Bed Stuy's Star Continues to Rise
According to The Sun, things got so bad in Bed Stuy back in the 1980s that one local precinct spray-painted (officers tagging?) the words “The Alamo” on the wall of the station house. Two decades later, crime is down and property values are up, though not everyone–including long-time renters and property owners who resent newcomers…
According to The Sun, things got so bad in Bed Stuy back in the 1980s that one local precinct spray-painted (officers tagging?) the words “The Alamo” on the wall of the station house. Two decades later, crime is down and property values are up, though not everyone–including long-time renters and property owners who resent newcomers benefiting from what they see as the fruits of their labors–think the trade is worth it. Crime’s down 70 percent or so since 1990, roughly in line with city-wide trends, while brownstone values have just about doubled since 2003. “People don’t feel quite as safe as the police reports, but they feel a lot safer than five, ten or fifteen years ago,” said Colvin Grannum, head of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Project. Change is coming from out as well as within: In addition to the Home Depot that opened last year, spots like Bushbaby, a gourmet coffee shop started by a Bed Stuy native, are starting to replace the nail salons and bodegas.
Renaissance Comes to ‘The Alamo’ [NY Sun]
Thank you, B2B, well said indeed.
3:08 – come on, that’s crap. If the goverment – city, state or federal, is taking your hard earned money, and not doing well with it, from crappy schools to the war in Iraq, we as citizens have an obligation to complain and work for change. Just handing the money over and trusting it will be well spent is so beyond naieve, it’s irresponsible.
It’s also a fact that what’s wrong with our schools directly relates to what’s wrong with society in general. A well fed, well adjusted child will do well in almost any school. A hungry child from a troubled home will not do well in the best school. We cannot fix our schools until we fix our society. Of course the complicated issues of poverty, racism, drugs, abuse, joblessness, and on and on affect our schools and students.
That’s not to say some schools are run by idiots, or at least by burned out, uncaring teachers and staff. But for all of these, the majority of educators are trying their best with not much to do it with. When we as a city pay more to the custodians in schools than to the teachers, what can you expect?
We, as the Bed Stuy, and black community in general need to hold the goverments’ feet to the fire and get necessary changes. We also have to do an awful lot of changes within ourselves. An awful lot. Like I said, it’s complicated.
Apologist? More like a flagellist.
Kinda hot today. Do we really have to don the collective hair shirt so you’ll feel better?
Oof! Finally typed a longer post than CHP! :-O But I just want to clarify something- I’m not an apologist for White folk, but I saw these things growing up and I hated what I saw. But I will also say there were many many many decent people who stood up and were counted in the Civil Rights Movement. By the same token, using history as an excuse can only go so far. It’s more important to forgive each other and accept each other- or as they used to say- We’re all bozos on this bus.
That’s why people pay taxes. Obligation to the school fulfilled. I’m being glib, but honestly. This is moreso a class than a race discussion. Just so happens it is easier to divide it down race lines, though I’m sure it is something affluent/upperclass blacks deal with too.
I moved to Crown Heights to rent an apartment- and I love it here. I didn’t come in with the idea that CHgts needs more white people and we will “bring up the neighborhood to our standards. ” I came here with the attitude that the neighborhoods like Bed-stuy and Crown Heights are, despite their problems, great working class neighborhoods. I grew up in one and it is a wonderful place to call home. The housing stock (how I hate that term!!) are homes for generations of families. CHP, Drew and Oh Lord! said it all, and much more eloquently than I ever could.
But I would like to address the statement “Why is it that when whites move out of a neighborhood, it is “white flight,” and when they move into a neighborhood, it is “gentrification.” Both of these terms generally have negative connotations. I think that this is racism pure and simple. ”
THere is one important common factor of white flight and gentrification. In both cases it involves one group which in general has more money and wherewithal to either move in or move out. “white flight” is accurate terminology and it was a voluntary action. Whites were not forced out by anything other than their own prejudices.
Gentrification is a move into a neighborhood that is “affordable” for a number of reasons. It conjures up masses of white people moving in by default. Often it is just the reality and the economics.For many it is a matter of I want that house and now I want the neighborhood to become like the one I left. White flight and gentrification are accurate terms, and if they have negative connotations, you can blame White folk for it.
Gentrification is complicated but one group (again with more money and wherewithal) now goes into a culturally proud and working class neighborhood filled with families who have lived there for generations, and “saves them from themselves.”
No one will argue that better restaurants,stores and amenities are more than welcome, but I’ve also seen for myself on many occasions the reaction of these new businesses when long time residents walk inside. You get the feeling that they only want to cater to the new residents.
So who can blame Black people for being offended by the irony? Those of you who talk about reverse discrimination forget why it exists. In the 50’s and 60’s, Black people who had achieved a certain level of education and career were able to move their families out of poor neighborhoods in hopes of providing better lives for them. White people fled, for the worst of reasons- the assumption that Black people would bring crime. Very often Whites reacted first with violence, racist abuse and social insult. How many years of abuse do you think Black people should take before the lessons sunk in?
This is no excuse for bad behavior, by any means. But if you truly want to improve relations and neighborhoods, you need to understand the dynamics. Whites fled because they didn’t want to live in mixed neighborhoods. They quoted cultural pride, values, etc. as the reason. So how hypocritical is it now to complain about Harlem and Bed-Stuy wanting those same things? Yet more often than not, they have still been much more welcoming to Whites than the other way around.
“When white folks take the time to be friendly to their new neighbors, the majority of them are well received. In turn, if white people are genuine and respectful, black people should recognize the benefits of an integrated neighborhood.” Drew is so right- and being respectful means owning up to the recent past and the part we White folk played in creating the issues of today. We can’t brush aside the painful, ugly history of discrimination or claim it’s in the past, get over it. It isn’t- all anyone has to do is read Brownstoner to see that.
I think that part of this is indeed that conflict simply makes for a livlier newspaper article. Many people have written comments here that their actual experience of moving to Bed-Stuy has not been one of chashes and negative encounters but in fact quite the opposite. That doesn’t mean that everyone – old and new – is blissfully ignorant that there is a shift underway and there are very real concerns to be addressed. But to make it seem that the overall experience is negative or one of social/racial strife would, I think, be misleading.
The responses in this thread — Oh Lord!, CHP, the various anons disagreeing with them — talk about this issue in terms of differences between older black and newer white residents.
The Sun article, though, makes a point of saying that the Bed Stuy gentrifiers are not principally white, but are largely African American, Hispanic and even Asian. So 2 questions:
(1) Is the Sun article wrong?
(2) If not, do the black oldtimers in question worry about all gentrifiers of any color (i.e., people who might want that aforementioned $4 cup of coffee) or just those gentrifiers who are white?
PS: I totally agree with CHP when she says “It is hard to become a part of the community when you ship the kids out to other schools, shop in other places, go to the doctor elsewhere, etc.” I always cringe a little when someone discusses a neighborhood here and says, “Oh, but you can use private school and FreshDirect.” I understand it — easy for me to be sanctimonious when I live in in Park Slope — but I cringe anyway. Even if you send your kids to private school, you have an obligation to your neighborhood school, etc.
Brownstoner???
Well said, Oh Lord! I think you very eloquently put the old/new Bed Stuyer situation in perspective. And, Anon 1:08, what she and others, including myself, have been articulating, is not racist. It is possible to correctly see cultural and economic differences that divide us, and comment on it, without being labelled racist. It is reality. I find it more “racist” to pretend that those differences do not exist. We are all not the same. That does not mean we don’t all need and want many of the same things, and can’t live side by side, or even in the same families, but differences do exist.
Black Americans are not white Americans with tans. Our history in this country has given rise to a separate culture that manifests itself in as many myriad ways as there are people. We are still in the dominant culture, of course, and share so much with that culture, and many of us can slip in and out of both cultures with ease. It may come as a surprise to many people, but there are black people in places like Bed Stuy, who have had almost no contact with the larger white culture at all. Very much like an immigrant from China or Latin America, these people stay in their community. They don’t work with or for whites, don’t go to where white people are, and don’t have any white friends or aquaintances. They don’t shop or worship in white institutions. The police, fire department or transit system may provide them with the only white people they may come in contact with. The same can be said for other ethnic communities. Most of these insular communities are not eager to embrace new people, no matter the income, race or religion of the newcomers. Integration and acceptance come very, very slowly, and sometimes, it is a painful experience for all concerned. I don’t think it is racist to say that this is the path of integration throughout this country’s history. No insular group welcomes the arrival of the “other”.
Both groups would benefit from change. Hopefully true integration – where people interact in houses of worship, in schools, government, etc, as well as on the block, will eventually win the day. Unfortunately, in the case of BS, the interaction in many of these institutions is one sided because what has been in BS, expecially in terms of schools, stores, etc, is not up to par with newcomer’s expectations. It is hard to become a part of the community when you ship the kids out to other schools, shop in other places, go to the doctor elsewhere, etc. That is not a racial thing, that is purely economic. I hope that participation in Bed Stuy’s future can include working from within to make all of these things better for everyone, especially for those who have no other options but to send their kids to subpar schools, etc, etc.
This is a very complicated issue – I hope this discussion can provide needed insight and understanding, and more importantly, some practical solutions for the future.