Bed-Stuy, Do or...?
About a month ago, an L.A. Times piece on Bed-Stuy had a gentrification-is-happening- not-everyone’s-thrilled take on the neighborhood. Yesterday, our paper of record weighed in with a more nuanced examination of how Bed-Stuy is evolving: “a changing neighborhood not quite changed, transforming not in broad strokes but in half-steps.” The article notes that average sales…
About a month ago, an L.A. Times piece on Bed-Stuy had a gentrification-is-happening- not-everyone’s-thrilled take on the neighborhood. Yesterday, our paper of record weighed in with a more nuanced examination of how Bed-Stuy is evolving: “a changing neighborhood not quite changed, transforming not in broad strokes but in half-steps.” The article notes that average sales prices in the neighborhood have edged down recently, and that it has one of the highest rates of foreclosure in the city. Some well-heeled folks who moved to the neighborhood in the past year or so, meanwhile, say they’re frustrated with the area’s lack of amenities. We just wish there was more variety nearby, for places to go out, says a 25-year-old law student who’s lived in Bed-Stuy for a year and now plans to move to the East Village. You just wish you could go out and have different types of bars and night life nearby. Still, there’s plenty of redevelopment in the area, and Petra Symister, who writes Bed-Stuy Blog, says the neighborhood’s rebirth “is happening in fits and starts, kind of a jerky progression. Henry Butler, 41, chairman of Community Board 3, notes that in his view, more affordable development is particularly welcome: “It’s about income…I’m not looking to Harlemize Bedford-Stuyvesant. My emphasis is on the working people.”
Growing Pains Come and Go in Bed-Stuy [NY Times]
Photo by ultraclay!.
I am not sure we will agree on this one 7andfive…the blocks further north on Stuyvesant (past Monroe/Madison) are a bit more dicey, but I wouldn’t count that as stuyvesant heights. It would be interesting to see a map of the old towns of Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights.
Interestingly enough…wikipedia defines it as follows:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Heights,_Brooklyn
i live in this area of bed-stuy, at tompkins and myrtle. do i wish there were a few more restaurants in the area? sure. actually, they don’t even need to be all that close, but if they delivered that would be nice! currently, none of the yummier clinton hill/ft. greene/willyb establishments do, so the best i can get is greasy chinese and pizza from the shitty places around (although to be fair, some are tastier than others).
anyway, agreed with whoever said that people should realize what they are getting into when moving to this part of the neighborhood. people live here because it’s cheap. it’s cheap because there isn’t a whole lot of stuff around. i am very excited about this duane reade, but you know, that’s also why the subway is down the block. so you can GET to the neighborhoods that have more bars and amenities, and where the rents are higher. if i was living in the mynt and paying $1700/month i would feel ripped off, sure. this part of bed-stuy is just not worth that much rent! but my apt. is a very spacious and beautiful 3 bed and i am happy with what i pay. i get frustrated sometimes, but i can hop on my bike, or do grocery shopping in the city on my way home. if this place becomes ‘the next hipster enclave’ (shudder), i won’t be able to afford it! you gotta make some concessions.
i need to write that one down dittoburg…
“neighborhood-hypersensitivity syndrome” LOL
Newsflash #2: it was a newspaper weekend real-estate article about certain trends in the area and didn’t need to come with a disclaimer that this is not an in-depth sociological and cultural analysis of zipcodes x,y and z carefully crafted not to offend any residents and shouldn’t be read by anyone with neighborhood-hypersensitivity syndrome.
For one, the historic district extends to Tompkins which in practical terms is central Bed Stuy. But doesn’t include most of Lewis which is practical terms is part of Stuy Heights.
then you need to define it and tell us why it definitively includes those blocks 7andfive.
I’ve never seen it specifically defined to certain blocks and that’s why there is now this disagreement.
Of course I consider myself part of Stuy Heights and I’m 2 blocks up from the end of the district..calandared as they say on Stuyvesant between Macon & Halsey.
BedstuyHoya let’s not get into semantics. Stuy Heights is more than just the historic district.
BK Bobb is not wrong. And I even like that part of Bed Stuy… walking distance to Williamsburg, access to the JMZ, walking distance to Clinton Hill, some gorgeous brownstones, community gardens, not bad things.
But that part of Bed Stuy also suffers terribly from real estate inflation, and as long as prices are that out of whack, you’re not going to see many new amenities. Rents are too expensive, and there isn’t enough of a consumer base to support them.
7andfive, when I refer to Stuyvesant Heights, first I think of the historic district (http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/maps/stuyvesant_heights.pdf) as defined in this map. There are no shady blocks within this map.
Some might broadly describe the nicer blocks of bedstuy as anything from Fulton to Putnam and Tompkins to Stuyvesant…a few bad blocks in this area, but they are few and far between.
I am sure this will fuel further debate…