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]
“… 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…”
F*&K the rich!! I live in Malawi, in southern Africa and $200 a month is TOO MUCH!! Only rich people can afford those prices!!!
Perspective people. Your garbage is my treasure, your treasure is my garbage, your rich compared to me but poor compared to him and on and on….
“When he goes to work in a suit, people ask for change.”
When I walk down the street in a T-shirt and shorts, people ask for change. In Midtown Manhattan. This is only a revalation for people in LA, where walking down the street is something you only see in the movies.
Dead End is a great movie.
@ 10:52am.
Are you kidding me? What city do you think you live in? Yes, $3,100 in rent is pretty high and very high for BedStuy but it is a big unit, 3 bedroom with 3 roommates. So, the rent will be $1,033.33 split 3 ways. Very doable for most working people.
Besides, the L.A. Times is a big paper and yes, they do stories outside of their metropolitan area from time to time.
::rolls eyes::shakes head::
11:02…where do you even see evidence of “book smarts??” Certainly not in the economics department! LOL
This is an old New York story.
For the 1930’s version, get the DVD “Dead End” with Humphrey Bogart. It’s about conflicts between people living in East River tenements and new luxury apartments like River House.
Only then poor people, gangs, and mobsters were white.
Hey Hollywood, how about a remake set in Bed Stuy — starring Will Smith?
U. Designer
“One time he slapped down his credit card to pay for cigarettes and juice at the corner store, but it didn’t have a credit card machine.”
Idiot –slap down a credit card at a bodega? Oh –he will get “got”. He isn’t ready to live in a “transitioning” neighborhood.
As for his car getting broken into, I can only imagine what he left visible in the car. (yes, I am assuming here)
Book smarts yes….streets smarts…not so much.
“Rents are INSANE in this City!!!”
It’s not the rents that are insane, but the renters willing to drop that kind of scratch for this location.
It’s about time…it’s about change.
“When he goes to work in a suit, people ask for change.”
“Spare change? Why don’t you go out and get yourself a spare job, and then you’ll have some spare change!”
– Robin Harris, Comedian, RIP