Bed Stuy Getting a P.R. Makeover
Some local Bed Stuy-ers are dropping a cool $150,000 on a rebranding effort aimed at making the nabe’s dangerous rep a thing of the past. The business and community leaders behind the effort are hoping the long-time motto “Bed Stuy Do or Die” will soon be replaced by “Bed Stuy and Proud of It.” We…
Some local Bed Stuy-ers are dropping a cool $150,000 on a rebranding effort aimed at making the nabe’s dangerous rep a thing of the past. The business and community leaders behind the effort are hoping the long-time motto “Bed Stuy Do or Die” will soon be replaced by “Bed Stuy and Proud of It.” We know which one we think is catchier! For the more real estate-inclined, we’d suggest a couple of alternatives: “Bed Stuy, Prices are High” or “Bed Stuy, Buy, Buy, Buy!” Any other suggestions?
Say It Loud: Bed Stuy and Proud [NY Daily News]
Bed Stuy Debuts “Proud” Slogan [NY Post]
SEB:
That sounds more like Clinton Hill, but all the same I guess.
lc has it right for the most part some areas are gentrifying and some not. Stuyvesant Heights and the area around it are what’s safer and changing.
i don’t know the area very well- but I have certainly heard a lot about middle-class/gentrifiers buying and moving into Bed Stuy lately, or is that Stuy Heights? On the map, BS looks larger than FG and CH- so it sounds like some parts of BS are getting safer and changing while other parts are still very dangerous. Is that right?
I WOULD LIKE TO SAY I WORK IN BED STUY AND THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF GENTRIFICATION GOING ON HERE. UNLESS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE STUDENTS WHO WALK FROM THE SUBWAY PAST LAFAYETTE PROJECTS TO PRATT COLLEGE, GENTRIFICATION? THERE ARE HOMICIDES HERE DAILY AND TO RAISE ANY NORMAL FAMILY HERE WOULD BE INSANE. THE ONLY REASON THE PRICES ARE GOING UP IS BECAUSE THE JEWISH POPULATION OWNS MANY OF THE BUILDINGS AND THEY ARE TRYING TO CAPTURE A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY WITH THERE SALES. BUT TO SAY THERE ARE PEOPLE OF ALL RACES WALKING AROUND HERE IS A LIE.
Here’s a phrase:
Bed Stuy — if you yuppies can run from the A train to your front door, you’ll live another day!
Let’s face it, proud or not, the idea of a slogan for a neighborhood is kind of silly. Chances of it becoming a household phrase are, I would say, slim. Probably will be more for attracting business to the Restoration Plaza area and other corporate and community dev’t?
Haha, Lena, very funny!
I live in Bed-Stuy and I dunno for some reason I find the slogan kind of desperate and pathetic and could somehow backfire. As a previous poster said many people are proud of living in Bed Stuy. What we need isn’t a facelift, but more police, better education, more opportunity, better services etc etc.
Anyhow, who gets to decide how the neighborhood is to be represented? This is something that could affect all of us and yet the first I heard of it is on a blog (a great one nonetheless.)
I would venture to guess that the crime in the brownstone area of bed stuy is a lot lower than the other areas of bed stuy and williamsburg/bushwick border.
This buying spree is not strange at all. They already have a Yahoo group (not that that is an indicator at all) of new families moving in the area as does FG/CH, Park Slope & other gentrified or gentrifying areas.
Why do you find it strange?
When people look at Bedford Stuyvesant now, they see what Park Slope was back in the day — when 5th avenue in Park Slope was a “no-go zone”.
What Bedford Stuyvesant has going for it is nice, historic buildings at a fraction of Park Slope prices. Now is the chance for those singing the tune “Oh if only I’d bought that brownstone on 1st and 7th in Park Slope in 1980 for $90,000”. Tomorrow, that song might be about BedStuy. Hard to believe? That song is already being sung about Clinton Hill . . . for example:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/hiphopdiary/374572.html
(link via http://ltjbukem.blogspot.com/2005/03/as-yuppies-descend-upon-clinton-hill.html)
True, crime is still a problem in the neighborhood. No denying it (I’m not sure there’s much more crime than in Wburg/Bushwick border area). But there’s the hope that it could become the nice neighborhood it once was.
Just to give it a broader perspective, here’s an interesting account on Bedford Stuyvesant (with a couple surprises concerning its multi-colored ethnic history):
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/BES/BED-bedstuy_family_history.htm
By the way, there’s a nice coffee shop in Bedford Stuyvesant. Check out Solomon’s Porch at 307 Stuyvesant Ave.(cor. of Halsey St.)
I’m sensing a little hostility! I guess it’s a fine line between this neighborhood simply catching up with nearby areas and being the (new) poster child for evil gentrification. It’s funny that local business owners and those who presumably have longtime connections to the area say that “we need to attract people from outside of the community” (as the owner of Brownstone Books is quoted as saying), but when they get that attention it is seen that they are somehow being taken advantage of. I live in Bed-Stuy and a lot of the people there ARE proud of their community and are happy to see things picking up there.
I also think it is funny when people who have “bought it” (in more ways than one) to other Brooklyn nabes that maybe didn’t always have such a great reputation now look at the “next guy” and say, “Oh how pathetic…they think that’s actually a nice place to live.”