Urban sprawl January 28, 2007 ~ 12:25 am
Posted by Julie in : In Da Hood , trackbackThe Landlady and I had a long talk this evening about “progress” coming to our neighborhood and how long we figure it will be the Windsor Terrace we know and love. We’re giving it ten years. Ratner’s already got his hooks into the neighborhood - a large house on the corner of my street has been bought (rumor has it for something like $1.5 million) and is heading for demolition within the next month or so. What’s going up? Condos. The vacant lot two blocks down that has been empty since I moved here from Bensonhurst is also slated for condo-ization. This on top of the Atlantic Yards shite makes me sad beyond words.
Rick has told me repeatedly that it’s to be expected - we live in New York City, after all. In Manhattan the landscape changes seemingly in the blink of an eye - apartment buildings get demolished to create offices, those offices get razed to make room for skyscrapers, and the city stretches wider and higher. I think that the Manhattanites have gotten so used to it that they’ve forgotten what it’s like to have true neighborhoods - places like mine where we know everyone for three blocks, know the names of all the pets, and where we compete at the holidays to see who can put up the biggest display. We’re like a small town in the middle of NYC, and I love that about us. I wonder if this dread of progress is how people felt when the the boroughs were consolidated in 1898: one minute you are your own city with your own identity, the next, you’re simply a borough and Manhattan becomes “The City.”
Since I moved here seven and a half years ago, I’ve known Brooklyn to be the greatest place in the world. Just say the word “Brooklyn” anywhere and people know exactly where you’re talking about. We’re a borough of fighters, of scrappers, of artists, of dreamers, of entrepreneurs. It’s magical here - even the light shines differently from anyplace I’ve ever seen. In the summer, the streets glow golden. Unlike Manhattan, where everything is new, we’ve got one foot firmly in the past - you can run into the ghosts of Truman Capote and Albert Anastasia here. Dreamland still gleams at Coney Island, for the time being. Why would we want that to change?
But progress is coming. The hipsters and yuppies have already taken over Williamsburg and Greenpoint since Manhattan is too expensive for them now. As the years go by and Manhattan rents continue to skyrocket, more people will walk across the Bridge, like what they see, and stay. And we’ll get an Ikea and Targets to match our Fairway and Home Depot and Costco. And the real estate around the Gowanus Canal will go for top dollar in spite of the layer of chemicals that floats on top of it. And those of us who live in the old Brooklyn will get pushed further and further out, closer to Queens and the Island as landlords realize they can get more for our apartments.
I feel pretty safe; I’ve got a great landlady who sings my praises as a tenant. But in ten years, when progress has arrived, will I be able to recognize the Brooklyn I loved beneath it? Will it still be the same?
Comments
Maybe this will make you feel better. My husband reads this “housing bubble” blog : http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/ And he says it has gotten so ridiculous that it’s about to reverse and be a SERIOUS buyer’s market. If nothing else, take pictures and keep your memories of what IS.
AHEM. QUEENS RULES.
Retro~Um, no. Queens is a borough made up of little splinter communities, just like Staten Island. Not as cool as Brooklyn AT ALL. When I address something to someone in Queens, it goes to Corona, or Flushing Meadows, or Astoria. When I adress something to someone in Brooklyn, it goes to BROOKLYN. If all the boroughs were ranked as independent cities? We’d be the third largest city in the country, right behind LA and Chicago. We are MUCH cooler than Queens. Sorry.
Geewits~That buyers market is how Ratner is going to get in. And the hipsters. People like me rent because we don’t have enough cash to buy.
But thanks.
Unfortunately, you’re probably right. Once people start paying stupid money to own in Brooklyn, then developers will squeeze out the regular people and destroy the neighborhood. Truthfully I wasn’t very impressed with Manhattan. Maybe I’m just not a big city kind of guy. But I’d much prefer to live in a neighborhood such as yours, where people are actually neighbors.
Hope you’re wrong.
Things change, Darlin’. Sucks but it’s true.
Sigh.
Julie- if you want to see change, just come down here. Hell, at least half of the housing developments that now exist here were swamp land not 10 years ago.
there were 7 houses on my street when we got here, there are now 30. And most of the people that move here complain about ” how much better it was” where they came from. To which I reply ” I-95 goes north as well as south, you know”!
I like the pizza place where you live.
I’m glad I saw it with you this summer, and glad you got so many great pictures.
It’s terribly sad the hominess slipping away, all in the name of progress. I think I like anti-progress. Well not really, but it’d be nice if things would stay simple at times. I grew up in Northeastern Iowa and it’s very quiet there. Some day I’ll go back.
Well I’m glad you found out that the kitties do have some protection available to them. It’s probably better for your kitty not to have wild cats introduced. Time for a trip to the animal shelter?
CA, as you can imagine, is just as bad. I live in the suburbs where you sacrifice any sort of culture or individuality for *slightly* more affordable housing compared to Orange County or LA proper. Seriously, it’s all Best Buys, Chili’s, Petco…anything local with personality gets closed up pretty fast.
I’m with Vince, I’ll take a real neighborhood anyday. And yeah, I hope none of this comes to fruition- we’ve already lost just about every shred of character that most areas in Manhattan ever had. I wouldn’t want to see yet another casualty.
I live on the corner of Starbucks Street and Gap Avenue.
Maybe you need to root for the Nets to really really suck in the next few years.
[...] they can get more for our apartments. Next thing you know, it’ll look like the South Slope. · Urban Sprawl [EvilJulie] · Windsor Terrace Hates BackFat [...]
[...] thing you know, it’ll look like the South Slope. · Urban Sprawl [EvilJulie] · Windsor Terrace Hates BackFat [...]