Bedford-Stuyvesant subsection Ocean Hill also undergoing Gentrification
For those who don’t know about the Bedford-Stuyvesant subsection Ocean Hill here are the facts: Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Founded in 1890, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233….
For those who don’t know about the Bedford-Stuyvesant subsection Ocean Hill here are the facts:
Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Founded in 1890, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233. The neighborhood has a diverse community with large number of African Americans, and a small number of Caribbean and Latin Americans.
Ocean Hill’s boundaries start from Broadway (Bushwick) to Ralph Avenue (Bed-Stuy proper), to East New York Avenue (Brownsville), to Van Sinderen Avenue (East New York).
Ocean Hill received its’ name in 1890 for being slightly hilly. Hence it was subdivided from the larger community of Stuyvesant Heights. From the beginning of the 20th century to the 1960’s Ocean Hill was an Italian enclave. At that time the neighborhood had many well-kept homes and stores. By the late 1960s Ocean Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant proper together formed the largest African American community in the United States.
In 1968 the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district experienced some difficult times. The New York City Board of Education at the time had experimented with giving the community board neighborhood control over the district. The new administration laid off several teachers in violation of union contract rules. [1] The teachers were entirely white and mainly Jewish. As of result the strike severerly divided the whole city. This topic became very controversial for many years although many had put this catastrophy behind them.
In 1977 a major blackout devastated New York City badly. The neighborhood experienced arson and ransacking of stores. Many apartment buildings were badly burned and abandoned for many years like the ones in the South Bronx. Finally in the 1990s Ocean Hill experienced a revitalization as many abandoned buildings and lots were renovated.
Ocean Hill is in the process of gentrification. An increasing number of Asians, Hispanics, and Whites are moving into the area. This is due to the fact that the rents are slightly lower than the rest of Bed-Stuy proper and many abandoned buildings have been rehabilitated. Prospect Plaza Houses, once a notorious housing project unit, has been closed by the New York City Housing Authority to make room for condominiums.
The 73rd Police Precinct covers the area. For many years from the 1960s to approximately 2001 along with neighboring Brownsville, Ocean Hill experienced a high crime rate. Currently, the crime rate for Ocean Hill has reached an all time low.[2]
The main thoroughfare is Rockaway Avenue, and it is served by the IND Fulton Street Line (A and C trains) and the BMT Jamaica Line (J and Z trains) of the New York City Subway. The neighborhood is also near a central transportation hub, the Broadway Junction Subway Station which the A,C,L,J and Z lines meet, one of the largest subway stations in Brooklyn. There is also a nearby connection to the LIRR at the nearby East New York Station.
Many residents of Ocean Hill consider themselves residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant. The news media and realtors also uses the Bed-Stuy name.
Ocean Hill is being gentrified as well. Many bohemian artists and young Asian, Hispanic, White as well as Black professionals are moving into this small subsection due to slightly low rents.
The area was formerly known to some as Ocean Hill-Brownsville (in conjunction to Brooklyn Community Board 16) but many new residents use the name Bedord-Stuyvesant/Ocean Hill or just plainly Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The intersection of Thomas Boyland Street (commonly known as Hopkinson Avenue) and Pacific Street has been given life thanks to a new 24-hour grocery store and a rehabilitated tenement.
More changes will be in the future of Ocean Hill.
That’s really part of Bedford-Stuyvesant 10:34 whether you agree or not.
that’s east new york
11:23, unfortunately, as is shown on this blog every day, the mere presence of new, more affluent residents does not trigger a betterment of services, safety, or good schools. More affluent people, whether old or new, do not send their kids to local schools, when those schools are substandard. The absence of these parents and kids in local schools only enforces the status quo, and there is no renewed push for the schools to improve. Education is the key to success, and a good education can be the difference between getting out of the cycle of poverty, or not. Until our public schools in all neighborhoods get better, neighborhoods will not get better.
I think a healthy mix of races, ethnicities and incomes make the best kind of neighborhoods – the classic melting pot. Unfortunately doesn’t happen very often anymore, as change is no longer gradual, it is practically immediate, and that causes displacement, jealousy, rage and resentment on all sides. You can’t expect people who have had nothing to not be suspicious and jealous of those who come in out of nowhere and claim a neighborhood as now being “theirs”, and then change the name to prove it.
Ocean Hill has a long way to go for a lot of reasons, some of which were stated in the original post. This area has been forgotten and dirt poor for generations. A few artists and “pioneers” aren’t going to change the prevailing poverty. I would think that the parts of Bed Stuy closer to downtown Bklyn will have to change first, before mass gentrification comes to Ocean Hill.
If only the betterment of these neighborhoods came from within as well as without, so that the “improvement” of a neighborhood benefits all, and is heralded by the renewed jobs, housing and opportunity for those who have been there for years, as well as cheap space and artistic venues for far reaching newcomers. We can’t just continue to push the less fortunate further and further out, as the quest for the next affordable and cool place continues. At some point, like in the unrest of the 60’s, the Ocean Hill/Brownsvilles of this borough are going to push back.
However, 9:34, a portion of the newer wealthier residents are descendents of those who used to be poor or working class, who have now achieved more than their parents did. That’s a GOOD thing and it should be celebrated. Also, even if these new residents come from elsewhere, studies PROVE the mere presence of educated professionals in a neighborhood creates an environment in which kids do better in schools and achieve more in life. The problem with an anti-success attitude is you’ll keep people down, because young people grow up hearing wealthy successful professionals insulted all the time. And if they don’t hear intelligent successful people praised, then why on earth would kids aspire to be people like that? They won’t. Guess it’s better to aspire to “keep it real” thereby achieve nothing in life.
Isn’t gentrification a nicer way of saying that poor people and minorities are getting pushed out of various neighborhoods around the City? This city is fast becoming an elitist playground. I’m all for improving areas, but at what cost? Who will be able to afford the new condominiums? Where are the poor and middle income people moving to? There is really no push for affordable housing in this City.
I’ve lived in Brooklyn my entire life, and I just love the way real estate agents rename neighborhoods to make them sound so much more appealing, i.e., Stuyvesant Heights, Greenwood Heights, Gowanus, and East Williamsburg previously known as Bed Stuy, Sunset Park, South Brooklyn/Red Hook, and Bushwick.