Open House Wrap-Up: Mob Scene at 152 Dean?

Obviously there’s a racial element. Lefferts Manor is 90% black. However, it’s much better preserved than 90% black Bed-Stuy, so people are more psyched about it. Plus it’s next to Prospect Park.

I can understand that some think we Lefferts people are overly defensive when it comes to talking about our nabe. Perhaps we are. However, I must say, it’s awfully hard to see the place you live in and love get trounced so consistently and not feel the urge to defend it.

What do I mean by trouncing? Well, it seems that no matter how many times we PLGers admit that we have problems with lack of amenities or have issues with crime, we are still accused of trying to hide those facts. Or, if we acknowledge those issues but then try to point out how we successfully co-exist with them, we are dismissed as either being “stupid” for living here or we are labeled as dishonest persons, cloaked with a hidden agenda to protect our rising property values.

I believe the closer truth of the matter is that the majority of PLG homeowners are people who have lived here, in relative contentment, for quite some time. We accept, and sometimes sincerely appreciate, the edginess of Flatbush Avenue; we know we can survive in the absence of neighborhood Whole Foods, or Starbucks, or an Al Di La. Meanwhile, we’ve come to adapt quite easily to Korean greengrocers, Fresh Direct, or the Meytex Lounge. New York magazine not so long ago ran an article on best Caribbean restaurants in the city. I didn’t see it, but I’m told that many of those establishments are based in PLG. And, when all else doesn’t cut it for us locally, well, it’s not too great a deal to simply cross the park to the Slope for selected goods and services. For us, those are “ok” sacrifices in return for having the pleasure of the homes we love, the neighbors we adore, the park, gardens and zoo on our borders and quick access to public transport. On top of it, we’ve now got K-Dog & Dunebuggy. Woo hoo!

While there seem to be an increasing number of you who understand all that, the thing that still seems to stick in your craw whenever PLG gets mentioned are the asking prices on our homes, particularly those of Lefferts Manor. First of all, I have to agree with Bob Marvin when he states that these asking prices are far below the asking prices of similarly appointed homes in other Brooklyn neighborhoods. And, I also agree with Bob when he says that it really doesn’t matter to many of us what the latest asking/selling prices are on own LM/PLG homes because we have a found a place in which we are actually happy and we ain’t thinking about moving! To put it another way: Some of you who don’t care for PLG don’t seem to understand that the issues that you deem to be most important in terms of your neighborhood choices are not necessarily ours. It doesn’t mean that you have made the wrong choices. But it certainly doesn’t mean we have either!

A long time ago, I heard someone describe Brooklyn as a borough of extremely balkanized communities. I think that’s a pretty sad comment which, unfortunately, seems to gets borne out time and again on this site. I’m just hoping that we can someday get to the point of accepting that we have different ways of being and seeing in this world, and reveling in the fact of our diversity, and not juding those who make choices that are different from our own. When that happens maybe all these rather silly debates about the “worth” of PLG will cease.

Notwithstanding all the above, and FWIW, at least the tone of these PLG debates seems to have ratcheted down a few notches from where they were not so long ago. IMO, that’s a conversational development, in and of itself, which suggests that maybe we’re at least headed in the right direction.

I’m the one who was probably most energetic in defending Lefferts Manor and Prospect Lefferts Gardens several weeks ago when (IMO at least)there was an epidemic of “Lefferts trashing” by (IMO again) a number of “trolls.” Happily I do NOT see that in the last few threads about my neighborhood and I, for one, welcome discussions about LM/PLG’s strengths AND weeknesses.

Anon 12:56: you should visit the area. Gorgeous houses in many different architectural styles. A real gem architecturally. There are no good stores or restuarants and the only way in or out is via Flatbush, which some of us find overwhelmingly noisy. But for many, the positves far outweigh the negatives. Whether or not houses there are worth over a million is debatable, but there is no question that it is a lovely area worth getting to know. And I love the house tour in May–you should do that too!
–The Trasher

In what way was I “trashing” Lefferts Manor? I honestly don’t see it at all. I am pointing out that living there requires giving up things many of us don’t want to give up. That is not trahing. As for my motivation, I bought elsewhere and my home has tripled in value in the time that, as far as I can tell, most LM prices not quite doubled. It seems to me that LM prices have increased much more slowly than in most other areas. Which is as it should be since the area has seen no actual improvements.