Open House Picks

There is a troll here who reminds me of my 2-year old toddler. When he doesn’t like what is being said, he puts his hands over his ears and yells really loud so that his noise drowns out anything else someone says.

The only way to cope with that kind of attention-seeking 2-year old behavior is to simply ignore it.

The troll here keeps re-posting nonsensical old posts, hoping the noise will drown out any further discussion and hoping to get more attention.

The rest of us outgrew that behavior by age 5, but clearly the troll is stuck at the emotional age of a toddler. So let’s continue to ignore him. And, hopefully, Brownstoner can eventually track him down and ban him from further posts.

Wow. Never has a comment made in jest caused so much confusion for so little reason. So let me spell it out:

Since “Iman” was preceded by an indefinite article, I knew that Anonymous 4:20 meant “Imam.” (The other clue was, you know, the context.) Perhaps 4:20 was confused, perhaps it was a typo. Either way, I thought the mistake was funny, since that would have to be one hell of a profound rock-star-wife-model article to win a Pulitzer. (From what I know about her, she’d be more likely to win a Pulitzer herself than to be the subject of a Pulitzer-winning article. She’s that smart.)

David Bowie’s wife being black had absolutely nothing to do with the joke lliipp, so I really have no idea where your comment came from, except that perhaps you are confused as well. Or quick to jump down people’s throats for what you perceive to be racism. Or both. Yeah, probably both, since they seem to go together.

So, no more word play for me tonight, apparently I’ve done enough!

THANK YOU 10:28
so many people assume that anyone of color already living in these neighborhoods is not middle class. It’s really unnerving and points to the ignorance of many people on this board

I’m one of the posters who complained about the fringe areas being out of reach for the middle class. I admit, I have no idea of the economic breakdown of Crown Heights and Bedstuy, so if those neighborhoods have a significant middle-class, regardless of race, then that is a wonderful sign.

What I do know is that I rented an apartment in the south slope for years, beginning in 1984. At that time, and for the next 8 or 9 years, you could buy a townhouse in the same neighborhood for $200,000 or $300,000. Which was way beyond my reach as a poorly-paid recent college graduate, but very affordable for professional couples starting a family, especially with rental income.

And, despite complaints here about what a dump it was, I had every type of service in the neighborhood. I shopped 7th Ave. every weekend. I agree, there were no fancy shops or hipster bars, but it had all the services a middle class family needed, as well as tons of restaurants which weren’t particularly good, but certainly a convenient place to grab a bit to eat, which I often did. You’d think from descriptions here that if a street isn’t filled with fancy boutiques, restaurants, and cool nightlife bars, it’s a dangerous dump. But actually, the services then were probably more geared to middle class families than now. If that describes fringe neighborhoods now, great. What bothers me is that house prices in those neighborhoods, compared to the adjusted average income of middle-class professionals, is many times higher, so that people don’t see those neighborhoods as possibilities where they can buy a home, raise a family, and have money left over. Instead, they need to stretch to buy something at best, and hold their breath that prices increase and no one suffers even a brief job layoff since mortgage payments are taking a large chunk of their income.

By the way, I think a troll is re-posting lots of old posts from previous discussions. What a sad person, let’s all ignore them.

This is a fun and interesting thread, despite the abuse. It’s cool to read some actual analysis for once. A nice contrast with the usual tone of “I haven’t the faintest idea what I’m talking about but I’m going to say it anyway.”

I’ve lived in NYC since 1982 and in Brooklyn since 1991. Even in the late 80s, there were parts of Park Slope that were scary, but that changed fast in the 90s. When we moved to Windsor Terrace in 1999, my Ivy League friends were sympathetic and baffled, my mom friends were envious (you have so much space! And it’s so cheap!) and the locals pitied us because we were paying so much to live in their hood.

Now I live in Bed Stuy. The neighborhood is beautiful, but yeah, the economic differences around here make me uneasy. But I do see that the existing middle class–those people who grew up here, who still live in the same houses, who work 2 or 3 jobs, who are striving to improve their lives and the lives of their children–are key to maintaining the stability of the neighborhood. I don’t want Bed-Stuy to become the 21st century Park Slope. I just want it to be a safe and pleasant place for everyone to live. And I am heartened to see that there are new sports bars and hair salons on Tompkins Ave that are geared to the people who have lived here for a long time. All new development doesn’t have to be super fancy, and I hope that commercial rental prices will remain low enough to support family- and neighborhood-oriented businesses.