The New York Times Discovers PLG (Again)

I don't know if this appeared in today's paper or if it will appear in the Real Estate section over the weekend, but the New York Times feature on PLG is already online - and includes a quote from my coblogger/wife, Carrie. 

It is a pretty straightforward promo piece about a gentrifying neighborhood. Nice people, proximity to nice things (Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens), good housing stock, and wait a second... a scoop!

One project now going up is in a busy section. A company called Park Tower secured permits in June to build a 24-story, 88-unit building next to the Prospect Park subway stop at 510 Flatbush Avenue.

The old Lincoln Road tower is back again! The last I had heard, the project was essentially dead due to the general economic malaise in the city. In part this may be because the address for the L-shaped lot is not "27 Lincoln Road," as we'd always assumed because that was the building that got torn down, but rather "510 Flatbush Avenue." It may not be a real scoop, however. I don't see any permits filed after 2008 for either address on the Department of Buildings website - though it is possible that the filings haven't yet made their way online.

The real estate prices cited in the article seem a bit high to me. A local who works for Corcoran is quoted estimating that "... single-family houses range widely, from around $700,000 up to $1.3 million. Two-family houses ... cost around $900,000 — more if they are in the historic district, and less if they are smaller or need more work..." This seems high in July 2010 despite knowing that there have, in fact, been sales in that price range because of the limited sales going on in the neighborhood in general.

In any event, the article shines a nice light on our little hamlet and quotes people I know and like. I'll stop picking nits now.

Image via Benjamin Norman for The New York Times

Longtime Resident To Gentrifiers: Can't We All Get Along?

A reader writes:

I live at the far end of Woodruff ave, across the street from Caledonian hospital (map)… I am 20 years old and i have lived in this neighborhood since I was 5. I would like to get to know the newer residents in the area but i feel as soon as many of them cross that huge dentist office on the corner of Parkside their demeanor's change. I have seen the changes from Lefferts to Parkside, they aren't very friendly. Also are there any neighborhood events or activities that would encourage people to meet or talk to others. I just want to be part of a community where I feel like people are making an effort. Am I the only one feeling this way?

This is a great question, and one that begs discussion, because, as you suggest, there are some significant cultural differences playing out in our neighborhood.

First, people coming in and out of the subway or walking along Flatbush are usually not in "meet and greet" mode. Whether we're new or old-timers in the neighborhood, we're New Yorkers and when we're trying to get some place, we don't make eye contact with people along the way.  Sorry, that's just how it is.

But onto the bigger question. Different blocks in and around PLG have different vibes, so I'm going to throw out a few personal observations that--as a relative newcomer myself (we've been here for four years)--may be relevant here.

My block of Hawthorne has a pretty Afro-Caribbean feel. When the weather is warm, people hang out outside, play music and dominoes, and grill. It can get pretty noisy at times, but that's part of the package. The upside is that it's easier to meet neighbors. I've met many people on my block simply by hanging out outside on our stoop.  As more affluent (and white) people move in, there's a tendency for blocks to get quieter and less outwardly friendly, in part, I think, because the newcomers are more likely to go out to bars and theaters or stay home and play on the computer, than to hang out on the block. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're less friendly (though, naturally, some of them may be); it means that they have different habits.

The Real Deal on PLG Gentrification

Want to read about PLG real estate and gentrification? Here you go.

Dreams deferred

Looks like we spoke too soon. The Associated is no longer stocking Ciao Bella sorbets. On the bright side, Ben & Jerry's is on sale...

Gentrification Watch: Ciao Bella

Following on the heels of its new organic section, the Associated on Flatbush has started stocking Ciao Bella sorbet and gelato. Currently going for over $5 a pint, it is not a cheap dessert.

I confess, however, that it is awesome. The Dark Chocolate Jalapeno and Chocolate Hazelnut gelatos are particular favorites as is the Coconut sorbet (which is apparently no sugar added, though that's hard to believe).

Got a tip for Gentrification Watch? Please send it along. (NB: "the Hawthorne Street blog" doesn't count.)

Beer warehouse now selling the fancy stuff

As part of our never-ending effort to document the gentrification of PLG, it is my duty to point out that the beer store on Lefferts (bet. Flatbush and Washington) is now selling microbrews. 

Reader Murray Dwertman writes:

In the last two weeks they have multiplied the selection 20 fold adding many local NY beers, singles, and high end selections that could keep a microbrew lover occupied for quite some time...  I picked up a bottle of Hennepin by Ommegang brewery that would sell in most Brooklyn bodegas or Whole Foods at $9-11 for just $6.19. 

Charles and I picked up an Ommegang bottle, along with our old standby of Newcastle (which they've been selling for a couple of years now) for $6.59.

Street Art on Rogers

Last week, there was a storefront on Rogers that never seemed to be open but its wares are clearly selling like hotcakes.

The White People store, located on Rogers between President and Union, was part of the Sign Project by Specter, a Banksy-like street artist.

Consider me a fan of his even if he thinks I am part of the problem.

Via Brooklynian Forums, photo by Jake Dobkin

Recap of PLGNA meeting

Yes, I went to the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association (PLGNA) meeting last night so you didn't have to. If you haven't heard of PLGNA, that's because the group has been largely dormant since the late 1960s for 20 years. Though resurrected a couple of years ago, it hasn't done a lot in the way of organizing. Unsurprisingly, the meeting was a pretty loose affair, the purpose of which was to elect a board of directors. Four candidates read position statements — Bob Thomason, Barbara Ann Rogers, Darren Patrick, and Deborah Mutnick. A fifth, Pastor Doug Banks, wasn't able to attend so Thomason read his statement. The issue that seemed to unite all the speakers was maintaining diversity in PLG and fighting gentrification. Thomason, for example, said:

"I reject gentrification when it forces poor people out. But I support it when it benefits us with a jazz club, Shakespeare in the Park for children, and support for artists."

There are 15 spots on the board, so all five candidates were approved, and the group decided to solicit more board members and vote on them in the near future.

Of the new board members, I was most impressed with Darren Patrick. He seemed to have a grasp on what it takes to get things done. He's involved with the CUNY's Right to the City Working Group, a sort of anti-gentrification umbrella group. And while I disagree with some of his positions (I supported the Lincoln Street development, for example), he seemed to be a flexible, reasoned thinker — and he knows how to use email.

After the board members were approved, the meeting, which about 25 people attended, gave way to an open discussion about the issues that individual residents cared about. One man, a white guy in an argyle sweater (a gentrifier, no doubt), said he'd like better public schools for his young children. An African-American student, 20, said the neighborhood needs a youth center. Tenants' rights were mentioned. At that point, around 9 pm, I had to get home. Things seemed to be winding down, though, and the new board agreed to email everyone about future meetings.

In praise of gentrification

In light of last week's New York Observer article about gentrification in Prospect Lefferts, I thought I'd post this 1978 essay by James Greene. This piece appeared in THE (original) BROWNSTONER, a newsletter published beginning in the late 1960s by the Brownstone Revival Committee.

While the Observer article was sloppy and narrowly drawn, comments by its critics (PLGers and non) tended to be just as shallow. Perhaps some day a local journalist will write something intelligent about gentrification. In the mean time, here's Greene, writing at at a time when the very word "gentrification" was relatively new. The article isn't perfect; it doesn't deal with race at all (an important oversight). But it points the way to showing that—then as now—attacks on gentrification are ridiculously simplistic.

- - - - - -

Attack from a New Quarter: Urban Gentrification
by James Greene, 1978
(Reprinted in THE BROWNSTONER, April 1985)

Individually or in groups, the people attempting to revitalize our cities' declining neighborhoods have long faced several natural enemies: negligent city agencies, indifferent or conflict-ridden legislators, and extreme political groups who see the brightest change for revolution in promoting decay and poverty. We can deal with these.

But now comes opposition from a new quarter. The sociologists, whose past recommendations to politicians helped lay waste our urban landscapes, have invented a new field of study which permits them to question this madness of community improvement. It is termed gentrification--movement of the "gentry" into lower-class neighborhoods, disturbing cohesiveness and generally such devotion to keeping the covenant intact resulted in raising hell with the social "balance" of the slums. The concern with gentrification began in Britain, where sturdy brick houses occupied for generations by the "working classes" are being bought and refurbished by the upper-middle class.

Now, "gentrification" studies are being launched in the United States. Ironically, it is not the improvement of neighborhoods that is studied, but the assumed deleterious impact of improvement--displacement of the poor, reduction in the number of housing units, creation of new "social pathologies." Consequently, neighborhood revitalization programs are being asked to defend themselves.

A sign of gentrification?

The Old Navy Outlet on the corner of Flatbush and Tilden has been replaced. By an Old Navy.