Views of a born and bred Brooklynite. (umbrooklynborn@gmail.com) This blog satisfies my need to hear and air feelings of B'klyn from the people whose life experience were born here. Hopefully it'll balance to some of the revisionist historical musings I've seen as if Bklyn barely existed before the 90's. Brooklyn as Tabula Rasa. If we can all live as best possible while appreciating the past and neighbors we've inherited that would be great too.
On the corner of Rogers Ave and Park Place in Crown Heights ("western" crown heights as the new comers say, because obviously a neighborhood of two miles requires geographic annotations) there is a small lot that had been neglected by the owner. Concerned citizens long ago transformed the lot into a community open, garden.
The garden has stood for at least ten years. I remember the mural painted on the wall above it for at least that long.
Recently developers, one can only imagine who, tracked down the owner, who I was told, was living in Florida and beset with back taxes for the lot. It seems developers purchased the lot for below market value and are now attempting to developed the site.
Rogers Ave recently got a make-over in the form of an express bus lane. The lane stretches from near Brooklyn College in the Flatbush/Midwood section, connecting with Bedford Ave where it and Rogers merge at Atlantic Ave and continuing to Williamsburg.
I've been talking up Rogers to friends for years because it has lacked aesthetic charms but had lots of available rentals. Leading in the lacking amenities on Rogers is greenery, specifically flowers, trees. No double entendre here.
So the fact that there is a garden on Rogers which is fueled by new and old residents who want to keep the neighborhood on the upswing is a great reason in my mind for this site to remain green, and open to residents and especially local kids at the elementary school down the block.
I spoke with a volunteer who was putting the finishing touches on large painted letters spelling out "SAVE THE GARDEN" (pictured above) and he explained these details as well as the hope that local residents will contact our elected representatives, in this case Mayor DeBlasio, Public Advocate Tish James, as well as the City Councilmember for this site, Robert Cornegy(RCornegy@council.nyc.gov) and request the city take over the site as a result of owed taxes and lease the land to the community garden.
Soul Summit, the dance party made of love peace and of course, soul, will return to Fort Greene Park's top hill this Sunday and if the past is any indication you will not want to miss it.
Dj's on hand will be mixing Rare Grooves, House and Dance Classics. Adding to the soundscape will be an untold number of drummers and percussionists who are likely to show and then their hands to the rhythm.
If that's not enough the Soul Summit a festive tradition that began in the early 2000's, is a free gathering, customarily filled with dancers of all ages, united in gracefully soul speaking motion.
But don't take my words for it, here's photos from previous years.
Beside the dancing crowds, the nearby hill side usually becomes an family affair of spread blankets and spread plates of home cooked meals, children rollicking and tumbling and older folks laying back and enjoying the summer fun.
And here's a clip of video (a little shaky sorry) from the last Soul Summit of 2009 when in the middle of the set a light but persistent rain began to fall. How the crowd responded is part of why this event is so spiritual for many, it basically became a baptism.
The Soul Summit has been a hard to find event for years now, because the times the group producing the event has been given to hold the event has been altered nearly every year since it began the City.
Originally the dance party was held at the same Cuyler Gore Park on Fulton. It moved and expanded to Fort Greene where it was a weekly Sunday event.
However one year the part was shut early by the park's department and it was called off for that summer. Ever since the even has occurred and on occasion had it's permits revoked seemingly without reason. Some years there have been no events at all. So I was happy to hear last week there will be at least one this Sunday. Hopefully there will be more this summer.
Nothing has been as good as that magical day in the summer of 2011 when The Fort Greene Music Fest, a full on free music festival was put on in Fort Greene Park, which had local food vendors at booths semi-encircling the soccer field, a stage with emerging artist and world famous musicians, among others Game Rebellion, and headliner Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def).
Despite that being a peaceable day, attended by thousands, where profits were made and no entry charged (run-on alert) that ended on time (sunset) and didn't destroy the park, new home owners in the area complained and a similar event hasn't been held since.
So with the track record of the past, I really suggest if you're a dancer or lover or music, or just want to take the kids out and enjoy good energy, you come out to the Soul Summit this sunday, who knows how long it will go on, so like summer, enjoy it while's here.
Since everyone else is talking about fiery filmmaker and Brooklynite Spike Lee's expressive talk about gentrification during a Q&A at Pratt Institute (Alumni office I'm side-eyeing you for my lack of notice) I might as well post it too.
Besides simply saying gentrification is bad Spike addresses the issues of new people trampling the longstanding culture of existing residents, neighborhood renaming and my fave the "discovery" of places that already have people, culture and life.
A few highlights:
"Why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers into South Bronx, Harlem…for the facilities to get better?"
"The motherfucking Christopher Columbus syndrome… you can't discover this we been here."
Spike also references the Michael Jackson Tribute party planned for Fort Greene park back in 2009, and how it was turned away, by new residents to the area, which I wrote about on this blog: http://umbrooklynborn.blogspot.com/2009/08/community-is-bigger-than-one-person.html
Here’s the full audio, including the man’s response and Lee’s rebuttal:
All that's essentially the raison d'être of this blog, nearly verbatim. Wonder if Spike's a reader?
The whole breakdown from NYMag:
The filmmaker, wearing a Knicks beanie, orange socks, blue Nikes, and "Defend Brooklyn" hoodie, was at Pratt Institute for a lecture in honor of African American History Month, surrounded by locals, when he was nearly asked a question about “the other side” of the gentrification debate. “Let me just kill you right now,” Lee interrupted, “because there was some bullshit article in the New York Times saying ‘the good of gentrification.’” (See: “Argument Over a Brownstone Neighborhood” andNew York’s “Is Gentrification All Bad?”)
“I don’t believe that,” said Lee. And for the next seven minutes he explained, with passion, humor, and a fair amount of f-words.
Here’s the thing: I grew up here in Fort Greene. I grew up here in New York. It’s changed. And why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better? The garbage wasn’t picked up every motherfuckin’ day when I was living in 165 Washington Park. P.S. 20 was not good. P.S. 11. Rothschild 294. The police weren’t around. When you see white mothers pushing their babies in strollers, three o’clock in the morning on 125th Street, that must tell you something.
[Audience member: And I don’t dispute that … ]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And even more. Let me kill you some more.
[Audience member: Can I talk about something?]
Not yet.
Then comes the motherfuckin’ Christopher Columbus Syndrome. You can’t discover this! We been here. You just can’t come and bogart. There were brothers playing motherfuckin’ African drums in Mount Morris Park for 40 years and now they can’t do it anymore because the new inhabitants said the drums are loud. My father’s a great jazz musician. He bought a house in nineteen-motherfuckin’-sixty-eight, and the motherfuckin’ people moved in last year and called the cops on my father. He’s not — he doesn’t even play electric bass! It’s acoustic! We bought the motherfuckin’ house in nineteen-sixty-motherfuckin’-eight and now you call the cops? In 2013? Get the fuck outta here!
Nah. You can’t do that. You can’t just come in the neighborhood and start bogarting and say, like you’re motherfuckin’ Columbus and kill off the Native Americans. Or what they do in Brazil, what they did to the indigenous people. You have to come with respect. There’s a code. There’s people.
You can’t just — here’s another thing: When Michael Jackson died they wanted to have a party for him in motherfuckin’ Fort Greene Park and all of a sudden the white people in Fort Greene said, “Wait a minute! We can’t have black people having a party for Michael Jackson to celebrate his life. Who’s coming to the neighborhood? They’re gonna leave lots of garbage.” Garbage? Have you seen Fort Greene Park in the morning? It’s like the motherfuckin’ Westminster Dog Show. There’s 20,000 dogs running around. Whoa. So we had to move it to Prospect Park!
I mean, they just move in the neighborhood. You just can’t come in the neighborhood. I’m for democracy and letting everybody live but you gotta have some respect. You can’t just come in when people have a culture that’s been laid down for generations and you come in and now shit gotta change because you’re here? Get the fuck outta here. Can’t do that!
And then! [to audience member] Whoa whoa whoa. And then! So you’re talking about the people’s property change? But what about the people who are renting? They can’t afford it anymore! You can’t afford it. People want live in Fort Greene. People wanna live in Clinton Hill. The Lower East Side, they move to Williamsburg, they can’t even afford fuckin’, motherfuckin’ Williamsburg now because of motherfuckin’ hipsters. What do they call Bushwick now? What’s the word? [Audience: East Williamsburg]
That’s another thing: Motherfuckin’… These real estate motherfuckers are changing names! Stuyvestant Heights? 110th to 125th, there’s another name for Harlem. What is it? What? What is it? No, no, not Morningside Heights. There’s a new one. [Audience: SpaHa] What the fuck is that? How you changin’ names?
And we had the crystal ball, motherfuckin’ Do the Right Thing with John Savage’s character, when he rolled his bike over Buggin’ Out’s sneaker. I wrote that script in 1988. He was the first one. How you walking around Brooklyn with a Larry Bird jersey on? You can’t do that. Not in Bed Stuy.
So, look, you might say, “Well, there’s more police protection. The public schools are better.” Why are the public schools better? First of all, everybody can’t afford — even if you have money it’s still hard to get your kids into private school. Everybody wants to go to Saint Ann’s — you can’t get into Saint Ann’s. You can’t get into Friends. What’s the other one? In Brooklyn Heights. Packer. If you can’t get your child into there … It’s crazy. There’s a business now where people — you pay — people don’t even have kids yet and they’re taking this course about how to get your kid into private school. I’m not lying! If you can’t get your kid into private school and you’re white here, what’s the next best thing? All right, now we’re gonna go to public schools.
So, why did it take this great influx of white people to get the schools better? Why’s there more police protection in Bed Stuy and Harlem now? Why’s the garbage getting picked up more regularly? We been here!
All right, go ahead. Let’s see you come back to that.
I've been wanting to post about last month's Banksy NYC residency and it's impact, but life happened as it does, and then this happened.
(all photographs by Tiernan Morgan for Hyperallergic)
EVIL. i dislike when "evil" is tossed around as a cause or a label, but this is straight evil, malicious, petty, intended to do nothing really more than wound and disrespect. The 5ptz building, which most of you know is an otherwise unremarkable industrial building at LIC Queen's eastern edge, made otherworldly and beautiful by the artwork it's been dressed in for over a decade has been defiled by it's owners who last night sent in workers to cruelly paint over as much of the artwork, as they could.
(all photographs by Tiernan Morgan for Hyperallergic)
The owners recently won the right, after many appeals, to turn the land into a new development. The plans they show, make no usage of the existing structure, so why paint over this building that is scheduled to be torn down? They did it simply to be evil soulless monsters.
(all photographs by Tiernan Morgan for Hyperallergic)
The buffing and over painting in this way is a physical, premeditated undeniable attack on art, which is an attack on the human heart. And why? To prove ownership? To forcibly demonstrate power to Meres who has been custodian and curator of the building and leader of the fight to preserve it as artists mecca and landmark? Did they cover the art to look away from the artists who've committed beauty to modern blight? Or are they like Oedipus realizing that they've screwed that which put them on the map and made the building (and to a large degree the neighborhood) a place where people would even consider WANTING to be? Did the fight over the right to make statements with paint leave them secretly longing to up their own sloppy tag, to say "fuck you we're somebody too" and at the same time physically blind themselves to the art that birthed their opportunity, attempting blind us in the process along with them?
Who cares their motivation, my desire to know why doesn't explain or excuse their desire to obscure creation, expression from the public space and the lotus-esque ways in which our spirits rebirth value out of human despair.
I can't help but recall the transition of 11 Spring in Soho from public graf board and tag mecca to it's current luxury condo status. I shot and produced a simple video with the help and support of Marc Schiller and the Wooster Collective, interviewing the artists and talking about the significance of that building. The owners sought out Marc to invite artists to tag up 11 Spring, dozens of them, each with their own styles, background, celebrity levels and politics were granted the time to demonstrate what that building had become, there public came, a moment was made and I believe the value of art it's inspiration to commerce were reinforced in an enriching experience. Granted there many were differences of opinion at 11 Spring, but ultimately recognition was given to the place art had made in giving that building such value that it was able to capitalize monetarily and as a result take what had become a public space for the exchange of ideas and friendships and political and personal discontent, through art, away from the public. New York City has always been a confluence of commerce, since the native Lenape came down to the rivers to trade, but there a ways to do business on a human level that add value to the transaction and the active.
Disrespect is not only evil, it's unnecessary.
So I'm hoping we all keep our eyes and ears open for how we as intentional and accidental members of this moment's nyc artistic community respond and when necessary participate in response to the evil disrespect of human heart that took place last night at 5Ptz.
In June I awoke to the sound of machinery as opposed to the singing birds that normally roused me from slumber. I assumed it was street repair work. Except that there was a persistent buzzing. Eventually I saw a wood-chipper machine grinding tree limbs fed from an undistinguished man and taken from an enclosed park space on Bedford Avenue.
The park space is the width of two four story apartment buildings and is in fact two lots that residents have a claim to. They explain that the lots were granted as park space by the BEC (Brooklyn Ecumenical Corporation) and given to the Bedford Park Residents Association. They say they have not only had the space granted as a park for residents (the usage was granted to them after the buildings on the lots had been torn down and to prevent the space from falling into disuse) but they've also paid for maintenance of the space for over 18 years.
This is what the park has looked like for much of the last two decades:
I assumed the men tossing tree limbs into shreds were cleaning up fallen branches.
It turns out a developer who according to residents has yet to provide any proof ownership of the park space, has made a claim to the lots on which the park stands and had sent the men to chop down over 40 trees which included Maples and fruit-baring boysenberry so the land can be developed and a condo built.
When I passed Bedford avenue between Park and Prospect places this is what the park looked like:
In the span of about 3 hours over 40 trees were cut down and shredded. This shot by a resident shows the destruction and the felling of the trees:
At a community meeting held next door members of the board expressed their frustrations. Their belief is the developers have an expectation that residents wouldn't defend this space and that local officials will either defend their claim of ownership or simply not speak up.
One resident told me NY1 had recorded statements from residents for a segment on the issue but no segment was aired.
Basically, back in 1994, the Brooklyn Ecumenical Council (BEC) dedicated a pair of lots on Bedford as a community garden and park, to be jointly used and paid for by residents and owners of the surrounding buildings. Fast forward 18 years, and a developer who's acquired some adjacent land believes he has rights to the space, and has already shredded the trees, shrubs, and bushes that had adorned the lot for the past two decades. Needless to say, the residents are fighting back, and they're hoping to mount a legal and political challenge to this land grab
In the weeks since that early June morning when most residents had gone to work while workmen whittled the park into a barren set of lots, the Bedford Park Residents Association has gotten active. They've called the police several times to prevent unnamed men from going in to the space without permission and the residents report having a Police Detective assigned to the task of verifying the ownership claims.
Speculation abounds as to what claim the developers have to the land and how they'll verify it since each time the police have been called the workmen in the park have had no documentation proving a right to be on the property or permits for the destruction.
The burden of proof swings both ways as the tenants association is working to retrieve documents they say will demonstrate the developers claim to the land is unjust.
To that end they've put a call out to any who may have documents and or photographic relating to the park and its community history.
According to Mr. Francis one of the Bedford Park Residents Association, today (Thursday 7/12) workmen are scheduled to come to do core samples of the land for use in the developers plane build condos on the space. For that reason they are asking for other residents to come out and stand up for the space and they've put out a call to anyone with photos or documents demonstrating the tenants history of usage and claim to the park.
In lieu of the Atlantic Yards boondoggle more of the properties in it's clutches are going the way of the opposition. I was headed down Vanderbilt when I saw this building in mid-destruction and I don't think its over the top to say it looked ripped open and violated.
And at the actual construction site,
the stakes are in the heart, struts are in the ground for the Nets' soon to be arena. If you listen closely you can already hear the sound of losing...
The Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods today called on its dozens of member organizations and the tens of thousands of community residents of Prospect Heights, Ft. Greene, Park Slope, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant and Boerum Hill, and all citizens disgusted with the abuse of public process that is called Atlantic Yards, to show up for a protest to the “groundbreaking” scheduled for March 11, 2010.
From the Call To Action message:
“To all CBN members, Brooklyn residents, NYC residents, fellow advocates for good government, and everyone disgusted by taxpayer abuse, corporate welfare, and sham politics:
The poster child for everything wrong with development in New York State today, Forest City Ratner’s disastrous Atlantic Yards project, is scheduled for a sham groundbreaking tomorrow. We must ALL show up to protest this
The Shams and the Shame
The AY process has been a sham since before day one.
Sham #1: Six years ago, in violation of every development requirement for an open bidding process, Mayor Bloomberg, Boro President Markowitz, and then Governor George Pataki announced a development to be called Atlantic Yards. After the first howls of protest at this dismissal of process, a sham Request for Proposals was circulated. The winner? The previously annointed Forest City Ratner.
Sham #2: The Starchitect. In an attempted gloss on the mostly hideous buildings previously inflicted on Brooklyn, FCR announces the miraculous Frank Gehry would be the sole architect. Gehry, who had never engineered a single skyscraper, designed at least four iterations of his unworkable designs before being canned.
Sham #3: FCR announces significant community support with the unveiling of a document signed by 8 organizations, 5 of them formed by FCR and all of them receiving payments from FCR. This was called a Community Benefits Agreement. All good government groups have already labeled this sham a SHAM, earning Atlantic Yards another star on its Poster Child of Bad Development scoreboard.
(…Skipping ahead…)
Sham #167: Politicians and prosecutors ignore FCR’s involvement as what some have describes as an unindicted co-conspirator in Yonkers’ Ridge Hill (a development by Forest City Ratner) bribery scandal which has resulted in FBI indictments of Yonkers city councilmembers for allegedly soliciting and accepting bribes from “Developer #2,” identified as Forest City Ratner.
Sham #168: FCR maintains it will break ground on another building in addition to the George Foreman Grill-like arena during the current year, even though no architect has been contracted and no designs exist, a process that generally takes a minimum of 2 years. In a related Sham, the new head of the Municipal Art Society blesses the arena and says his firm would be happy to be considered to design towers for Atlantic Yards.
Sham #169: Governor Paterson defends continuing the money pit of the public subsidy sucking Atlantic Yards project, despite his own warnings of imminent Depression status for New York. He said we wouldn’t be able to see if it was a good project or a bad project until we wait another 10 years!
Is that a good enough evaluation to close schools and hospitals to balance a budget that showers public subsidies on a billionaire from Cleveland, and a Russian billionaire-“oligarch”, for an unnecessary arena and NO PUBLIC BENEFITS?
THIS CANNOT CONTINUE!
THE PUBLIC MUST TAKE BACK THE PUBLIC PROCESS!
MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD!
SHOW UP!
PROTEST! "
March 11, 2010
12:30 PM
Gather at 6th Avenue and Dean Street, (in front of Freddy’s)
Several blogs are posting that residents in the way of eminent domain abuse aka "Atlantic Yards" ave been given 30 day eviction notices in the wake of a judge's clearing the project to proceed.
Update: According to DDDB blog which speaks for many of those residents;
Ratner plans to break Brooklyn hearts and Brooklyn ground with the project next week Friday Thursday, March 12th.
They've already taken the subway sign down in what will become Barclay's Arena Station. A basketball arena that will ironically add more blight to a thriving lucrative area than remove.
Gothamist today has the story of the new renderings for the taxpayer funded money pit that is called Atlantic Yards/Barclay Center.
You probably know it is a bloated project, feed by tax dollars enriching private investors and it will drop a massive overcrowding set of buildings and stadium into an area not big enough and already choked with traffic. oh and it's ugly and built by people who've already dropped an ugly barely usable project across the street.
As tiring as it is to keep writing this, it will be worse to live with it, if it's built.
here is one of the new renders after the old baited and switched designers for the project were roundly dissed.
(img credit: ShoP Architects)
and here's what I wrote on gothamist:
The project needs to be scaled into something workable, and the arena can be anywhere along miles of underutilized brooklyn waterfront, or even, if they really want to improve a blighted neighborhood as they calm, the whole project can move about 8 blocks west to where atlantic has almost nothing but auto body shops and vacant lots. there's even an LIRR station that can be used.
but equally insane are these renderings. the second image shows a crowd of kids about to wander gleefully into Atlantic Avenue, a six lane stretch of people slicer!
Once again, why is it wrong to stop this madness as it currently stands?
As always if you want the detailed story check with Atlantic Yards report which has tirelessly reported on this project. Some day this war's gonna end.
Originally I wasn't going to post anything today, it's Friday and I wanna go outside.
But then along came Abby Weissman. Yes, I'm naming names.
A block party styled event, organized by Spike Lee and DJ Spinna, in honor of Fort Greene and Michael Jackson has been planned for Saturday Aug 29th to be held in Fort Greene Park.
Some people may wonder why.
Here's why Spike Lee, despite no longer residing in Brooklyn, put Fort Greene back on the map, in a positive way, that made all the benefits of today's Fort Greene, and to some extent, all of "Brownstone Brooklyn" possible. You wanna argue that, leave your comments below.
Also Spike Lee's business, 40 Acres and a mule filmworks, opened businesses in Fort Greene, his production office and some may remember, his merchandise store, which not only increased the profile of the Fort Greene area, brought positive press and tourists from around the world. And these businesses were also the sites of what? Block Parties; held right in front of Fort Greene park. Therefore, a Spike Lee/Dj Spinna block party is a tradition. It has not been repeated every year, but it's a part of the neighbor summer tradition in the minds of many long term residents of Brooklyn.
The fact that this year's event was dedicated to Michael Jackson has given opponents to an event held in the park an angle to declare the event unsuitable. Michael Jackson didn't stay in Brooklyn long enough to deserve a party held in Fort Greene, that may be but the party is by Brooklynites who are choosing to celebrate Michael Jackson. MJ didn't have to receive mail in Brooklyn to be appreciated here. Even Borough Prez Marty Markowitz with whom I don't always agree, could see it's a party celebrating music and culture most of all.
Enter Abby Weissman. In a letter to the NYTimes Fort Greene/Clinton Hill blog, she argues against the event being held in Fort Greene Park, raising the specter of the masses who will come (I guess like locusts?) from parts unknown and wreck havoc on the area. Where is the evidence to support this last claim? Abby sites the thousands of people who came to the Michael Jackson memorial in Los Angeles as proof that the neighborhood will be overwhelmed...and then she complains. Fine. We live in a Democracy, I disagree with you but make your voice heard if you need.
But now I read that the city is considering relocating the party. Based on the concerns of people like Abby Weissman, who's initial comments seemed to have started the anti-party bandwagon rolling with further statements asking why taxpayers are footing the bill for policing this party and complaining about how the neighborhood will suffer.
And enter my beef and two cents. A few years back there was a massive event the biggest I've seen in Fort Greene Park held that featured neighborhood food vendors, a concert stage a performance by several musicians headlined by Twalib Kweli and thousands of people. It was held without incident, it was orderly, it went into the night shutting down at the time predetermined by city officials. And it was amazing. The park was not hurt. The vitality of the neighborhood harmed, and local businesses around the park, made good business on the foot traffic to and from the event.
This is was not a MICHAEL JACKSON event, it was a Fort Greene event celebrating Michael Jackson, celebrating Spike, celebrating the neighborhood, celebrating our historic neighborhood culture.
What's the difference you may wonder? This is not the Staples center in LA with a schedule of world renown performers and the Jackson family. I know some of the people involved and they described the event to me this way,"you know those block parties we used to do... it's gonna be like that."
The people opposed to the party have a right to be opposed to everything (and quite possibly are), but they've exaggerated the hypothetical dangers of this neighborhood event, created by neighborhood residents, inappropriately depicted the event because it doesn't match their idea of what the neighborhood is. And now they're pressuring the city to succumb to their personal view of things.
I saw on Facebook (of all places) where Abby responded to a pro-party person calling them a Fascist. Before you get with the name calling start with the man in the mirror.
My opinion, if this event is moved somewhere else, if the city succumbs to the misinformation being put out there then an irreparable wedge will be permanently driven into the heart of the neighborhood which has still managed to be united by the good intentions of diverse neighborhoods despite the arrogant sense of entitlement that represents the downside of gentrification.
People's concerns should be addressed. One view of the neighborhood should not be able to bulldoze other citizens and in fact history.
UPDATE:
The party has been moved out of the neighborhood.
"It’s official: Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson birthday party will be held in Prospect Park, not in Fort Greene Park."
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've moved back further into Brooklyn to Crown Heights recently. Traversing the area I've been shocked at how much construction has gone on in Crown Heights and frequently much of that construction looks like this photo: (above: from the intersection of Lefferts and New York Avenues)
The first thing that struck me was the size, but the impact of that view was quickly replaced by the obvious fact that the site had long been neglected. I turned to a resident that had been standing in her yard nearby as I snapped pictures and I asked, "how long has that (pointing to the building) been like that?"
Disgust hissed from her lips and she replied, "for years, more than three. They ran out of money and left it there."
The rust stains seem to support the resident's statement as well as googlemaps which tend to built from images months to years old. Google's imagemap shows a sign that didn't exist when I was there a few weeks ago. Can you imagine what it does to your property values to live across the street from this for years? Which says nothing of what it does to your sense of well-being to live with that eye-sore. You can tell by the photos that they didn't even finish the exterior walls. Did they not have enough funding to complete even the outer walls which would help protect the interior structure from the elements? Which brings up a question in my mind; Is there no requirement that a developer has the money to complete a project before they are allowed to erect it?
(Additional) I just found a post on Brownstoner from this January past, describing this building:
"...the developer (of) 393 Lefferts Avenue in Crown Heights Prospect Lefferts Gardens(*) has put the partially-constructed seven-story building on the market. Asking price: $8,500,000. This comes out to an average price of $257,576 for each of the 33 apartments, or somewhere between $200 and $250 per foot depending on which square footage estimate you believe."
"So hot that condo developers are seeking building sites even in Prospect Lefferts Gardens"
the Daily News article goes on to an interview with "Steve Rosenberg" who they credit as developer of the incomplete condos above.
*They also give the historically accurate boundaries of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens ("The boundaries of the eight-block area are Lincoln Road, Flatbush Ave., Fenimore St. and Rogers Ave." for those making their maps at home) while ignoring the fact that this construction site is outside those bounds.
**I won't wade into the border wars on for this part of Brooklyn, except to say that in my three plus Brooklyn decades, being that near to Empire Blvd meant you were on the south border of Crown Heights. "Lefferts Gardens" (no Prospect) was always referred to by people I spoke with as ending at Bedford Av, west of that intersection. Conversely, I've heard that area has been referred to Crown Heights or Flatbush until you reach Kings County Hospital at which point we'd say East Flatbush.
So how is this: ...allowed to happen?
This question also relates to my post yesterday about Atlantic Yards, since the developer there has millions of dollars riding on being able to break ground this year and so what defines "breaking ground"? Does it mean having the resources to finish or simply enough money and materials to drive a stake deep into Brooklyn and her heart?
Does anyone know the answer and what if anything our local elected officials in the City Council have to say about this?
Of the new design and project, Mr. Ouroussoff states,
"If it is ever built, it will create a black hole in the heart of a vital neighborhood."
he continues describing the current plan as:
"A colossal, spiritless box, it would fit more comfortably in a cornfield than at one of the busiest intersections of a vibrant metropolis."
Mr. Ouroussoff goes even further stating simply, "Building this monstrosity at such a critical urban intersection would be deadly. Clearly, the city would be better off with nothing."
Mr. Ouroussoff seeks to call our attention to another problem, that of the vicious cycle of 'bait and switch" that occurs when a developer promises grand multifunctional design only to deliver on the bare minimum of their promises, or none at all. And Mr. Ouroussoff names names, in detailing which groups (politicians, developers) are responsible for these constant disappointment in urban development and he even names himself (as a critic) somewhat responsible when he writes:
"Typically, a developer comes to the city with big plans. Promises are made. Serious architects are brought in. The needs of the community, like ample parkland and affordable housing, are taken into account. Editorial boards and critics, like me, praise the design for its ambition. Eventually, the project takes on a momentum of its own."
Mr. Ouroussoff's article is an amazing rejection of Atlantic Yards by a person in a position to sway important opinions as he is the lead architectural critic of the New York Times, especially when he admits his own complicity in the momentum of projects like this. Now people likely won't agree with me (I don't totally agree with me) on this but to a degree I am impressed and uplifted that Mr. Ouroussoff was willing to be sincere enough and equally aware of his complicity in a terrible process and yet still inject himself as a culprit, although to a much smaller degree than the developer, local government and I guess the rest of us citizens for not demanding more of our local government.
To include yourself as a party to this terrible overblown and under approved project, still takes guts Mr. Ouroussoff.
Now the part where I become conflicted to a personal degree is where I want to point out how hypocritical it is of the lead architectural critic of the New York Times to basically say I played a part in the process of selling the public on celebrity/aspirational architecture that is out of scale for it's intended surroundings and may actually be harmful when complete; but then end his article as if we all need alter our behavior and learn from this failing project.
To end on that note is to cast responsibility on everyone as if we are all equal players in this play. Yes the public needs to hold local government accountable in many instances. But to put the accusation on us so to spread blame is wrong because the responsibility for this lay with a few. The public needs to be well informed and the public needs to be able to vote. In the Atlantic Yards proposal the public has had no binding vote, and the amount of straight information about this project has been sorely lacking (especially in the beginning) except for a dedicated few local groups; Notably, Norman Oder's Atlantic Yards Report and Daniel Goldstein's Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, both of whom have written about this topic and this article with facts and information.
To their credit they seem less willing to brow beat you on your new position regarding Atlantic Yards but I'm not them and I am tired of people in positions of responsibility not being responsible and then offering a "what we all need to learn from this..." message when in fact we all didn't support this mess.
So saying that we need to learn to be better in effect, when choosing our architectural reimaging, on a project where developers and politicians didn't include the public in the process, and casting only a flickering piece of the white hot light of accountability on yourself, when you yourself Mr. Ouroussoff, have the architectural bully pulpit in New York City is disingenuous to say the least.
A throw away mention that the same developer behind this Atlantic Yards projected bait and switch is the same developer who built the recently constructed, 80 52 storied, tax break having, skyscraper headquarters for the New York Times, which you Mr. Ouroussoff lauded as having a "healthy sense of civic responsibility", may resolve the calls of conflict of interest officially, but for whatever reason Mr. Ouroussoff, you in fact championed this developer's plan for Atlantic Yards when it seems evident in your current piece that you willful ignored the faults of the development's design essentially, limits of space, finite resources in the neighborhood, traffic (to say nothing of eminent domain). You over looked all of that by essentially saying its going to be great in the end and it will increase great architecture in the city and that's what matters overall.
This city allows building without regard for architectural impact frequently, primarily because the priority is to increase tax revenues. In many ways that mentality makes cents. But it's interesting to me that you express so much desire for "thoughtful architecture" in mega projects and say so little about the ongoing boom and blight of "fedders" brick boxes littering the outer boroughs, which I think even you can see from your 80 52 story glass tower. The outer boroughs are drowning in poor architecture and it lowers the value of those neighborhoods by creating depressing streetscapes like these:
or these:
or these:
(the above photo is of the Atlantic Center development built by the people who want to build Atlantic Yards)
But more often then not there is no alarm sounded when actually blighted neighborhoods are finally renewed and get them buildings like these monstrosities that arguably are destined to depreciate and become blighted again.
To write a piece that says "we've seen it all again" and then imply that it's our collective fault as a city, when in fact the emperor's new clothes are blessed and certified by people like you, is dodgy at best. So often you and critics like you are the eloquence in the argument for these monstro-cities. That's not a small role. Your words lend legitimacy to these projects.
Overall I think what we really need to do collectively is decide whether persons such as yourself should continue to hold any relevance in the process. As with the Atlantic Yards proposal, perhaps our expectations of critics who are supposed to not only praise ambition but inform the public "demands a profound shift in mentality" as well.
I bumped into Rosie Perez twice in my years in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, and even though I think I once scared the holycrap out of her (I got caught in a early-morning bleary-eyed stare at a giant canine that turned deer-in-celebrity-headlights moment) she was always cool.
I missed commenting in the moment about the brouhaha that erupted around her comments on "entitlement" in gentrification. But she brought an equal mix of common street sense and philosophical social concern to the conversation and for that I heart Rosie.
Yeh we are the world and we are the children. And that's all I need to know where I am in life. But then I read in the NY Times that the concept of "Bodega" has taken a "Star Turn" and I'm all befuddled.
Bodegas or the "corner store" as locals would also call it, have long been a star in New York's urban neighborhoods providing center stage for events grand, hysterical in their banalities and tragic. Yet after being defined for generations, the NY Times suddenly proclaims the Bodega is a star. Why? Simple. Cause some hipsters opened a very pleasing and convenient sounding store in Greenpoint called the Brooklyn Standard. Because what else would you call your business when you've been raised in California and Oregon. Then tragedy struck when even the consultants they had at hand couldn't come up with a convenient phrase to describe their convenient store. Suddenly they came up with the perfect word to define this amazing new business: "Bodega". And uh yeh, a star was born.
The best line comes from the guy Kate Zidar, who does the composting in this "Bodega:
"...to quote Kate Zidar, a Brooklyn Standard consultant whose duties include overseeing a worm-filled compost bin in the backyard, the word “bodega” has “superseded its origins.”"
Right, you can come up with that gem but you couldn't come up with an original description? Did you consult the worms? Photo by John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times
Look at the picture, see these guys aren't Latino or Middle Eastern or Asian so there it is, the ever desired proof of clever through irony. I get it, it's like watching Sarah Palin wink. Thanks for bringing this to my attention NY Times, you're so hip. opps, wow there's irony everywhere, clean-up!
Least anyone misunderstand my rant, if you want to start a business and you're stuck for a way to promote it and you have a contact at the NYTimes, awesome, get money or in this case, Rock the Casbah. But IMO for the New York Times to essentially provide advertising space to a private business that has consultants, is appropriating something already in existence is unfortunate when you imagine the thousands if not millions of stories that go on in New York City every day. Even in Bodegas.
One of these images inspires jokes, the other laughs at our expense
Several area politicians in response to growing concern that the billionaire developer of the proposed Atlantic Yards Stadium project could get his hands on some Obama stimulus dollars have sent a letter to Governor Patterson excerpted below:
Assembly Members James Brennan, Hakeem Jeffries, and Joan Millman, Council Members Letitia James and David Yassky, and 52nd District Leader Jo Anne Simon sent the attached letter to Governor Paterson this past week. The letter explains why these Brooklyn elected officials feel the proposed Atlantic Yards project should not receive funds from the federal stimulus package passed last month.
The letter also suggest that people who have send their own letters to Govenor Patterson.
Brooklyn residents have expressed a similar concern, and the elected officials are providing a voice for their constituents. Please feel free to contact the offices of elected officials who signed onto this letter with any questions. Thank you.
For those who have no idea what Atlantic Yards is, in this blogger's opinion Atlantic Yards is a classic misuse of taxpayer dollars and taxpayer hopes by a developer intending to shove something huge and dishonest down our throats. I wrote some details of Atlantic Yards below but I'd recommend checking out both the Atlantic Yards wikipedia page and Atlantic Yards Report the site of reporter Norman Oder who from the beginning has been shining an unbiased light on what the project really is.
Here's a computer rendering projecting what the project would look like compared it's surroundings when it's done:
here's a line from wikipedia about the scale of the project:
"...since Atlantic Yards sits on 22 acres (89,000 m2), it can be expected to become the most densely populated census tract in North America, with a density of 361,000 to 490,000 people per square mile, about twice the density of the current densest census tract in the United States..."
If you can find it, you could also watch the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns decides to destroy land and build an NBA stadium which sums up the whole issue pretty well. That episode is called "the Burns and the Bees" Here's a clip:
The point of the message our elected representatives has sent to the Governor is that it has been suggested that the developer of Atlantic Yards the proposed stadium, luxury condo and rental project which if completed would shoe-horn 20 sky scrapers into five square blocks, may be looking for Obama stimulus dollars to help complete the project which has lost funding thanks in part to the global economic crisis.
If you want to read more about the Atlantic Yards proposal (and you should since you're probably helping pay for it) here it is:
The developer Forest City Ratner (led by Bruce Ratner) had been expecting additional corporate and taxpayer dollars to help raise the money necessary to build. The project itself takes a mix of things people can support, like new housing, development and entertainment (the proposed Nets basketball stadium) and overdoes each element compounding the poor judgment is the attempt to place all of this on a few blocks at one of the most congested points in Brooklyn, the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue which itself intersects a block away with Fourth Avenue.
In simple terms it's too big for the area it's proposed to be in, the claim of affordable housing is exaggerated, the impact to the area will be damaging and considering the project was decided by governmental officials without oversight, the project has spent too many millions of taxpayer dollars. Worse the developer without a clear plan has been allowed to destroy several buildings in the proposed development area making the area look more rundown than it had been.
Another jacked-up part of this project is that the land to be used is owned by the same MTA that operates the subway and even now is crying poverty to raise the transit fares. Well the land itself was valued at $215 million and yet they allowed Ratner to buy it for only $50 which he hasn't paid after six years.
the MTA accepted Forest City Ratner's bid of $50 million for the LIRR's rail yard, even though an appraisal valued it at $214.5 million. Extell, a Manhattan developer, later submitted a competing bid for $150 million. The MTA rejected that bid, but did negotiate with Forest City Ratner to get it to double its bid to $100 million. The MTA then accepted Ratner's new bid, even though it was $50 million less than Extell's.
The MTA hasn't seen a dime of the money yet. The opposition has waged a relentless court battle that has halted construction of the arena. Mr. Goldstein, whose condo stands smack in the middle of the proposed arena site, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit aimed at blocking the state's use of eminent domain to condemn his building.
Currently the project is being fought most intensely by local residents including a group who would be forced out if the project is allowed to be completed as proposed.
The full letter: *************************************************** March 3, 2009 Honorable David A. Paterson Governor of the State of New York The Executive Chamber, State Capitol Albany, NY 12224
Dear Governor Paterson,
We are writing regarding reports that Forest City Ratner is requesting funds from the Federal stimulus package for the Atlantic Yards Project. We request that any application or other submitted documents to the Governor’s office related to the stimulus package be immediately disclosed to the public and the elected officials signing this letter. In addition, there should be a public hearing and opportunity for public comment on any application for funds. We also request a meeting with responsible state officials prior to any decision on the use of stimulus funds for Atlantic Yards.
It is our understanding that neither the M.T.A. nor the Empire State Development Corporation has submitted the Atlantic Yards project to your office as part of any list of projects for the use of Federal stimulus funds. This indicates that Atlantic Yards is not considered a priority by these agencies at this time.
It is regrettable that the State of New York, in cooperation with the developer, chose to override New York City’s zoning and land use laws for the Atlantic Yards project, depriving local community boards, the Brooklyn borough board, and the New York City Council, of what would have been their legal right to vote on the Atlantic Yards project. As a result, the project has never been vetted through the traditional democratic land use processes available to the community and the people of the City of New York.
Many events have occurred which have created uncertainty and risk regarding the 8 million square foot development approved by the State in December 2006. The original economic and financial assumptions upon which the approval was based have dramatically changed. At a meeting with elected officials in December, Forest City Ratner stated that it hopes to be able to finance the arena this summer, notwithstanding the economic climate, if current litigation against the project is unsuccessful. If it is unable to finance the arena, it has not yet committed to proceeding with a residential development. This is hardly a basis for the State to commit additional funds without a full public discussion process.
We hope your office will be quickly forthcoming with the requests we have made. Thank you.
Sincerely,
NYS Senator 18th S.D.Velmanette Montgomery Assemblymember 44th A.D. James F. Brennan Assemblymember 57th A.D. Hakeem Jeffries Assemblywoman 52nd A.D. Joan Millman Councilmember 35th C.D. Letitia James Councilmember 33rd C.D. David Yassky District Leader 52nd A.D. Jo Anne Simon
cc: New York State Congressional Delegations NYC Assembly and Senate Delegations Timothy Gilchrist, Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Infrastructure Jeff Pearlman, Assistant Counsel, FOIL Officer, Governor’s Office Lee Sander, Executive Director, MTA
This story from Peter Duffy of the NYT is of a the 100 year old church whose presence reps the last vestiges of the once thriving Italian-American community the flourished in Ocean Hill/Brownsville. The church Roman Catholic "Our Lady of Loreto" at the corner of Sackman and Pacific Streets, is set to be demolished to make way for...wait for it...affordable housing.
Photo by Kirsten Luce from The New York Times 12/30/08
(above:Barbara Anne Lepak, center, with her mother, Susan Pascucci, left, and her daughter, Laura Andrews, are trying to save Our Lady of Loreto from demolition.)
A clear conflict of communities and histories. Basically most of the former Italian-American neighborhood has moved on and the church which was served them now has very low attendance. So the Diocese of Brooklyn is trying to save money, etc and that's why the church is closing. The building was proposed for landmark status which is still under review reminding me of this story on the LPC's slow pace to landmark. But considering this other recent announced church closings like this one in Bed-Stuy it's not easy to be happy for the affordable housing that's taking the church's place especially when you have these personal accounts that just breaks ya heart:
Theresa Harrison, 80, one of the few Italian-Americans to remain in the neighborhood, said she felt terrible about the impending demolition. “To me, it’s a sentimental thing,” she said. Ms. Harrison, whose maiden name was Pennine, still lives in the home where she was born on Jardine Place. “I was baptized there. First communion. Confirmation. I was married there.”
Then I read this quote:
“It’s the last thing we have left that we can hold onto and pass on to our grandchildren,” said Mr. Mondelli."
and couldn't help but think that unlike current communities in NYC struggling to not be run over and pushed out, this community (albeit for some understandable reasons) left. If the community wanted to preserve the church, the time for that was long ago and could probably only have happened if they forged ties to newcomers rather than just peeling out (message!).
Personally while I acknowledge Brownsville as being better than it's 80's self, it's still not on my list of Brooklyn neighborhoods to visit willingly and while the Italian-American Brownsville of days gone by sounds like a great place in it's time (I'd like to have eaten at "Carlucci’s Restaurant" or "Ariola Bakery" as mentioned in the Times piece) if I did traverse the hood during that time would I have felt any safer there than I do in the current neighborhood? I wonder...
Anyway it's an interesting turn on the "history of a neighborhood torn down for new stuff" saga that I often rail about. Plus I realized I do very few Brownsville-Stories of which I have a few, but for now this story will have to do. Equal time.
(Update I remembered a story about this area, click here)
Putting in work: It's about what isn't there and searching for it
Regardless of what people say, one of the things that I think makes me a lovable sort of curmudgeon is that I grew up in the 70's and 80's version of New York. A moment full of resilient holdover artifacts of bygone eras which populated my childhood and color the stories I lived and tell and occasionally go on at length about.(which I insist is a reason to love me more, dammit)
Today I noticed the near end of the three year long (not-so) extreme makeover (no new trees, I suspect because of the shallow depth of the A/C subway line) of Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant/Clinton Hill originally budgeted $4.8 million and reported as $8.5 million and 18 month's late by the Brooklyn Paper. Apparently there's a debate going between store owners who don't want to be part of the Fulton St. B.I.D. that will be built around this construction. For those who don't care to read about a B.I.D...
Here's some Constructo-Porn-Pics for this Photo Wednesday, followed by a story (yay!):
(above and below) was the view back in October. The last photo is as of Mon Dec 8th
That rectangular outline is for the bus stop, an encouraging sign that the rerouted Fulton St. bus would be back, and the street would again be a two-way.
New layers put down to be covered by new layers put down to be covered by..... Yesterday's foot falls forever frozen, never to be seen again
Signed sealed delivered
That contraption laying the gravel and belching the steam, always makes me think of Richard Scarry even more than Dr. Suess.
By sun down this too was paved, meaning the entire stretch of road has now be rebuilt. All that remains is the painting. By rush hour traffic was moving (one way) alone the road freely, although some people decided it was already a two-way.
So yesterday as I watched the road work happening on Fulton Street I thought of one of those Brooklyn artifacts (that was still going strong in the 80's).
The artifact that came to mind was a game called Skelly as seen in the photo below.
If you don't know about this classic game played on Brooklyn streets, sidewalks and parks check the detailed history of this site (streetplay.com) for rules and pictures.
As games go, Skelly was conversely simple and intricate in terms of rules, strategies and techniques. It was basically like combining backgammon, marbles and "Sorry" all in one, which was more than challenging enough to keep kids occupied until about age 13. Using your fingers, you'd tap your game piece (a bottle cap usually) from the starting line and try to successfully navigate to the game board's center and back before everyone else.
All we needed to play was a piece of chalk, a bottle cap, and hopefully some wax. If there were no kids out when you wanted to play, you went to everyone's door and rang apartment bells until you had a group together. Imagine it like a pre-teen call to arms.
The Skelly Cap The game piece of choice for most kids on my block was the 80's era tops from plastic gallon containers of milk. They basically looked like a cheaper plastic version of a Milton-Bradley checker piece, but hallow and open on one side. Acquiring those caps was step one. Step two was candles and crayons. The wax from either of those sources was like the difference between playing football with and without a helmet.
An example of how the wax mattered is clear in an element of the game called "blasting", at least that's what we called it. "Blasting" was when you used your cap to knock another players cap with as much force as possible so their cap was at least pushed out of your way and if possible sent into another dimension.
To work the wax in, the older kids, generally 10 and up, had a different method than younger kids (me). By nature of their age the older kids were natural pyromaniacs and generally had matches lighters and the like, despite the fact that none of us smoked at that time. They'd use their lighters and matches to melt crayons or burn candle wax into their caps, patting it down as tightly as possible. Being younger I learned to place scavenged crayon shards into my lid, I used a Tropicana lid from the glass bottle (does Tropicana still make a glass bottle?) or a jar lid like from Mott's Apple Sauce then I'd place the metal lid and crayon shards on the stove and turn the burner on, within seconds the die was cast so to speak. Oh and least I get scream'pt on by ol'skool players, most all us kids placed a penny or nickle in the bottom of the cap before the wax, for extra heft. This also helped knock other caps farther and made your cap more immovable.
Making the board was a big deal, there were two configurations on our block, each consisting of a square board with square sections placed at the corners and in the center. Depending on how boxes were placed and divided there could be as many as 13 boxes, or bases, which you had to navigate two from a starting point, and back again.
The games could be over in ten minutes or go on for an hour. In ridiculous acts of game sanctioned cruelty our parents and the elders on the block would look at as like we had three noses and no brains for being all alone half a block from the other kids slowly tapping a wax filled bottle cap back toward the skelly board. Why? because on our block and I assume most others there was the "kicksies" rule. If any cap, was hit and began to role on its side like a wheel, somebody, often everybody would yell "kicksies" and everybody but the cap owner, would charge and try to kick the cap as far from the board as humanly possible, hopefully into another dimension.
Those were the times when you didn't want the giant target that was a tropicana bottle cap as your cap. I'm gonna cut this short for now because honestly I can go on and on about Skelly, but here's my basic recollection as well as a great post I found from the now defunct supernegro blog that has his personal account of the street game he (and many) knew and loved.
I think it's interesting that this dude was a kid in Vanderveer (a housing development in Flatbush near the Midwood section and Brooklyn College) or the 'Veer' as it was spoken of with awe and menace, and yet he and a commenter to his blog ran the same schedule as kids I grew up with in Prospect Heights, it was on Saturdays mostly, right after cartoons. You'd go out with your cap, good players on our block had one, a favorite, the lil' kids had several for reasons that will soon be clear.
So as I watched yesterday, the new solid smooth as baby bottom asphalt laid on Fulton Street, I immediately began to wonder where I could score some chalk and crayons.
And now I gonna jump on soap box:
Yea native Brooklynites talk a lot of shit about what was and what ain't. Clearly, I'm no different. But I direct these next thoughts to the newly come Brooklyn bitchers and moaners, much like the type who bicker on brownstoner, those who leave snide comments asking why we're so fond of our "old" Brooklyn/New York City. If you don't know now you know, I luvs yous guys and I wrote this answer to you, "here it comes khan";
In my opinion the nostalgia we hold isn't for dodging bullets and scattered crack vials. It's for the richness that existed when we were younger, incredulous yet useful things like the sharpening truck that would ride through the neighborhood well into the 80's providing old fashion services, vacant lots that used to be transformed into carnivals rather than be left fallow, knowing a majority of the people on our block, and speaking with them, dude's walking around with cardboard to drop and start breakdancing at a moment's notice, it's for the rough edged but simple childhood reality of laying on the warm summer sidewalk playing an intricate game of skelly literally made out of our blocks and our imaginations. This is what our reminisces calls to. It just happened unfortunately for us, that both warm and deadly cold things existed together in our Brooklyn lives. How lucky for you that much of those days are past and yet many of you still moan and groan about the place you've put money down to live because you've noticed you're money isn't enough to make eyesores melt and broken lives invisible. Generally I'm happy for the renewal that is sweeping much of Brooklyn.
Personally I've been waiting for it since the 70's when I lived for few years with my mother out near the Utica Av 3/4 station and I first experienced burnt out buildings that were never repaired. Today I imagine the day when I'll walk my kids through Brooklyn streets and I'm happy that their chances of getting gunned down have faded away dramatically from the "Bucktown" days but my still relevant question is while it's great to have the new and be rid of the bad ol', did the good ol days, have to fade away as well? It's a complex question and I think that's also why Brooklynites keep talking about it.
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