The other night a real estate agent, the friend of a friend, strolled into my apartment as I sat half naked over a plate of spaghetti, and after surveying our place, said that I was lucky to pay what I do for my apartment because he knew my landlord, who was all too willing to kick us out, renovate the place and charge an extra five hundred a month for the 2BR railroad we currently inhabit.
I had been expecting the landlord, who isn’t particularly kind or helpful, to kick us out to renovate. Even if he didn’t, I told myself that if he raised the rent by more than $100 I would leave. He’ll probably raise it $150, said the friend of a friend, but even then you should stay. You guys are lucky to live here, especially since your landlord knows he’s losing money.
This, coupled with the dirty streets of Bushwick and the influx of people and restaurants, many of which are overpriced and overrated, has led me to reconsider what I want out of my neighborhood. I like all the cafes and creative young people, but I’d prefer more safety, friendliness, and cleaner streets. Plenty of neighborhoods offer this, and at a lower rent. Part of why my landlord is convinced he can get $2600 for our apartment catty-corner from the projects has to due with the rise of Bushwick’s popularity as a sanctuary for artists.
With its incredible street art, converted warehouses and close access to the City, Bushwick has gained the reputation of a flowering bohemia. To those who live here, it is an incubator for coolness and the next artistic movement. But is it really? Any more so than Williamsburg was ten years ago? Or is it just another bohemian neighborhood that’s hip right now?
Sure, there are lots of galleries. And the street art is amazing! Have you been to Jefftown? But Bushwick Open Studios (BOS), the annual festival designed to showcase the best of North Brooklyn art, has been a perpetual letdown. In a recent review in ArtFCity, it’s clear that BOS has become more of a frat party than an art show. Over the four years I have lived here, it seems that the reputation of Bushwick as artistic utopia, as heart of a renaissance, has yet to come to fruition. I’m not saying there aren’t cool things going on in Bushwick, or that its art scene is a farce. Bushwick may be home to several great artists, and its liberal environment is/could be a large reason for that. However, it will take another ten years before we can really say whether the neighborhood was developmental or incidental. And by then it will be too late. Bushwick will have fully gone the way of Williamsburg, its bohemian tendencies (and rents) flung farther out to East New York.
It seems to me that New York as a city has a feeling of aggrandizement, since it’s the biggest city in our country and the fourth largest in the world. New Yorkers believe they live in the greatest city in the world, which they might, but unfortunately they also believe that other cities don’t seem to matter as much. The same goes on on the micro level, by neighborhood. It seems like the denizens of each neighborhood resent those of others. You know what I’m talking about, little rivalries, East Village vs. West, L.E.S. vs. Williamsburg. As the neighborhoods that were once cool gentrify over the course of a decade and continue to become nicer, the inhabitants of each ‘hood hold themselves to a higher standard than the next-quickly gentrifying place. Bushwick is one—and certainly not the only (Times Square, 1994 anyone?)— examples of New York gentrification.
Do I like gentrification in Bushwick, or in general? No. Do I think that it’s a natural process for most of the inhabitants in NYC, including institutions such as St. Mark’s Bookstore, to move out when rent gets too damn high or when new waves of transplants enter a neighborhood? Yes. It’s the way of the beast. It’s not specific to New York either. I don’t sympathize with people who get aggravated at hipsters for infiltrating their homeland; that’s a waste of time. I urge those who don’t like the changes to move somewhere new, to create a new home of their own.
Perhaps I’m not showing enough sensitivity to those who have lived in the same place for twenty years. I don’t care. To them I say, take a risk, get a new apartment, break out of your comfortable community and make some new friends. That’s what your grandparents or parents did when they first came to this country. At least that’s what mine did. If you don’t like a new place when you get there, keep moving.
Hey, at least I’m not a hypocrite. I’m about to get priced out of Bushwick, not because I can’t afford it, but because I don’t want to. Call me an asshole, but don’t say I lack principles—I hear Red Hook is pretty up and coming. Anyone want to hop on the B57 with me all the way down there? It stops right outside my apartment.
The post The Ultimate Response to Gentrification in Bushwick, 2014 appeared first on Daniel Ryan Adler.