bed stuy - is the area I'm moving to relatively safe?
Hi, I’ve been looking at, and thinking of moving into, a brownstone apartment on the corner of Jefferson Ave and Marcy Ave – it’s a beautiful place, great for the price. I wouldn’t describe myself as a “fearful” person – areas like Bed Stuy are never as bad as the rumors and isolated incidents you…
Hi,
I’ve been looking at, and thinking of moving into, a brownstone apartment on the corner of Jefferson Ave and Marcy Ave – it’s a beautiful place, great for the price. I wouldn’t describe myself as a “fearful” person – areas like Bed Stuy are never as bad as the rumors and isolated incidents you hear about, – and whenever I go to Bed Stuy to visit friends who live there, I’ve never had any problems. Everyone I meet along the way is friendly, and one gets the sense that there’s a stronger feeling of community there than in most parts of New York. All that said, having read some of the posts here (I’m thinking in particular of a person who claimed to have been robbed at gunpoint), I’d sort of like to make sure that the area I’d be moving to is, well, not THAT bad. I can handle a little ribbing, and I could give a shit about the dearth of cute cafes, but something like that is a bit much for me. So, can anyone tell me a little bit about what the neighborhood around Jefferson/Marcy is like?
Thanks
I just moved to Bedstuy with my girlfriend and was beaten last night at 11pm on my way home from work. I thought i was being safe, riding my bike, through the rain, sticking to main streets. I’ve learned a valuable lesson and I feel lucky to be alive. I was attacked by three young men at Nostrand and Dekalb at a stoplight. If it weren’t for the oncoming traffic, I may have been beaten much worse. I like living here, but it’s clear that a strong anti-white vibe exists within some of the young men of the area. I understand and must change my lifestyle accordingly.
I am the person you describe. I am an artist living without a trust fund in this city. My parents didn’t even fund my state school education or graduate school and they don’t even buy my plane tickets home. And yet I am making it, without a ton of money, because I am really resourceful and obsessively frugal. Your comment about not having a chance without a ton of money simply isn’t true. People do it all the time.
I knew it was going to be expensive as hell to do the art thing here. And so I developed myself and my work somewhere cheap and moved here when I was ready to be in New York.
This is not a place to develop skills or a body of work unless you have a trust fund. You are right. But it has a perfectly relevant *market*, and I am glad I am here now that what I need is a market.
You are complaining about the loss of something that is gone. I am agreeing with you that it is gone and saying that I am still here, doing what I do, making what is actually in front of me work.
You bring up Greenpoint. It’s the ugliest, smelliest, most toxic neighborhood I have ever lived in, and I can’t believe people are buying into it for more than a million, either. But you can’t escape the fact that they *are*. And in the short time I have been here, Greenpoint has gotten significantly more civilized, and I have a long lease, so I guess it’s not a terrible thing.
My point is that things change. The history of NYC is one of constant, radical change. It used to be Patti Smith’s New York, or Paula Cooper’s New York. And now it’s Bjork and Matthew Barney’s New York. That’s just true, and I can’t put a value judgement on it unless I want to sit on the sidelines.
What I *can* do is ask the city for what it can actually give me, and give everything I have to it. And not worry so much that the whole world (not just NYC) looks more and more like a giant mall, and instead work to fucking change it.
The point of my argument is that you are still victimizing the creative. You are asking NY to be the perfect place for nurturing the creative soul because it has been in the past. And I would say that maybe it is, but not in the way you expect.
Maybe figuring out how to make money with your art AND not become a shithead *is* the creative juice of this millenium.
Maybe figuring out how to deny the romance of poverty *and, at the same time* deny the commodity culture that surrounds us and saps us of our power (money. Money is power.) is going to be the basis of the new creative culture you yearn for.
But would you notice it if you found it? Or would you be looking for something that is already a freaking coffee-table book?
I think you misunderstood my representation of creative “types” and artists who have a desire to live and make art in the city. I agree that is not true that artists need to be and will always be poor. I refer to a time when it was possible for artists to live in certain areas for less as a means of developing their skills and body of work and that is no longer the case. It is an integral part of the process and I believe that there has been a drastic shift in values in the city as the real estate market dominates the entire social fabric like never before. Money certainly DOES have value and without alot of it you don’t have a chance oif making it in the city. But more important, my real comments are directed toward how you get less for more and sacrifice fundamental quality of life elements in order to live in the city. The market is driven by people who are willing to pay more for less and it’s a VALUES issue. Places like Greenpoint were once unattractive to “shitheads” who move into neighborhoods and have no regard for what has been established and maintained long before they decided it was a “hip”place to be. Acknowledging that a place like NY has evolved into a place that is now accessible and attractive to materialistic boneheads is not a romantic or idealistic response. As a city native I’m just a little disappointed that NY is no longer relevant. It’s Miami on the Hudson. You can have it….probably as long as your Mommy and Daddy are funding it.
AJ, I posted the above.
And yeah, the knife cuts both ways–the shithead factor in greenpoint has gone up as prices have, but you know I cannot fault these people because they are making it easier for me to live here.
You make an assumption that I need to question. Creatives are not always poor, and it is not impossible to live here (even in greenpoint) if you’re not rich. Your argument casts creatives as victims who will always be poor or who need to be poor, when in reality the fine arts market is booming, bands have more opportunities (via internet) to control their own destiny, etc.
Being a ‘creative’ is hard, but it should be. Most people’s creative efforts are not very good, and it takes an overwhelming amount of confidence to be a good artist. Confidence comes from getting it together to live in this crazy city and still make art.
In my experience, I find that this city is so full of opportunities to make a lot of money fast when you need it, make good connections to people in your field, and otherwise really make it happen… that I don’t mind having to figure out (creatively) how to live here. I am here for creative reasons, and I am fine.
Is this the creative experience in Soho in the 70’s? No. But it is real and it’s here. Money is not bad. It has no value at all. It is what you make it. Being romantic about it and bitching because Rauschenberg and Johns’ New York has vanished accomplishes nothing.
Picking up this city as it is and using it is creative.
yeah, money changes everything……and not always for the better. Alot of changes that have taken place in the city over the past 20 years are not necessarily for the better. The city is no longer accommodating creative people who arent interested in living their parents suburban life and more accommodating people who now take over once affordable neighborhoods to play out their metro-fantasy. BTW, Greenpoint is a great example. Gag me.
Maybe increased parent involvement will lead to improved schools…
…or were the public schools in Park Slope just as awesome in the eighties?
Sylvester, man. Get with it. Money changes everything. I have only lived in Greenpoint for three years, and it’s amazing how much more reliable the G Train has gotten, how much less like poop it smells, and how much easier it has gotten to eat after 8pm.
Even the Newtown Creek is supposed to get cleaned up now. I am a firm believer in the power of money.
People can talk about how groovy BedStuy is becoming and argue the same old gentrification pros and cons but one thing remains the same: the A train is a dark, nasty ride, day or night with 45 minute waits MID-DAY. I love how neighborhoods that were once considered out of the question and uninhabitable are now “up and coming” but increases in property taxes are the downside for owners. I’m also curious about how the new population will contend with the fact that the worst schools are in the area.
Bi-racial (black/white) female couple here, own in Bed-Stuy- we LOVE it, and have been delighted to call it home for 3 years now. Your neighbors care about you and are genuinely interested in you and your business, and have been more than welcoming overall. People ring my bell to let me know if I forgot to move my car, and I do the same for them, and really deal with block issues together as a group. I never even met the people who lived below me when I was in Park Slope. There are few knuckleheads here and there in BS, not concerned with them. I do take my car if I am coming home late from the subway. It is an amazing place to live, learned So much about community, I can’t imagine living anywhere else now.
Aaron, not to split hairs, but Bed Stuy’s ORIGINAL inhabitants don’t give a shit about who moves into their neighborhood because they’re all dead now. And frankly, when these houses were built in the late 1800’s early 1900’s, the original inhabitants were mainly white. Black folks are the second wave to move to the neighborhood, starting in the 1930’s (like many others in the nabe, my next door neighbor was born in her house in 1936, and lives there to this day with her grands.) And no, not ALL old time residents are pissed off that whitey is moving back into the hood. Maybe it’s just you…and Maurice. Perhaps you’re the one who’s posting the “Bed Stuy initiative against gentrification†signs in my neighborhood? If so, along with omitting any contact information (pussy) you forgot to put the word “white†before the word “gentrification†…because we all know that’s what you mean.