family
There were a couple of things that stayed with us after we read Sunday’s piece in The Times about the Indian family who moved into a beautiful brownstone in Bed Stuy last summer. The first was their decision to stain the parquest floors cranberry and green. This looks fine to us in the photos but we’re wondering what others think of this idea. We were more struck by Rina Banerjee’s description of the first time she visited the neighborhood:

“I came for a visit five years ago and honestly I was a little scared, Ms. Banerjee said. I walked out of the Utica subway station and there was a gang of boys there fooling around and I was worried, but I decided I had to know the neighborhood and I asked them for directions and they were so kind that I immediately felt comfortable. It’s amazing how a neighborhood’s reputation impacts your thinking about it even before you see it.

Food for thought indeed.
Family Reunited in a Brownstone [NY Times]


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  1. I had an experience on the BS/CH border a few years ago where a woman asked if I felt safe around here. I think I had some snarky response like “as long as you aren’t afraid of black people, you ought to be just fine.”

    My apartment in greenpoint was broken into three times and I regularly came home to find drunks passed out in my entry way, but no one ever talked about how greenpoint was dangerous.

  2. I just had the opposite experience…I went to Bed Stuy to look at property, totally unafraid, and was scared when I started walking around. I’m looking for a place to move with my 5 month old baby and husband, and this isn’t it.

  3. Post anonymously and the problem will disappear.

    If you post anonymously, people will still be able to read your comments.

    If you are anonymous, then no one can hijack your identity.

    How much freaking clearer to I have to be about this NON-PROBLEM. Now can we bloody move on to discuss something interesting?

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