Comments on: Bushwick Apartment Roundup 9/6/07

By: Mr. Kraayon

Mr. Kraayon — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 03:24:41 +0000

i thought DDP was a Bronx gang. The only gangs I think I see in my area tend to be Bloods and old Brooklyn 70′s gangs that are now MC’s. Although I think I did see some Deceps walking past my window the other day,rocking the purple. I know there are a great deal of dominicans in the neighborhood, so DDP having an offshoot here is no surprise.

By: jay

jay — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 17:01:10 +0000

so do we accept the loud music blasting from people’s homes, on the streets, and by cars passing by as just a unique cultural trait in bushwick.

many associate this noise characteristic sometimes exclusively with bushwick, brooklyn.

By: PKW

PKW — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:01:27 +0000

I live in Bushwick and I am not Puerto Rican. We have great neighbors and they are nothing but friendly to us. I think it is all in how you interact with your neighbors. If you show fear and resistance they will only give that back. Treat others like friends and they will show you the same respect.

By: Jimmy Legs

Jimmy Legs — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:33:37 +0000

maybe the Dominicans were actually members of the Dominicans Don’t Play gang. gang members love to tout their membership! then again, i’m not entirely sure that you have to be Dominican to be in DDP.

I think flags are lame but I defend to the death your right to paste them all over your car! the 1st amendment protects every American’s right to be tacky.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 03:00:46 +0000

Tony, I of course have to step back and let you say it. Other Puerto Ricans I know — non-New Yorkers, I should mention — say the same thing, especially during Puerto Rican Pride (as one called it) a la “wow, isn’t it just so very exciting that I am of x ethnicity/nationality!?”

It was the same thing when we were walking down Flushing one day and a car raced past full of Dominican flags and somebody screamed at the top of their lungs “Do-mi-ni-can mo-tha-fuh-kaaaz!” I laughed because it was so goofy but the real answer is — and??

Maybe assimilation over the last 80 years has something to do with it but I don’t volunteer my ethnicities to people unless it comes up in relevant conversation. I am me, not a Sicilian or a Pole or an American, etc. Flying the flags of the various regions from which my people come strikes me as tacky. But then, I think flying the US flag is tacky, too, so maybe I’m not the one to comment. :-D

By: Tony T

Tony T — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:47:56 +0000

I see Jeremy. Still, placing flags outside buildings as a warning to newcomers is a passive aggressive act that seems foreign to Puerto Ricans. f they don’t like you in their neighborhood, they tell you. I’m sure there is a lot of truth to what you say concerning the attitudes in your neighborhood, but I am not so sure the flag is the symbol of that resistance to newcomers. I think the flag is being used (as it always has) to help compensate for the miserable failures many Puerto Ricans in Bushwick have become. When you have no accomplishments to be proud of, it’s convenient to place your pride on your race, especially since you had no say in that matter to begin with. Imagine that: taking pride in what flag the gods of chance decided you would be born under. Me, I prefer to take pride in what little achievements I have been able to muster in my long life. Wish more Puerto Ricans would follow my example. That being said, I can assure you most PRs (me included?) have a kinder disposition to newcomers. We’re an island people after all!

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:29:41 +0000

Tony, it’s not just a guess, I have heard people say it’s to stake a claim, in person and online. It’s not just a flag on a car or on houses. It’s run like garlands from building to building back and forth over the street and especially lately.

I could be overly sensitive. I do know that my dad’s cousins in the Bronx have a HUGE Italian flag in front of their house, and it ain’t just a decoration.

By: bk ex-broker

bk ex-broker — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:07:20 +0000

King David realty – FIGURES. They are the horror show of all brokers. They are the “kings” of advertising places with dubious neighborhood pedigree, and when kids show up at their offices (and they make EVERYONE go to their offices), they put them in a van and drive them to the place, no explanation of where they’re going, and then hardsell them once they get there. I had a building on Evergreen, near the Police station there, and they were insisting it was Williamsburg.

idiots. keep up the good work.

By: Tony T

Tony T — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:52:40 +0000

Jeremy. Puerto Rican flags have been flying outside windows thoughout Bushwick (especially Troutman street) since I was a kid in the 70′s. My people have a strong connection with the flag (cultural pride, independence, statehood, etc). I don’t recall flags being used as a deterrent to outsiders moving in. Is that what is happening now in Bushwick?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:02:00 +0000

Jasmin — $212!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know there was big inflation in the late 70s, but still, wow. It’s hard to even wrap my brain around.

Speaking of lineolum, I pulled down a wall recently and found some NAISTY shit under it. That white crinkly stuff, you know? Ughgh, who does that. They did make decent linoleum patterns even in the 70s, why pick the gross ones? And then when putting new floors in downstairs, under a rug was red and green linoleum, the hard kind — tacky Italians, anyone? Yikes.