A Couple from Corcoran in Crown Heights
Crown Heights 682 Saint Marks Avenue Corcoran Floors: 4 $990,000 GMAP Crown Heights 1267 Carroll Street Corcoran Floors: 3 $725,000 GMAP
Crown Heights
682 Saint Marks Avenue
Corcoran
Floors: 4
$990,000
GMAP
Crown Heights
1267 Carroll Street
Corcoran
Floors: 3
$725,000
GMAP
The only thing that I do take exception at with the last post is when the poster says he cannot blame people for wanting to preserve the culture of their neighborhood. The same argument used in the reverse in a white neighborhood would be considered untenable and racist. I’m sure that when blacks started moving into Crown Heights and Bed Stuy in large numbers in the early 20th century you had racist backlash. Wasn’t right then, isn’t right now in the reverse. We all need to be able to live together, and until everyone accepts that we will have problems and de facto segregation.
We’ve lived in Crown Heights for almost two years. Sometimes people make comments that don’t sound positive, but we’ve never had anyone blatantly call us names. Really, for the most part, people are friendly. People say hello/good morning, which is something I did not experience in Manhattan. If people are giving off a bad vibe, I’ll still say hello or acknowledge them, but I would ignore comments like those you’ve experienced. Of course if you are the minority, you’ll be noticed, and the fact that housing prices are going up makes people uncomfortable. I remember when we were buying our house, we walked by and introduced ourselves to our potential neighbor. Some woman walked by and told our neighbor not to talk to us or give us information about the neighborhood. It made us feel bad, but what can you do. On the flip side, when we moved in, one of our neighbors ran over and welcomed us to the neighborhood. For the most part, I’ve talked to more strangers in Crown Heights than I have in Manhattan, or other parts of Brooklyn. You have to roll with it, what can you do. People will say things here and there and you’ll probably feel bad about it. I actually feel more welcomed there than in Bed-Stuy (nothing bad toward Bed-Stuy, I live on the border of Bed-Stuy & I don’t want to start another thread of posts!!); long-time residents of Bed-Stuy have made it known that they want to preserve the culture of the neighborhood and that they don’t want it to be taken over by people who are not part of the African-American community. I can’t say I blame them. On another note, the other day I was walking and talking on my cell phone in the city and some guy walked past me and said “you’re a F*****g A****le!” I was so upset that he would speak to me this way. People everywhere can make you uncomfortable.
Don’t let bigots scare you away, not all people in Crown Heights are racist lowlifes like the ones who yelled at you. You’ll encounter people like that wherever you go. I’ve had the same thing happen to me at a store in Bed Stuy. Pretty shocking, but you really have to not let that lead to generalizations about the whole neighborhood, even if you feel like you get no sympathy from any others in the nabe.
We went to two separate openhouses and have had “go home whitey” and “you don’t belong here” yelled at us. This has not happened in Bed Stuy. It is a shame because I love the architecture in Crown Heights.
Am also tired of the finger-pointing and name-calling that takes on this site place as people put down other people and their choices (presumably to make themselves feel better). I’ll continue to live in my little corner of Brooklyn and will continue to love it and do not feel the need to defend it here. I think as more people have wonderful experiences in my nabe the word will inevitably spread.
I hope you are right
Has everyone forgotten about the bullets flying around in Fort Greene 10-15 years ago!!! My old neighbor told me he had been robbed at a red light on a regular basis! Look at Fort Greene now. Neighborhoods can improve and Crown Heights is no exception. I don’t want to defend Crown Heights anymore. I’ll continue to live there and in a few years the area will speak for itself.
FYI, the first weekend after Labor Day is the biggest real estate/open house weekend of the year….. it has nothing to do with the parade…
Correction for my previous post: I meant Dean St. Bet. New York and Nostrand aves.