Comments on: A Year in Bushwick

By: BornOnWyckoffAve

BornOnWyckoffAve — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:28:16 +0000

Irrelevant metaphors? That’s deathless verse, my friend… Soon to be scrawled in monkey dung on a torn canvas and displayed in an “amazing art space” near you!

By: Myrtle Ave

Myrtle Ave — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:00:44 +0000

Wow, way to not read anything I wrote and start randomly cursing and using irrelevant metaphors.

By: Dresden

Dresden — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:50:54 +0000

I’m a part of …
hm …
me and my girlfriend are, well,
a part of each other…
a part of America?
if that includes iraq, no.
or loads of stuff.
if being a part of bushwick means
I’m a part of hating progress
and wishing for junkies
and burning buildings,
fuck that too.
and fuck you for being a stick in the mud
if you are!

By: Myrtle Ave

Myrtle Ave — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:38:53 +0000

We all don’t have to be best friends, but we can still be friendly and compassionate.

This week’s Onion actually has an extremely relevant article:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_nations_gentrified

The joke is that the young white professionals get pushed out of their neighborhoods by artistocrats. It may seem absurd and completely comical to read, but it puts young professionals in the role of the lower working class in the current Bushwick situation. If you view Gentrification through the lens of someone other than the Gentrifiers than it becomes a completely different issue. The article successfully shifts the point of view and asks us to examine what we are a part of.

Again I’ll reiterate that most people that live in this area are great people, hard working families that want the best for their neighborhood. The language barrier and different cultural styles make it difficult to feel like part of the same community, but we are neighbors, and I feel that keeping an open dialogue is the best thing we could do.

By: Dresden

Dresden — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:28:12 +0000

Myrtle Ave,
I like your compassion, and it’s very good and heartfelt to see it, but can I ask you -
how can we come together as one when our cultures and socioeconomic situations are so desparate?
People here CURSE gentrification and tell us to all go to hell.
My reaction is like, well, I hate reggaeton at 9AM on the L train just as much as I hate it at 3AM from some car…
Does that make me a racist or something? Is honking to get someone to come out to the car instead of ringing their bell something to aspire to? What’s up with all the whistling back and forth?
And on the other side, self-absorbed morons from Nebraska with the WORST fashion sense I’ve ever seen… mingled with the ugliest pretension based on nothing… coupled with eye-rolling, laptop weilding cafe scenes…
I hate to write it but, I don’t want to help my neighbors.
I want to live here on the DL and quietly work my way up into a better hood.

By: Zod & Luthor, LLC (Agents)

Zod & Luthor, LLC (Agents) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:08:20 +0000

PS: Oh yeah, most of you little bitches get pushed out in Phase 2 of the plan. But till then, drink that PBR, zip up them tight jeans and enjoy your “edgy” new nabe, babes!

Love, Zod

PPS: I said kneel!

By: Zod & Luthor, LLC (Agents)

Zod & Luthor, LLC (Agents) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:01:24 +0000

Ha ha ha ha ha! Hear me, ye indigenous peoples and your liberal-guilt-ridden defenders! We spit on your puny “humanity!” We crush your so-called “neighborhood” under our (impeccably-shod) heels. We are the Invisible Hand of The Market, and we take what we want. Tremble before our might. Kneel before Zod!

Love,

Zod (who else?)

PS: Coming soon: yoga classes, more Thai and some amazing bistros and performance spaces!

By: Myrtle Ave

Myrtle Ave — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:04:20 +0000

I agree again with BOWA

and Jeremy, I think especially because the Housing market doesn’t give value to those who can’t afford to renew their lease is precisely why we should show concern for them. If the natural trends of economics won’t consider these people then maybe at least their neighbors could.

And poor people are not necessarily irresponsible like you claim. They may have not been afforded the same possibilities and skills that wealthier people have, and they may be working as hard as they can, maybe even 6 or 7 days a week. Some skills are more valued in our society than others, but that doesn’t mean someone doesn’t have to do them.

Think about who you bought your groceries from this week? Who made your coffee? Who made your lunch at that restaurant or deli? All these people have the kinds of responsible jobs that just don’t pay a lot, but are still necessary.

And to claim that people shouldn’t feel attachment to where they call home? That is not being childish, it’s being human.

By: BornOnWyckoffAve

BornOnWyckoffAve — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:47:18 +0000

Listen, all this debate isn’t going to change one simple fact of life: you get priced out of your home after living there for years, you’re gonna be pissed off about it.

Your argument seems to assume that everyone who’s getting priced out is living off public assistance. What about working people who find their own neighborhood becoming unafforable to them? Do they have no right to be upset about it?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:12:41 +0000

Myrtle: Sure, as individuals, the poor are morally and legally as valuable as anyone else, and how much money someone has has no bearing on this. But this is irrelevant because HOUSING value IS only measured in money. And someone’s moral or legal value is not expressed in their ability to keep their lease.

I disagree that there is or should be any right to live somewhere without having to pay for it like everyone else does. In fact, what makes it even more perverse is that this right is paid for BY the people who pay their own way. Not only do responsible people live where they can afford and pay their own way, they are also forced to pay to house others to live where they cannot afford simply because of some emotional or cultural attachment to a place. It’s a ridiculous regime based on childish principles.