Rosie and Nelson Redux
Did any of you just listen to Rosie Perez and Nelson George discussing the impact of gentrification on the neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill? We find Nelson’s nostalgic but realistic take on things quite interesting to hear; he’s clearly thought through a lot of these issues. Rosie’s relatively un-nuanced views, however, rubbed us…
Did any of you just listen to Rosie Perez and Nelson George discussing the impact of gentrification on the neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill? We find Nelson’s nostalgic but realistic take on things quite interesting to hear; he’s clearly thought through a lot of these issues. Rosie’s relatively un-nuanced views, however, rubbed us the wrong way. Her main point seems to be that she doesn’t know as many people when she walks down the street but (1) she’s a movie star now, which impacts how people view and interact with you and (2) we don’t get the sense she’s even around very much. In the four years we’ve been taking our kids to school just a few houses away from hers, we’ve never laid eyes on her; in fact, we’re not sure we’ve ever seen the shutters on her house open! (Her house also has the obligatory-for-a-Brooklyn-celeb attached garage.) She was complaining about how people fight over tennis courts in Fort Greene Park now–and then a caller reminded her that she used to have bricks thrown at her by local kids when she was playing tennis. We get how people can miss (and idealize) things from the past, but Fort Greene and Clinton Hill have to be some of the friendliest, most neighborly, streets to walk down in the entire city. How about a little love!
I lived in Clinton Hill (just up the block from Mr. B.) from 1989 to 2007, and I agree with What.
This was a perfectly wonderful neighborhood when I moved in. As a white woman, I learned a lot moving into a mostly-black (probably 98 percent then) neighborhood. I learned that I was a fool thinking I was a pioneer–almost everyone else living there had been there for years and years and they certainly didn’t need my presence! It was a family neighborhood, with kids playing in the street every summer and parents sitting on the stoops watching them. I raised my child through age 11 on the block. Sure, it would have been nice to have a better supermarket, but I have that now in Bed-Stuy.
Although I love the Flea, I agree that the old neighborhood (what’s left of it) doesn’t need it. What they need is a safe place to raise their kids on working-class salaries, a place where families of color can feel comfortable. And that’s not Clinton Hill anymore.
Many of the long time residents especially those who own houses have embraced the changes. However, others who though they they might reap the benefits brought about by these changes in either increased employment and business opportunties or better housing and community services feel as though they are being left behind. They are no doubt glad to see their neighborhood improving but that does not mean that they don’t have legitmate complaints.
BTW, perhaps beautiful chicks complain about attention because they’d rather receive attention for things that they had control over, like being nice or dependable instead of receiving attention for something that was the luck of their DNA.
TheWho, I dig your what-like opinion, but don’t forget the bulletproof vest ya had to wear.
witchdoctor, maybe they cross the street cuz of your profession not your skin color.
i don’t know where brownstoner has been, but i have seen Rosie on more than one occassion. most recently in Mike’s diner on Dekalb. Also, she is the voice of one of the characters on ‘go diego go’. so she is a ‘celebrity’ and caking off of that children’s show!
OHMYGOD, thanks for proving my point, the Who. The horrors you have to put up with!
I do want to thank the old timers who fought hard to make this area recognized by the LPC and protected from overdevelopment, and all the people who worked hard on Ft GreenePark, and all the people who continue to live here despite the gentrification, who see past surface and continue to love their area.
These struggles have been going on since long before the latest disgruntled “I was here first”s were here. And the struggles will continue for many generations after us. I am grateful for the people who pass on the torch, not bitch about how it was a better torch in the old days. Anyone who thinks the past was better than the present is either ill-informed or in denial.
i understood exactly what she was saying and while it may not have been in the language that many of the readers of the blog could understand, what she was/is saying is that she is beginning to feel like the outsider in her own neighborhood. i happen to see her often still getting her hair done at the dominican beauty salon. i, personally, walk down the street, as an african american woman, and people expect me to move, i sit on my stoop and people look at me as if i am not supposed to be here. sometimes, it is not as friendly as it seems. my husband walks down the street and many white women and men will cross the street-he hardly looks like a so called “hoodlum”. so, i believe that we have to listen to the concerns of all residents and while no one is pinning for the “good old days” we are pinning for a little respect.
Rosie Perez is irrelevant (have to give it to DH on that one).
Thankfully, she doesn’t live in Park Slope and thus doesn’t miss the crack houses lining the streets by the park.
What a douchebag.
……..”A lot of businesses in Clinton Hill and Fort Greene should be thankful for what is happening there every Saturday with the hundreds of people who come to the neighborhood for the Flea.”……
What’s wrong with you people? Really? The Flea is not the best thing that has happened to Fort Greene or Clinton Hill. Businesses did well in the area before the flea.
What the newcomers to FG/CH should be grateful for is the fact that people who’ve made this place their home for years aren’t revolting against your presence and condescending mannerisms.
It really was peaceful, more spacious, friendlier, and a quiet comfortable melting pot before you came with your “feel good” improvements.
– We didn’t insult deliverymen
– We could park on the streets where we lived
– We didn’t have a congested tennis courts in FG park
– Unappetizing restaurants were non-existent (now anything goes)
– Dog feces was not strewn along the sidewalks
– I never saw drunks staggering along DeKalb Ave.
– People were nicer to each other
-I didn’t have bus loads of people gawking at me like I was out of place
– I could get a piece of cheesecake in 5 minutes (now there’s always a god awful line)
– The post office wasn’t crowded all the time
– Whining was not how we started the day
– It didn’t cost half million dollars to live in a box.
– There was no paranoia about black men minding their business in candy stores or the sex offender next door
the nabe sucks!
I actually agree with The What on this one. Who knows how long this area will remain as idyllic as it is now? So like I said before, it’s a luxury to feel all that love in a place. Enjoy it while it lasts, people.