How Bed-Stuy Looks From L.A.
The L.A. Times takes a lengthy look at gentrification in Bed-Stuy in a piece that focuses on how (or whether) the opening of the Mynt, the luxury rental on Nostrand and Myrtle, is changing the area. One side of the story, via Mama Ruth, an 87-year-old grandmother and neighborhood fixture who pays $200 a month…
The L.A. Times takes a lengthy look at gentrification in Bed-Stuy in a piece that focuses on how (or whether) the opening of the Mynt, the luxury rental on Nostrand and Myrtle, is changing the area.
One side of the story, via Mama Ruth, an 87-year-old grandmother and neighborhood fixture who pays $200 a month for her one-bedroom at the Marcy Projects, where she’s lived for 55 years:
Lately, though, a new crop of folks has been moving into the neighborhood, and they don’t talk to Mama Ruth the same. She might pass them at the corner store, or near the subway stop. They’ll nod and smile, and she’ll do the same. But for the most part, Mama Ruth gets out of their way, and they get out of hers.
Another side, focusing on one of the Mynt’s renters:
Everyone outside stared when Randolph Ambroise moved into the second-floor three-bedroom corner apartment at the Mynt. Ballplayers, cops, loiterers, corner store patrons. “Everybody was watching us, like we were celebrities,” he says. Ambroise, 29, a Manhattan real estate agent, and his two roommates were among the first tenants. They got a deal: $3,100 a month. One of the first nights, Ambrose watched five police cars with sirens blaring and lights flashing pull up to the corner. Officers jumped out and ran down the street alongside Marcy. Hoping to block the drama and gawkers outside, the roommates went to Home Depot and bought bundles of window shades…Ambroise had a car, but he didn’t want to pay to park it in the Mynt’s garage, and donated it to charity after it got broken into twice on the street. When he goes to work in a suit, people ask for change.
Manhattan Skyline Views, Brooklyn Projects Below [LA Times]
bxgrl: You have been caught lying repeatedly. Why should anyone believe you. And who would serve me? You would. If you are lucky, maybe I will let you into my house to clean my toilets. I will have a camera on you to check that you don’t steal anything. Now get on your knees and start scrubbing. And when you are done, you can help Biff cheat on his wife.
Montrose: You have issues with people with money. It is obvious. Stop projecting.
bxgrl,
Whiz on down to Redhook while there are still a few shipping docks left and sail out of town and take your populism with you.
The Guest
“The housing projects will always be there. How much value will your property appreciate if it’s next to a project?”
In the case of Wyckoff Gardens and Gowanus Houses, around 2 million for a house.
Most people in NYC were not born or raised here. According to the last census 4 out of 10 new Yorkers were foreign born. And there is no way all the 6 remaining were born and raised here.
1:32- why argue with me over something I didn’t write? when I have something to say i use my sign-in. Not like you who are too much of a coward to log in, and too ignorant to read my real posts. Everything in 12:53’s post is the antithesis of what I think- as you would have realized if you read my posts.
Nor do I assume the “natives” are not doing well. In fact I said nothing about the neighborhood, but about the reality of living and working in NYC. But since you like ignorance, and have a lack of understanding of how life works, you must be very happy because ignorance is bliss.
12:42- a lot of people did military service (including many in my family) but protecting my ass has nothing to do with your feeling your money entitles you to something. Or that people with less well paying jobs don’t work hard enough. As I said, if we all shipped out, your life would collapse and you would have to learn how to clean your own butt.
Geeze that was a doozie. I think we seriously need a 25 word cap on comments.
“Look, it’s only a matter of time before the Marcy PJ’s and the like are raised for “luxury” housing.”
[Ring, ring, ring…] Da plane…da plane!!!
“…selling the land to private developers to raise capital…”
Good morning, 1:19! Did you just wake up from a one-year coma? I’m sorry to inform you but we’re in the midst of a meltdown that started last July. Can I get you a triple espresso?
12:53, (bxgrl in hiding): If they can afford it and want to pay those prices, why should they adjust their life because it makes others feel unconfortable? Your suggestions are insulting to both those who can afford it and those who can’t. Stop projecting your issues onto others.
1:03: If you are a native with a good education and you can’t afford it here, you are not very streetwise, wise with your money or you have been living well beyond your means for some time.
btw: There are plenty of natives who are doing just fine. Don’t asssume natives can’t survive because teh prices go up. SOme of us and thriving. Get a second job or stop posting on brownstoner and start applying yourself at work.
I’m sure in journalism school they teach young writers to frame their subjects in order for the rest of us to see how the other half lives, often across the street from each other. It makes good storytelling, but is not a true representation of reality. While Mama Ruth and Ambroise are characters, (and there are Mama Ruths on every old school block in Brooklyn, in every nationality imaginable), it is hardly fair to either the residents of Marcy Houses, or even the Mynt, to generalize like this article does. As the article states, Marcy Houses is enormous, and is spread out over blocks of space, with thousands of residents. One would think that they are all either scary, predatory criminals waiting to pounce on stupid hipsters, or at best, the hardcore denizens immortalized by Jay Z, with a couple of harmless little old ladies thrown in to soften the edges.
Of course, the thousands of people there are much more, most being hardworking people who just don’t make enough money to be able to get out of there. They are more likely to be the victims of crime there, not some hipster, and they are the people who live in overcrowded buildings with a minority of people who make it awful for the rest of them, and give the projects the reputations they have.
All that to say, I too, don’t understand why this building was not more moderate income housing in the first place. Aside from the fact that I don’t like the bunker-like style, or the apartments themselves, I wouldn’t want to live there, not because it’s next to the projects, but because it is far away from transportation, food shopping, and anything else. It’s not in the neighborhood, it’s like a fort on the edge of the frontier, and as such, is an automatic affront to everyone around it, and would piss me off, too, even if I too, had similar income or educational levels to those who live there. The building says “We have, you don’t, and we are in your face with our health club, doorman and Fresh Direct deliveries. We have nothing in common with you people, except zip codes.” Add clueless hipsters, stir, and instant journalistic heaven, at the expense of all.
On another topic – Bxgrl is not Biff, not anyone else but herself. Dave is Dave, and all of them have the right to post, to add to the conversation, to be annoying and informative, and all have the right to read a thread without the rank a@@holism that has been plaguing this site for the last few weeks. I’m so tired of some troll constantly impugning their integrity, their truthfulness, or their gender preferences. Get over it, and get past it. It’s not witty, not amusing, and is tiresome and childish. As the recipient of some pretty horrible stuff myself, probably from the same person, I have nothing but sympathy and words of encouragement for all of them. I don’t care if Dave was also BTG, nor do I care if Biff and Bxgrl had a long conversation on a forgotten thread. I chose not to read it, why it would bother anyone is beyond me. I enjoy Bxgrl’s posts, she obviously cares a great deal about Brooklyn and the people in it. If her opinions are strong, at least she can write that opinion like someone who is older than twelve. If you disagree with her, fine. Can we get past the imbecilic name calling and accusations of lying, and argue your point, if you have one. ‘Nuff said.
Montrose Morris