that bad that hard that street
April 12, 2016 10:03 PM Subscribe
Kevin Heldman asks What The Hell Happened In East New York? It's Broken.
Controversial East New York Rezoning Plan Approved By City Planning Commission
City Hall pitches East New York rezoning plan to skeptical City Council
Small Businesses are Also Worried About the East New York Rezoning
Protesters to target City Councilman Rafael Espinal over East New York rezoning plan
Controversial East New York Rezoning Plan Approved By City Planning Commission
City Hall pitches East New York rezoning plan to skeptical City Council
Small Businesses are Also Worried About the East New York Rezoning
Protesters to target City Councilman Rafael Espinal over East New York rezoning plan
Does the podcast get better after the first episode? It wasn't giving me a lot of....confidence in Kevin Heldman.
posted by schmod at 7:02 AM on April 13, 2016
posted by schmod at 7:02 AM on April 13, 2016
I jumped right to the essay.
posted by mikelieman at 7:36 AM on April 13, 2016
posted by mikelieman at 7:36 AM on April 13, 2016
I have two co-workers from East New York. One's a published author. They're both very good people. My college girlfriend's parents grew up there as well, but it was a different place then.
posted by jonmc at 7:39 AM on April 13, 2016
posted by jonmc at 7:39 AM on April 13, 2016
When I worked for the census, we did our training in an elementary school library (it was during a school vacation, I don't remember any students) in East New York. We were about a 5 minute walk from Alabama ave. During the day, walking around East New York just made me jumpy. I live on the Bushwick/Bedstuy line, have for a while now. I'm used to being the only white guy on a street. So it wasn't just a race thing (I'm not going to deny there wasn't some race part, the bits that I haven't deprogrammed out of myself yet). But something about East New York just got to me. I think it was a combination of streets being too empty and the relative lack of businesses open in the area plus just a feeling I got walking around the streets there.
Admittedly, this was 6 years ago, but from the article, it does not appear that anything has changed all that much.
Despite all this, East New York will eventually have the gentrification wave hit it (it reached where I am a year or two ago. It's fuzzy.) Reading the debates about the housing plan, I see what di Blasio is trying to do, but I think the critics are right in that the pegging of the income for the low income apartments at something above the average income for the neighborhood. If mixed income means driving out half of the residents of a neighborhood, then it's a problem.
(I'm at work so I haven't listened to the podcasts, just read the essay and the other articles.)
posted by Hactar at 9:04 AM on April 13, 2016
Admittedly, this was 6 years ago, but from the article, it does not appear that anything has changed all that much.
Despite all this, East New York will eventually have the gentrification wave hit it (it reached where I am a year or two ago. It's fuzzy.) Reading the debates about the housing plan, I see what di Blasio is trying to do, but I think the critics are right in that the pegging of the income for the low income apartments at something above the average income for the neighborhood. If mixed income means driving out half of the residents of a neighborhood, then it's a problem.
(I'm at work so I haven't listened to the podcasts, just read the essay and the other articles.)
posted by Hactar at 9:04 AM on April 13, 2016
Someone wrote a book about this: How East New York Became a Ghetto.
(sadly, the book doesn't really answer the question, it's more a personal history of an activist's life during the neighborhood's decline)
posted by fitnr at 9:41 AM on April 13, 2016
(sadly, the book doesn't really answer the question, it's more a personal history of an activist's life during the neighborhood's decline)
posted by fitnr at 9:41 AM on April 13, 2016
streets being too empty
Yep, this.
I stayed in East NY for a month or so w/ a friend when the family and I were between apartments, and another odd thing was that there was a neighborhood-wide lack of garbage cans (at least in the part of ENY I was at). That means that garbage just went on the street or into the corner garbage cans.
That added a pretty gross sheen to it.
posted by jpe at 9:44 AM on April 13, 2016
Yep, this.
I stayed in East NY for a month or so w/ a friend when the family and I were between apartments, and another odd thing was that there was a neighborhood-wide lack of garbage cans (at least in the part of ENY I was at). That means that garbage just went on the street or into the corner garbage cans.
That added a pretty gross sheen to it.
posted by jpe at 9:44 AM on April 13, 2016
The "Broken" essay is so powerful. It just makes no sense that in a city of so much money and resources, this can't be fixed. I hope any of these plans work -- and that if it does work that that doesn't just lead to gentrification and displacement. Those poor kids.
posted by Mchelly at 10:12 AM on April 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 10:12 AM on April 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Big bags of garbage on the streets is just a thing in New York. It's shocking if you're from somewhere with wheelie bins. I came from everyone having three bins (trash, recycling, and compost) neatly aligned out front on trash day to big undifferentiated garbage mounds and I'm still not used to it.
Although if you're remarking that there's a lot of loose litter on the street, yeah, that's pretty gross.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:15 AM on April 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Although if you're remarking that there's a lot of loose litter on the street, yeah, that's pretty gross.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:15 AM on April 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
streets being too empty
This was the primarily unsettling thing about Detroit as well. Even many of the nominally gentrified neighborhoods are mostly empty all day long, and completely so after dark. It seems to send a message to the lizard brain that's just like, "everyone else ran away what do they know that I don't why am I still here getoutgetoutgetout."
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:45 AM on April 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
This was the primarily unsettling thing about Detroit as well. Even many of the nominally gentrified neighborhoods are mostly empty all day long, and completely so after dark. It seems to send a message to the lizard brain that's just like, "everyone else ran away what do they know that I don't why am I still here getoutgetoutgetout."
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:45 AM on April 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
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