LPC: Back to Brooklyn "In a Major Way"
There’s no specific news that we have to report on Tuesday’s LPC meeting at which the future of the Crown Heights North district was contemplated. We did, however, get a big kick out of a quote in NY1’s coverage of the event: “We’re now moving in a major way back into Brooklyn,” said a representative…
There’s no specific news that we have to report on Tuesday’s LPC meeting at which the future of the Crown Heights North district was contemplated. We did, however, get a big kick out of a quote in NY1’s coverage of the event:
“We’re now moving in a major way back into Brooklyn,” said a representative on the commission.
Yeah, baby!
Crown Heights Residents Speak Out [NY1]
Photo of St. Marks Avenue from Bridge and Tunnel Club
The most expensive neighborhoods, ie: the neigborhoods where people are willing to spend a shit load of money to live, are those that have many landmarked buildings (park slope and bk heights). People love old NY architecture because it was done with craftmenship and class. Anything put up today is done for profit, period, end of story!
Landmarking is a validation and constitutes a form of protection for an area. Although the Crown Heights North Association (CHNA) spearheaded the process, there is much to do when we are finally granted the status.
First of all, we have to keep the pressure on to get all of the area included in the landmarked district, not just the Phase 1 section. Much of the “good stuff”, the areas photographed and spoken of (including the above photo) are in Phase 2 and 3. It was decided that the Phase 1 area was in more danger of overdevelopment and needed protection first.
Going forward, we, as various and sundry community groups and concerns, will be in the position to seek grants and other money with the added shine of our legit LPC “worthiness”. In an age of diminishing social spending, any advantage helps. THer is way too much poverty and hopelessness in this community. Landmarking will not help that unless we get programs to help improve people’s lives, provide job training for real jobs, protect senior citizens, and childre. We also need to help the community cope with new LPC issues, as well as programs for home improvement, and help in getting people to become home/apartment owners. You tend to care about your community when you own a piece of it.
People will want to move here, or stay here, buy here, and reinvest here. That includes newcomers, oldtimers, black, white, whatever. A better neighborhood does not necessarily have to mean an upscale or overly gentrified neighborhood. There are plenty of people who want CH to remain a relatively secret enclave, and want it to retain its multi-ethnic charm. Yet we also want the improved services that a landmarked district should have – sanitation, policing, repaving of streets, improved street lights, etc. Landmarking is not going to drop those things in our laps, we have a long fight in front of us. This is only the first victory in a long battle.
DUMBO contains magnificant historic 19th C. buildings which contain dramatic industrial streetscapes and mesmerizing views of the waterfront and Manh beyond. Columbia Prof Andrew Dolkart notes: “The DUMBO Industrial District retains a relatively high degree of period integrity. It is unique to the city for its 19th and early 20th C. industrial buildings, Belgian block streets, and its location on the East River by the imposing anchorages of the Manhattan Bridge.” Personally, I am not keen on losing any more of the ambiance of the area; it’s a very special gem of a place in NYC.
Landmark DUMBO? Why?
Landmarking and racism is out of context once again here folks. If an area merits consideration because it is particularly aesthetic such as the earlier photo of North Crown Heights then the benefit should be to those existing community dwellers regardless of who they are. Any sour puss on this thread who feels otherwise should basically admit that their issues are not the true context of this excellent and hopeful victory for this area.
I, for one, wanted to buy into a landmarked neighborhood in Victorian Flatbush 3 years ago, but the market was very dry and there wasn’t anything available in PPS or DP at that time. I wound up buying outside the landmarked streets and have been working towards landmarking my own area every since.
Landmarking is a plus for everyone except developers who don’t care if they trash a beautiful structure and turn the neighborhood into a hi-rise people dump. In many cases, like Crown Heights North, landmarking will protect the housing stock, and help homeowners with incentives and financial access they would not have had before. For many of the homeonwers who live here, that’s great news because they live in homes they’ve inherited or were able to buy at very low prices and today can barely afford the upkeep. And It’s an official statement that the neighborhood is recognized as being a valuable and desirable one.
As far as worrying about whether landmarking will gentrify the neighborhood and squeeze out long time, poorer residents- look around. Gentrification is going on everywhere and has nothing to do with landmarking.
I think it’s also imortant to note that in this case, the impetus to go for landmarked status came from a group of Black professionals and residents, many of whom grew up in Crown Heights. And not from newbie gentrifiers who go for landmark status after the fact. In this case, a great group of people, old timers and newbies alike, joined forces , but the real work had been underway for years, thanks to CHNA.
CHNA is to be commended- they see landmarking as protecting not just homeowners, but also CHN’s more vulnerable residents. It’s a hard choice to be offered huge sums for your property by a developer who’ll tear it down for a fedders, and the house is the only thing you have. And when that happens, the secondary group, renters who have lived in their apartments for 20-30 years, are also at risk.
Lastly, it’s a quality of life issue. People talk about how NYC is so great to live in, the amenities, the arts, blah,blah, blah, quality of life… I can’t tell you how it makes me feel to look out my window and see this beautiful neighborhood. For those of us too poor to enjoy the “amenities” of Manhattan, living here makes up for it. I think I and my neighbors have every right to this version of life quality as those whose quality of life depends on 200$ seats to a Broadway show. After an expensive dinner. To each his own.
The benefits of landmarking have long been debated, but in general it has been recognized as is a valid approach.
The area of Crown Heights that is currently being considered is actually rather modest. The plan is to start small and build from there. More blocks will be proposed for consideration in the future. A map of the current proposed area is found here: http://therealestate.observer.com/crown_heights/
Oh, oh, why don’t we just landmark all of Brooklyn? Then nothing can ever change and we can all live in our wonderfully sheltered, like bobos in paradise. Landmarking such an enormous area as this seems pretty stupid to me. If there are enough buyers to purchase all these wonderful houses after they’re more expensive and landmarked…why aren’t there just the same number of buyers, who are wonderfully interested in historic buildings because they would have bought into a historic district, who would purchase these same houses and keep them as they are?
Huh? Why is there a need to dump draconian aesthetic laws on people?