover from a program started in the 1970s to stimulated development. The ambushed Corcoran agents manning the open house called in the cops who removed the protesters. Prospective buyers didn’t appear to be too sympathetic to the cause. “Tell them to get jobs and go live in the projects,” said Jenny Malone, who was there checking out apartments. “People just want something for nothing.”
Activists Protest Dumbo Condos [Metro]
More coverage in the print edition.
JoshK- What a totally idiotic response. I don’t care how much Bill Gates has. As far as I’m concerned, he earned it. But you obviously don’t know much about history and the rise (and crucial importance) of the middle class. Which is fast disappearing. This country cannot function just for the rich. You should read some of the excellent posts by CHP and newyorker if you want to understand why we can’t afford to neglect the poor or treat them like cockroaches.
Anon at 11:54- I absolutely agree that money could be well spent improving the schools. Our public school system is a shame (and I was educated in it. It used to be a damn good one.) But the idea isn’t to keep people in gentrifying neighborhoods for the sake of equality- it’s to keep people in their homes. Kids need stability too, and honestly, most subsidies that go to poor people could be their only means of having a roof over their heads. SO do we look away while the homeless fend for themselves? Or children don’t have homes? Gentrifiers do not have the right to demand the neighborhood accomodate them over all others. It is the height of arrogance to expect people whose neighborhood has gentrified to move out for the convenience of those with money. Since when do real estate nazis have the right to decide who should live where?
So I tell you what- Boymelgreen gets abatements, etc for building, and he builds luxury housing. Ratner gets a huge deal on the rights to build over the AY, ANd abatements, tax breaks, etc. We spend billions on Alaskan bridges to nowhere, million dollar bus stops, pork barrels by the thousands-I resent that far more than I resent the money spent to keep a roof over someone’s head in a decent or gentrifying neighborhood. Educators always say it starts at home. It does- how about a clean place to eat and sleep, where the rats don’t run over you at night? Everyone deserves that, rich or poor.
But 11:54, you are losing sight of the point – no realistic person was ever saying put people who can’t afford to live there in Dumbo apartments. How many times do we have to say that? That’s a smokescreen and serves no purpose but to incite people into thinking the entire cause of affordable housing is nothing more than loud, poor, black people who want to live in expensive neighborhoods, over the desires of mostly other white people who can’t afford to live there either. No one, especially on this blog, has advocated that, least of all me. That is not a real issue, is unrealistic, and wrong. On top of that, it ain’t ever going to happen.
The issue is that quality education and general quality of life IS tied to affordable housing. How can a child learn if he/she does not have a decent roof over their head, if they are worried that they may not survive their living conditions in order to graduate from high school? It is all tied together, and you cannot fix one without the other also being improved. Housing subsidies do have a place in a fair society. Granted, the system may be flawed, and has its cheats and its abusers, but it is a necessary part of building a just society. Reform the system, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
CHP,
That’s why our society should better support and fund education for kids as opposed to subsidizing housing in gentrifying communities for adults.
Education supports equality of opportunity. Too many of today’s liberals, like ACORN and many on this board, are focused instead on assuring equality of outcomes — e.g., helping pay the rent of adults who could not or did not succeed well enough financially.
Yes, I know that’s harsh. And yes, I know that where and how your parent(s) live also affects your opportunities as a child. But to be realistic, you will get better bang for your buck devoting your public money to improving schools in East New York than spending it to ensure class diversity in DUMBO.
If someone wants to take the money out of both luxury-developer incentives *and* housing subsidies and instead put it into our public schools, they have my vote.
Extremely well said, B2B! I have nothing to add on you explanation of the job situation. But I do want to answer another part of the same poster’s question – I think this blog has a lot of black readers and posters, whose demographics probably match those of the white, Asian and Hispanic readership. I am one of them. I certainly don’t think that anyone of any persuasion would be afraid to post and speak their mind, unless they are VERY paranoid about the internet in the first place. Especially on issues of gentrification and other contentious social issues. In fact, I wish more people would give themselves screen names and would speak up on any issue that means something to them. This is an important forum, and I think LC is wrong, lots of people read this, and I hope that includes our elected leadership and other policy makers.
I also think Anon 8:37, and others before him/her have a much too simplistic view of poverty and inequality in this country. Brown Bomber aired some very dirty linen about parts of the black community, much like Bill Cosby did last year, and I agree with both of them about 90%. We do need to make changes in our communities from within, and I am in 100% agreement with BB that we cannot allow ourselves to be viewed as victims, racism cannot be used an an excuse for why the Man is holding us down. Having said that, I also know that it is easier for me, and BB, and many of the rest of us to say that – we are well educated, have good jobs, and have the positive family backgrounds that have given us the confidence and drive to do anything we choose. Unfortunately, that is not everyone’s experience.
To say that “ALL” you have to do is get educated, given the state of many of our inner city schools, is akin to throwing a non swimmer in the river and telling them “all” they have to do is swim. Some hardy folk will make it, most won’t. Look at the furor given on this blog to enrolling kids in public schools in the better neighborhoods in this city, imagine having no choice but to send your kid to one of the dreadful schools. Especially if you are poorly educated yourself as a parent. These kids are set up to fail. The field is not equal, even the brightest child will not be able to live up to his/her potential, and cannot equally compete with a child of privelege. Until public education becomes as important to the policy makers in this city as big business, or real estate, or stadiums, you cannot expect a sizeable majority of poor kids to grow up to be upwardly mobile. Of course, there will be wonderful exceptions and success stories, thank God. But in a school system in 2006 where many inner city schools don’t even have computers – as important today as paper and pen, how can we expect success for a majority?
I believe in the power of education, and its ability to lift anyone from ignorance and poverty. But if we as a general society are not about the business of supporting the education of those who need it most, how can we possibly expect all of the rest of our much needed reforms to follow? No one wants a handout, but many need a hand up to just get in the game.
Bx2Bklyn –
“Look around you, read the reports- there is a huge economic gap- the middle class is disappearing. The poor are getting poorer and the rich richer.”
Again, you can just go to bls and look it up yourself. Incomes and purchasing power have been rising for all consistently since the Reagan reduced taxes at the high end. It is true that the top 2% have been doing even better, by far, than everyone else. But, I’m not sure why someone should care how much more other people have. Bill Gates will always be richer than I am, and if he makes a lot more money, that doesn’t adversely affect me. Unless you are just being petty.
I guess, anon at 8:42 am,because the rant just sounds so stereotypical. It sounds like such a classic white person’s nightmare that you have to wonder if one of the trolls who slouch around wrote it to cause trouble. Could also be someone making a point on racism with a very heavy dose of sarcasm.
I have a question for anon at 8:37- many immigrants came to this country poor, uneducated and as young parents. Yet many of them were successful. Many people born in this country have become successful in those same circumstances. Saying that being poor is something you can easily control by following these simple rules really doesn’t address the whole problem. There are many other factors that come into play- especially the fact that the economy is structured in levels, kinda like the food pyramid with money. The work that people perform in low paying jobs are the base of support for the higher levels. Combine that with the fact that resources are finite (jobs, housing, land, money), there is no way that everyone who is poor can become richer simply by your rules. Now factor in racism, outsourcing, loss of manufacture, inflation, etc.- well, you get my point.
You can talk about making your own opportunities- and I believe in that very much- but opportunities are lost overseas everyday as big companies look for cheap labor to maximize their profit margins. Someone made the comment (I believe the infamous Jennie) that poor people want something for nothing. I beg to differ- it is the employers who want to pay next to nothing for work. Have you ever tried to live on “minimum wage?” Yet those minimum wage jobs are what clerks the stores, operates the sewing machines, serves you food at your favorite restaurant and does the dirty work of construction on your brownstone and garden. We don’t even have to pay teens in summer jobs the minimum because after all they’re just kids. Think of the life-reaffirming message that sends.
The truth is there are a limited number of good jobs that pay decently. Even less of well-paying and really really well-paying. It’s very easy to say, oh yeah, if I can do it anyone can. No, they can’t, because you took one of those limited numbers of the better jobs. Much more accurate to say “there but for the grace of G-d go I.” Show a little compassion for those less fortunate. This country used to be known for its generosity and large spirit. Judging by some of the posters and Jennie Malone, that must be a thing of the past.
So, last night I wondered why some of you think that PBMYF must be white. I figure it’s not because of anything he says, since there are plenty of people who feel the way he does. Is it because you figure only a small percentage of Brownstoner’s readership is African American? If so, how do you know that? Or are you reasoning that, while there are plenty of African Americans who read Brownstoner, most of them won’t have the nerve to post, let alone the raw effrontery to post in opposition to gentrification? This has really started to bug me.
The facts remain: if you have very little formal education, fail to form a partnership, and have children at a young age, you will be poor. Plaim and simple. All of the above does not change this. It’d be great if society suddenly transformed itself and paid closer attention to equality, but do any of you really expect that to happen? I sure don’t.
Brownbomer has it right. There have always been rich and poor people and there ALWAYS will be. Unless poor people get formal education, defer parenthood until later years, and form parterships, they will remain poor. “Society” will not solve these problems, it must be done by the individual.
“It doesn’t matter if the law was written to promote development all over the city or just in poor neighborhoods, those abatements cost us more dollars than the subsidized housing which has so many of you up in arms.”
Great! So we can all agree. Let’s stop subsidizing developers to build luxury condos, and let’s stop subsidizing poor people to live in neighborhoods they can’t afford. No more money wasted! Fair for all! Problem solved!
Thread’s over, people! Bye!