Spencer Ackerman riffs off of Catherine Andrews' trip to Brooklyn and back to Bloomingdale to talk about the greater issue of neighborhood gentrification.
I’m not such an apologist for the days before gentrification, but there is something important that’s lost here. We risk a moment when future generations will hear Mos declare “Red Hook where we living at” on the Black Star album, and squeal, “Oooh! I love that Fairway!” Now, I, for instance, do love that Fairway, and I take my mother to it every time I’m back home. But I also hate change when it comes to things I cherish from my youth, and Bloomingdale should have second thoughts if it slouches toward what Red Hook is becoming.
5 comments:
So true. THIS is exactly one of the many reasons why I dislike gentrifiers and the people moving into our neighborhood. They've sucked the culture and color out in order to create their own vision of 'urban living'.
oh, come on, anonymous. if anything, bloomingdale as become more rich culturally, more colorful, more diverse, more interesting, and more exciting in the last few years. there is no great plan where people are being pushed out. there is always movement into and out of a neighborhood, and you're just noticing it now that everyone is not monochromatically the way you expect them to be.
Imgoph,
does more diverse= culturally richer to you?
I've certainly seen bloomingdale gain in many ways since lived here, but it's also lost a lot. A lot.
And in a pretty short amount of time.
scenic artisan: what specifically has the neighborhood lost culturally?
i mean, i know the borf house is gone, but we've gained a gallery at 1st and florida, a new coffee house (at the expense of a liquor store), more people being involved in making crispus attucks a great park, vacant shells being turned into houses where people actually live.
i know things have been lost, and i'm not trying to be an ass, but i'd just like some examples. i wasn't deeply involved in things culturally stimulating (like the arts community) as you are.
Regarding the borf house, many of the long term residents were relieved to see that place disappear. They saw it as an eyesore and not much more than a playground for a bunch of suburban rich kids.
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