http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/magazine/305bushwick.1.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&oref=slogin
i don't know what to make of the article in the nytimes magazine this weekend about bushwick. part of me is like - yes, my instincts were right! But part of me is like, hey, don't go spoiling things for artists. now it's going to get expensive and lame and poor people will be pushed out, etc etc. I have witnessed the change over in wicker park, and in "williamsburg proper" and I got sick of being pushed out of areas that felt fun and fresh and cheap. so we bought 2 years ago in an area that I believed had potential for artists - a place i could have my studio walking distance and still near our friends in w'burg + all the places we like to go and whatever. Mostly it was because it was what we could afford and we happened to stumble upon a cute little house and fell in love with it. It is, I should note, old as the hills and falling apart, the cause of many worries, the neighbor of the dog rapes, and down the street from the rat freak out zone. So.... it's not picture perfect or anything. But this article makes me all weirded out. I feel like corcoran paid the times to write about it or something. And, just fyi, you CAN find one families, two families for that under 500,000. I don't know where that guy is getting his info. Hyperbole. Basically i think the whole article is hyperbole. I'll believe it when i see it. Still, having an article like this published makes me feel a little less insane for where we live. It helps our parents not think we are insane, but really, they are least judging of anyone strangely.
Oh, and one last thing, about the crime. the 83rd precinct covers a wide swath that goes into projects and dicier areas. there is a lot of crime, but I have always felt very safe where I am. i dunno. babbling.
i am posting on brownstoner if anyone looks at that. as "bushwicker".
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22 comments:
the people on brownstoner are somewhat hostile. they no like the artists i guess. whatever.
i fight with the people on brownstoner all the time. it's fun stuffs!
oh thanks pd. it's just weird to read some crazy hyperbole articles in the times. why do they feel the need to spazz out on different neighborhoods? lies.
brownstoner.com
it's cool - they watch the real estate market and talk about all the issues, and different neighborhoods in brooklyn and such. the moderator seems cool and good. arthur and I make fun of some of the commentors sometimes as it can be a little snobby. all orginal detail restoration lots o cash.
not real life. like - it's not that incredibly important to me to find the orginal 1920 lightswitch that goes with this wainscotting.
or whatever. at one point there was all this scandal about replacing hardwood floors versus restoring the original floor and how it 'ruined' these brownstones. It makes me crazy to read somehow. however, i obsess about relics - - others their floors. whataya gonnado?
FB, this is a positive thing. Yay for you and your instincts, and yay for Bushwick!
I contributed to "Make the Road by Walking" while living there -- was so impressed by what they were doing for the nabe/community.
blogger is fouling this morning. it happened to me too pd.
Yeah, I remember when I knew people renting lofts in DUMBO that were all illegal and cheap and such. and now it is sooo different. It is super cute down there though. bushwick is not cute at all.
sloth, i have heard such great things about "make the road". i keep meaning to see about tutoring there or volunteering somehow but then i never do. sadness. i am glad they are there. if only there were 30 hours in the day.
what did you do there sloth? just curious.
i guess i could just give them money.... but i'd love to teach a drawing class, or yoga class, or even a basic web design class there.
pd, i have heard that the hot chocolate is the bestest! but i couldn't remember what the place was called last time i was there.
the show at smack mellon right now is really good, by the way.
OH! there's a place in far W Soho where you can get that hot chocolate... it's sooo good! Heart As Arena turned me onto it. We used to work together on Varick St.
FB, I just donated money, but god you would be such a good teach. Could be cool.
i am totally getting uppity on brownstoner today.
dang it FB. I want to read your post but I have to go train some more. Hi and goodbye.
xoxoxx
I am 'bushwicker'. it's probably stuff you've all heard from me before...
i don't know if anyone is following the thread over there at brownstoner. I should comment there but I am feeling a little chicken - but I need to get this off my chest.
I totally sympathize with the fact that the poor/marginal folks in bushwick don't speak up or don't know how to, that they have to scrounge just to feed the kids etc. but I also get so tired of painting the 'poor' as the vicitms ALL the time. This sounds so crappy but ... I just think there are a bunch of folks who just don't give a shit. There are some bad apples who don't take personal responsibility. It's just so hard to judge - totally case by case. Sorry. I'm a harshed out FB.
i want to be the good liberal here but ??
Has anyone read that book about the reform of the welfare state in milwaukee that came out a couple of years ago? I bet that it would frame some of this complexity nicely.
why do i get so worked up about this stuff? it's so hard to figure out. and my experience of life is all that i have to go on so it is hard to figure out the exp. of other's day to day. culturally and expectation wise and yadda yadda.
the world is really survival of the fittest a lot of the time.
I read some of the stuff over there--it is strange.
I think it really is a case by case thing. There are families trying so hard to make a life for themselves and others who don't make any attempt to make things better--if the possibility is there. Victim status is paralyzing.
I just bought a sweet little 2 bedroom, 1 bath, pre-war brownstone in Redding, PA. 2 weeks ago in TimeOut London, Redding was described as becoming "the secret elite oasis of the hipster intelligencia by the year 2024." It's so close to the city but seemingly miles from the 'urban jungle'. Right now it's mostly mexican laborers and omish townfolk, but a lot of them are selling and moving west to Eatonton (idiots!) They hardly realize they're sitting on a goldmine. Fine artist, Leroy Neiman just bought a retreat out there as did Mark Knopfler, mastermind of the band, Dire Straits. I see him at the drug store sometimes! Sure it will take a while to develop, but a great new jazz bar just opened up right near the Dunkin' Donuts... It's happening people!!!
You better buy now...
i know, fb, that article = too carzy! wtf? are they out of their minds? its funny that millions of ny times readers around the world now have this false/skewered image of what bushwick is like. thats my opinion. my studio is there and it is very scary at night. very. on the map they left out the giant waste transfer station and half way house where hundreds of sketchy drug addicts live and hang out. what is up with the ny times? media is annoying. but then again i did call my parents and suggest that they read it. just to ease their minds a bit about my lifestyle.
it is good for the parents. this is for sure.
bb, mark knopfler and leroy neiman? I AM SO THERE!
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