New Bed-Stuy More Like Old Bed-Stuy?
Bedford Stuyvesant was the childhood home of both Billy Joel Norman Mailer and Lena Horne, reports Globe St., and it’s posed to become such an artistically, economically and racially diverse neighborhood again. “In recent years, Bed-Stuy’s population has begun rebounding and the demographic mix of that population has been diversifying. Those with a historical bent…
Bedford Stuyvesant was the childhood home of both Billy Joel Norman Mailer and Lena Horne, reports Globe St., and it’s posed to become such an artistically, economically and racially diverse neighborhood again. “In recent years, Bed-Stuy’s population has begun rebounding and the demographic mix of that population has been diversifying. Those with a historical bent might point out that the demographics are returning to the kind of diversity seen here in former years.” Of course, some of that is code for white people moving in, and as we know from yesterday’s discussion of the reversal of what demographers call “white flight,” that doesn’t necessarily mean a neighorhood’s on the upswing. Here’s what they report it has going for it: Last year, the Bed-Stuy Gateway Business Improvement District was formed; most of the area still qualifies for the 421-a tax abatement program, despite changes to it in July; and they’ve seen an influx of retail — Home Depot, Applebee’s and a consumer banking center are cited. Wait, aren’t we the borough of Mom and Pop shops?
A Tree Grows in Bed-Stuy [Globe St]
Brooklyn Brownstones. Photo by sfcityscape.
I want to correct one assertion that was made earlier. My Jamaican grandparents came to the US in 1916 and settled on Glenarda Pl (a street which no longer exists) in Ft. Greene. My father was born in 1918 and the family moved to the area around Albany Ave and Fulton Street. Their block was extremely diverse with Italians, Jewish, Irish and Black families. According to my father and aunts, the Bed Stuy neighborhood they grew up in was 15-20% black and among that group there were southern blacks who moved north, caribbean families, as well as people who were third, fourth and fifth generation new yorkers.
My family is closing in on one hundred years of life in this area of Brooklyn. We’ve gone to school, married, raised children, purchased homes, opened businesses, and watched the neighborhood change in both good and bad ways. I for one, don’t care who lives here so long as my neighbors are people who see this as their home, are vested in the community, respectful of its history, and respectful of the people who live around them. My issue is that it seems that a lot of people would like to move here and remake the neighborhood in their own image. “Why can’t I find a decent bagel here?” and “Why is there a church on every corner? Who needs that many churches?” are just two of the questions that I’ve heard.
Part of what makes New York City what it is the the blending, melding, and forced interaction of people from a variety of races, places, and classes. Turning Brooklyn into Minneapolis, Ithaca, or Portland is going to negatively impact life here. I hope I never see that and that some of the flavor of the Bed-Stuy that exists today remains.
Brownstoner:
Here’s an interesting social tidbit, recalled from reading New York City history during my Columbia College days.
There have always been African Americans in Bedford Stuyvesant — and middle-class ones, too.
But what could these 19th-century burghers do? Hire African-American household staff and recall Southern-style subservience?
The preferred solution: European women, same as Fifth Avenue!
An anecdote from my reading: A white businessman, arriving at a black-owned brownstone, surprised at being greeted by a cheerful Swede! (Now there’s a movie for Spike Lee!)
Nostalgic on Park Avenue
rh This block and Arlington PL are very nice blocks almost remind me of a Hollywood movie set or what they think Brooklyn looks like. cute, neat, picturesque…
Me again, FIY, just called. Verona closed. Funny how Fillmore took the page down, but decided to put it back up.
MM as always we respect your input and we see what you are saying but can you @ least look @ the positives. We think this article as a whole was promoting BS and trying to diminish the negative stereotypes that are often associated with that neighborhood. Now is that such a bad thing? I didn’t see anything in the article that implied disregard or disrespect to the current residents.
We are also not sure about your comments regarding Middle Eastern & African businessmen:
“Most of the stores here now are owned by Middle Eastern, and some African businessmen from many countries, most of whom don’t live here anywhere near here, who hire very few employees not family members”.Would you rather hire someone else when your own son, daughter or cousin needs work and is capable? These are really small businesses and as always they are ran family style hence the common “mom & pop store” reference.
The overwhelming majority of African shopkeepers in BS actually live nearby or in Crown Heights.
All we are saying is lets try to see and stress the positives sometimes. NOBODY is trying to neo-colonialize anything bro.
Schools in Bedford Stuyvesant:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/education/17ftoa.html?scp=6&sq=bedford%20stuyvesant%20schools&st=cse
Amzi, Yup, that’s the one. The page works now. So, was this guy really stupid or did he want to declare a loss? I met him and some of his “contractors”. He was supposedly a flipper and owned a few properties. What gives? Anyway, great block.
la di da di, if you’ll stop clutching your pearls long enough to read the rest of my post, you’ll see that I was not dismissing all the neighborhood schools. I’m merely giving you a couple of examples of people who bought here and made certain educational choices for their kids. I am a hardcore comparative shopper in all respects, and no matter what neighborhood we lived in I wouldn’t have simply marched over to my neighborhood school and signed up; I would have researched a bunch of options and tried to make an informed choice.
You seem to believe that buying here is an act of parental irresponsibility. Do you honestly think it’s that simple? You have to weigh a lot of factors that impact your children’s quality of life, such as having space to play in, space to host extended family for holidays, maybe even a backyard; not to mention financial return on investment, which has considerable impact on my children’s future. Why this obsession with judging other people’s choices? Obviously we’re all doing the best we can.
rh the 275K house on Verona Pl has a crazy awning and a floor extension… I found about the house by looking at the Fillmore website but it is not on there anymore. I hope someone with taste brought it this was the webpage: http://www.fillmore.com/realestate/residential_bedford-stuyvesant_brooklyn_ny_11216_339949