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.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
By Billy Joel do you mean Notorious BIG?
dibs, z pointed out lisa’s misquote. she says the article reports that it was the childhood home of joel and horne. it does not – it reports that it was the childhood home of horne and mailer.
Uh oh…now I’m gonna get one for misreading z’s post!!! Has the word “gonna” made it into wikepedia now that one of the potential VPs uses it??
z…i hope you don’t take too rough of a beat down. Read the first line of the OP that lisa wrote above!!!
lisa, you misread the article. it quotes a song in which billy joel basically disses bed-stuy as too dangerous to walk through alone. it doesn’t say he grew up there.
bmfesq…you should have known that Bed Stuy is the LAST remaining neighborhood where these break-ins occur. These sort of things stopped happening years ago in places like PS, BoCoCa and other “nabes” years ago.
Yes, same old do or die Bed-Stuy, I got my car broken into and window smashed on Saturday at the Home Depot. Apparently a common occurence for those who park near the nursery near Nostrand according to the head of security there.
Norman Mailer lived around the corner from my home in Provincetown and I’d occassionally say hello to him as he took his walks. Unfortunately, by the time I had bought a home in Bed Stuy he had already become ill and then passed away last November before I could ever have spoken with him about his experiences.