Pssst...Have You Heard About Bushwick?
Newsflash: Bushwick is hot, hot hot! “Next-neighborhood development has now reached a pivotal juncture in Bushwick. The area still won’t be mistaken for the Upper West Side or even Williamsburg. There is no giant luxury supermarket; there are no dry cleaners in the warehouse district, and not many anyplace else. Crime is still bad, or…
Newsflash: Bushwick is hot, hot hot!
“Next-neighborhood development has now reached a pivotal juncture in Bushwick. The area still won’t be mistaken for the Upper West Side or even Williamsburg. There is no giant luxury supermarket; there are no dry cleaners in the warehouse district, and not many anyplace else. Crime is still bad, or really bad (the rates of violent crime are still among the highest in the city) — last year, the local precinct reported 15 murders, 40 rapes, 467 robberies and 399 felonious assaults. And while there may not be as many cars burning in the warehouse district as there used to be, the streets still feel desolate. But Bushwick is now definitely in the next stage. In May 2004, the neighborhood got its first video store-cafe, the Archive. Northeast Kingdom, the latest artist-affiliated restaurant, opened in October 2005, started by two Vermont natives currently living in Williamsburg proper. In the past year, luxury condos started showing up for $400,000. And there is even a festival — a festival that uses an acronym, acronyms seeming to be the linchpin of the real-estate business.”
Last we checked, Bushwick was ahead in the NYT poll for “next cool neighborhood” through Bed Stuy was running a close second.
Have You Heard About Bushwick [NY Times]
People get pushed out of areas in nyc all of the time and move to other areas. I would have loved to live Brooklyn Heights if I could have afforded it, but I can’t…so instead of complaining and bemoaning the fact, I moved somewhere I could afford and that happened to be Bushwick. I come from a very poor family…but instead of complaining I changed my life. I’m all for helping out the weak, but they in turn need to help themselves. It’s inevitable that Bushwick will change for the better and I for one applaud the effort.
Your last post is so true, Bushwicker, and so sad.
However, it really burns me that no one seems to be overly concerned about the conditions in these neigborhoods until the artists show up. = CAPITALISM, BABY.
The social darwinists on this blog will no doubt cry that people are responsible for their own conditions, or that the smart ones in Bushwick, etc should have bought before the artists landed. = POVERTY.
I just think that in the poorer areas some long-time residents don’t think to speak up. = TOO BUSY THINKING ABOUT FEEDING THEIR KIDS AND KEEPING THEM OUT OF JAIL.
Some of them have cruised below the rader for so long, and have so few hopes left, they don’t know they even have a right to live in better conditions. = TOO TRUE.
Very poor people have very few options and very little emotional strength/energy to effect change. Don’t underestimate the harrowing effect of poverty on the spirit. Also remember that it’s not easy to foster a feeling of community when everybody’s scrabbling to take care of his/herself. It’s hard to fight the good fight when you’re weak.
Thank you for reminding me of Maria Hernandez and for your thoughful response, CHP.
Well people just shouldnt take the term ‘discovered’ so literal. I mean we all have ‘discovered’ neighborhoods – not in the literal sense – that no one was there before – but that we discovered it for ourselves. Whether it is a nabe, a store or restaurant we often then want to share that discovery with others who also may be unaware of this gem.
I dont think it usually amounts to acting as if no one was there before but rather that you are the 1st of your group (social, racial whatever….) to be in the ‘know’ regarding the ‘discovery’
The article makes a good point of showing how many groups have ‘duscovered’ Bushwick over the decades and while I know they wont show the next ‘newcomers’ the same respect – I dont begrudge them their “duscovery”
David, I agree, I am very aware of Maria Hernandez, I was thinking of her when I said people have died to make the community better. I guess I should never use words like “no one does such and such” because that is never true, there is always someone, as I mentioned above.
However, in articles such as the Times one featured, there always is the feeling that newcomers come into a “discovered” nabe, like Columbus to Hispanola, and those who are already there haven’t had histories, lives won and lost, great strides made, until the artists, “pioneers” and real estate brokers annoint a new neighborhood. I’ve complained about this before in regards to PLG, Bed Stuy and Crown Heights, and will be doing it when someone decides East New York, and Ocean Hill/Brownsville are the next happening spots.
CHP – while there is no question that the press doesnt notice the persistent problems in areas like Bushwick until it becomes ‘hip’…
You are wrong that no one was concerned about these problems prior – to the contrary many people in all areas have been working on these problems for many years – I can speak from personal experience regarding the crime fight – and while other people’s observations regarding apathetic residents is very well true – one might want to learn the history of how Bushwick’s Maria Hernandez Park came to have that name before casting too wide a net.
bushwicker, what can I say? There are many reasons some people tolerate the deplorable conditions they live in. For many, it may be a language barrier, for others, a fear of authority, perhaps due to rememberences of where they come from, and for some, a frustration from banging at the doors of local authority and getting nowhere. Some people just don’t care, some people are part of the problem, and some people are just so beat down they don’t think they deserve any better. I’m sure there are as many reasons as there are people. And to be sure, there are plenty of people who fight the good fight everyday, and each clean corner, each improved block is a result of those people who give their all. There are also those who have died in order to make their neighborhoods better.
Please don’t give up on trying to make things better. Get to know the local activists. I find from personal experience in my own neighborhood, that many people really don’t think they have a voice. Some of them have cruised below the rader for so long, and have so few hopes left, they don’t know they even have a right to live in better conditions. It’s a very complicated situation, and there is also a degree of personal responsibility that needs to be addressed as well. I’m speaking in vague generalities, because I have no right to judge anyone, nor am I a social scientist. But I, for one, am very glad that you care, and are a positive force. Don’t give up.
A perfect example. Walking home on a summer night, past an abandoned building/rat palace. Right next door a family with many young kids are sitting and playing on the sidwalk while the rats run back and forth between their homebase and the garbage sitting on the curb.
Their comment on the rats running rampant: “Oh, we’re used to it.”
Our comment as we continued home: “time to call 311 again”.