My NYC Black Folk......Gentrification

[Apollo Kid]

Spanish Harlem is now SpaHa
South Bronx is SoBro

These real estate scumbags are the worst.

 

[-G$-]

so everyone is just gonna ignore the fact that spike himself has been buying/selling/flipping nyc real estate him damn self since the 90's. i guess it was ok for him to make a few bucks along the way since he was born here but not for the owners of the dogs he doesn't like walking in his park.

 

[Scientific Playa]

so everyone is just gonna ignore the fact that spike himself has been buying/selling/flipping nyc real estate him damn self since the 90's. i guess it was ok for him to make a few bucks along the way since he was born here but not for the owners of the dog he doesn't like walking in his park.

mr. lee has been living on the highly gentrified upper east side where pet owners pay people to walk their pooches.
his rant reeks of hypocrisy in my opin.
i think he was born in the great state of Georgia.


The gentrification of Spike Lee
He marketed Brooklyn, cashed out and now complains
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, February 26, 2014, 6:43 PM

Spike Lee’s obscenity-filled tirade about the gentrification of inner-city neighborhoods — caught on tape and posted online in all its mother-effing glory — perfectly captured the bitterness, confusion and circular logic that sends most conversations about New York’s ever-changing neighborhoods down a blind alley.

Lee’s torrent of cussing and complaints mostly focused on how well-heeled white newcomers have allegedly ruined Fort Greene, where he grew up. Much of what he said was hilarious (“Have you seen Fort Greene Park in the morning? It’s like the mother-effing Westminster Dog Show!”). But some of it was downright offensive (“You can’t just come in the neighborhood and start bogarting and say, like you’re mother-effing Columbus and kill off the Native Americans.”)

It’s the sacred right of every New Yorker to bewail, blame and bemoan the arrival of the folks who arrive in the neighborhood five minutes after we do, but somebody has to call bull on Lee’s complaints about gentrification. This is a man who has made epic contributions to the phenomenon he finds so troubling.

Start with Hatch House, Lee’s 9,000-square-foot palace on East 63rd Street — complete with internal courtyard — which he bought from artist Jasper Johns for $16 million in 2006 and recently put on the market with an asking price of $32 million. My friends in nearby Yorkville have been gnashing their teeth for years, complaining about how rents have risen to insane levels, thanks in part to owners buying and flipping high-end properties.

Before leaving Brooklyn, Lee did more did more than his share when it came to goosing the changes to Fort Greene he now laments. According to the Wall Street Journal, Lee bought a townhouse on Washington Park for $650,000 in 1990, around the time he was soaring to stardom, cranking out films like “Malcolm X” and “Clockers.” In 1999, he sold the place to a couple (a banker married to an attorney) for about $1 million and moved to the Upper East Side.

A decade later, the house was back on the market with a $2.75 million asking price, more than quadruple what Lee paid in 1990. And why not? Fort Greene started sizzling in the 1990s and never stopped, thanks in no small part to the area’s international reputation as a mini-bohemia, home to a colony of talented, ambitious black artists.

Writer Nelson George, painter Leroy Campbell, musicians Noel Pointer, Steve Coleman and Erykah Badu, rappers Notorious B.I.G., Mos Def and Chubb Rock and actor Chris Rock were all there, alongside an older generation of jazz greats including Betty Carter, Cecil Taylor and Lee’s own father, bassist Bill Lee.

Debbie Egan-Chin, New York Daily News
Spike Lee’s gentrification rant: part funny, part offensive.
Spike, the most commercially successful of the bunch, used some of his earnings to become a significant property owner in the area, buying and renting out residential and commercial properties and marketing the neighborhood with gusto. As recently as 2010, he partnered with Pernod Ricard, a French vodka company, to create Absolut Brooklyn, a booze drink sold, according to marketing materials, “in a specially-designed bottle reminiscent of the ubiquitous Brooklyn Stoop Life,” complete with a label depicting a brownstone bearing the number 165, the address of Lee’s old home.

By this time, of course, Lee had been living in Hatch House for years, and had long since put his famous 40 Acres headquarters, a converted former firehouse, up for sale (asking price: $6 million). That is what happens when the efforts of a marketing genius like Lee add rocket fuel to the blazing fire of gentrification.

There’s nothing wrong with Lee’s real estate adventures: He, like every New Yorker, has the right to buy, hold or sell whatever property he can afford, and try to get rich in the process. But it’s not okay when the language of complaint sours into one of exclusion, or even menace. (“You can’t just come in the neighborhood”).

That attitude undergirds the city’s stubborn racially segregated housing patterns and ignores the reality that longtime black homeowners in neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant actually end up earning life-changing levels of wealth when gentrification drives up the value of their property.

Sooner or later, we all end up mourning the disappearance of our favorite dive bar, or roller rink or coffee shop. And it’s always painful to see friends uprooted and forced to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

But turbulence and transition come with the city’s exhilarating pace — and all the cussing in the world won’t change that. Better to build and savor one’s corner of the city before the next bittersweet turn of the wheel.

Louis is political anchor at NY1 News.

 

[-G$-]

mr. lee has been living on the highly gentrified upper east side where pet owners pay people to walk their pooches.
his rant reeks of hypocrisy in my opin.
i think he was born in the great state of Georgia.


The gentrification of Spike Lee
He marketed Brooklyn, cashed out and now complains
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, February 26, 2014, 6:43 PM

Spike Lee’s obscenity-filled tirade about the gentrification of inner-city neighborhoods — caught on tape and posted online in all its mother-effing glory — perfectly captured the bitterness, confusion and circular logic that sends most conversations about New York’s ever-changing neighborhoods down a blind alley.

Lee’s torrent of cussing and complaints mostly focused on how well-heeled white newcomers have allegedly ruined Fort Greene, where he grew up. Much of what he said was hilarious (“Have you seen Fort Greene Park in the morning? It’s like the mother-effing Westminster Dog Show!”). But some of it was downright offensive (“You can’t just come in the neighborhood and start bogarting and say, like you’re mother-effing Columbus and kill off the Native Americans.”)

It’s the sacred right of every New Yorker to bewail, blame and bemoan the arrival of the folks who arrive in the neighborhood five minutes after we do, but somebody has to call bull on Lee’s complaints about gentrification. This is a man who has made epic contributions to the phenomenon he finds so troubling.

Start with Hatch House, Lee’s 9,000-square-foot palace on East 63rd Street — complete with internal courtyard — which he bought from artist Jasper Johns for $16 million in 2006 and recently put on the market with an asking price of $32 million. My friends in nearby Yorkville have been gnashing their teeth for years, complaining about how rents have risen to insane levels, thanks in part to owners buying and flipping high-end properties.

Before leaving Brooklyn, Lee did more did more than his share when it came to goosing the changes to Fort Greene he now laments. According to the Wall Street Journal, Lee bought a townhouse on Washington Park for $650,000 in 1990, around the time he was soaring to stardom, cranking out films like “Malcolm X” and “Clockers.” In 1999, he sold the place to a couple (a banker married to an attorney) for about $1 million and moved to the Upper East Side.

A decade later, the house was back on the market with a $2.75 million asking price, more than quadruple what Lee paid in 1990. And why not? Fort Greene started sizzling in the 1990s and never stopped, thanks in no small part to the area’s international reputation as a mini-bohemia, home to a colony of talented, ambitious black artists.

Writer Nelson George, painter Leroy Campbell, musicians Noel Pointer, Steve Coleman and Erykah Badu, rappers Notorious B.I.G., Mos Def and Chubb Rock and actor Chris Rock were all there, alongside an older generation of jazz greats including Betty Carter, Cecil Taylor and Lee’s own father, bassist Bill Lee.

Debbie Egan-Chin, New York Daily News
Spike Lee’s gentrification rant: part funny, part offensive.
Spike, the most commercially successful of the bunch, used some of his earnings to become a significant property owner in the area, buying and renting out residential and commercial properties and marketing the neighborhood with gusto. As recently as 2010, he partnered with Pernod Ricard, a French vodka company, to create Absolut Brooklyn, a booze drink sold, according to marketing materials, “in a specially-designed bottle reminiscent of the ubiquitous Brooklyn Stoop Life,” complete with a label depicting a brownstone bearing the number 165, the address of Lee’s old home.

By this time, of course, Lee had been living in Hatch House for years, and had long since put his famous 40 Acres headquarters, a converted former firehouse, up for sale (asking price: $6 million). That is what happens when the efforts of a marketing genius like Lee add rocket fuel to the blazing fire of gentrification.

There’s nothing wrong with Lee’s real estate adventures: He, like every New Yorker, has the right to buy, hold or sell whatever property he can afford, and try to get rich in the process. But it’s not okay when the language of complaint sours into one of exclusion, or even menace. (“You can’t just come in the neighborhood”).

That attitude undergirds the city’s stubborn racially segregated housing patterns and ignores the reality that longtime black homeowners in neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant actually end up earning life-changing levels of wealth when gentrification drives up the value of their property.

Sooner or later, we all end up mourning the disappearance of our favorite dive bar, or roller rink or coffee shop. And it’s always painful to see friends uprooted and forced to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

But turbulence and transition come with the city’s exhilarating pace — and all the cussing in the world won’t change that. Better to build and savor one’s corner of the city before the next bittersweet turn of the wheel.

Louis is political anchor at NY1 News.

i knew he was involved in the market but i guess i didn't know the extent

ol' do as i say and no as i do as mf'r

 

[Grams]

Spanish Harlem is now SpaHa
South Bronx is SoBro

These real estate scumbags are the worst.

shyt is disgusting fam

 

[Thoughts]

Only objection I have to it is that they are you NEIGHBORS and don't speak to you unless you have a cosign or they see white folks over your house. However they speak among each other in these neighborhoods.

Why not take the opportunity the learn from one another? Why live in an area because it's "trendy", but omit the very people who are the essence of the neighborhood from your consciousness?

Just yesterday this mexi-cac bytch tried to curve me, I'm like "yeah aight" ...then when this awkward dork hipster white girl gave me a hug, the mexi-cac got all "hey black guy"...I'm like "bytch get the fukk up out my face, fake hoe".

I keep saying this, but it's true, I wish blacks had our own planet, or atleast island. Just leave us alone or learn to RESPECT and LOVE us on OUR terms, not YOURS.

 

[Captain Crunch]

so everyone is just gonna ignore the fact that spike himself has been buying/selling/flipping nyc real estate him damn self since the 90's. i guess it was ok for him to make a few bucks along the way since he was born here but not for the owners of the dogs he doesn't like walking in his park.

So he's not supposed to buy property?
Last time I checked, Spike is not building high rise condos in the middle of Harlem or Bedstuy, or telling drummers to get out of Marcus Garvey Park. Sure he's making money off real estate over the years, but he's not renaming districts or trying to get rid of old traditions(telling drummers to leave), which were his main complaints.

 

[Scientific Playa]

i knew he was involved in the market but i guess i didn't know the extent

ol' do as i say and no as i do as mf'r

good doc about the changing NYC landscape since the Dutch/Indian $24 real estate deal

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/


This program was produced before the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

For nearly 400 years, the people of New York have faced adversity and prevailed.

This film is dedicated to them.


The critically acclaimed, Emmy and duPont-Columbia award-winning series is back! Two new episodes bring it up to the present day, telling the story of the most fascinating and dramatic chapter of the city's history, the modern city of the 20th century. This is the New York we all recognize.

 

[Tupac in a Business Suit]

Im about 50/50 on this piece that Spike spoke about. I am a Brooklynite, through and through. Moved back to the borough 10 years ago near the hood I grew up in over those that were beginning to gentrify or take shape. I purchased a home over there and split my time in between that neighborhood and one where my GF lives that is currently gentrified and I have noticed the following.

In my neighborhood, during the housing boom, all of the older folks moved out, cashed out when prices were high, knowing that the houses were in no way worth their prices and sought refuge elsewhere. All of the younger folks, not educated on the pitfalls of home ownership purchased and subsequently used the houses as an ATM to fund luxury lifestyles (cars, vacations, material items etc). No businesses were opened, no investment was made into their neighborhoods or properties. Once the market crashed, homes went under and so did the neighborhood. Now, in my GF's nabe, prices have soared consistently due to its proximity to Manhattan and all of the infrastructure in the neighborhood (shops, transportation, etc).

Those transplants have invested in the neighborhoods, renting at first, testing the waters and then slowly branching out to ownership of homes and businesses in the area. The area that I purchased in, although it is 20 minutes away from the city, is now beginning to see the effects of gentrification as many whom first sought refuge in parts of Brooklyn closer to Manhattan are now moving inwards. Trains are more crowded and the streets can barely handle all of the traffic from the influx of people moving inward to these parts of town.

In all I cant blame the hipsters for coming to NYC and inflicting their values and priorities upon their surroundings. If minorities had more than "civic" pride about where they are from, or their neighborhoods as well as priorities, it would make things a bit easier for those who are complaining about being displaced. I cant tell you how many homes I see on my street that has littered trash out front, yet fleets of Mercedes, BMW and Audi's line the streets.

 

[-G$-]

So he's not supposed to buy property?
Last time I checked, Spike is not building high rise condos in the middle of Harlem or Bedstuy, or telling drummers to get out of Marcus Garvey Park. Sure he's making money off real estate over the years, but he's not renaming districts or trying to get rid of old traditions(telling drummers to leave), which were his main complaints.

did you even read the article? his actions may not be on the scale of the big developers but they have certainly contributed to the price action.

 

[Tupac in a Business Suit]

Here's another article that puts an interesting spin on the plight of minorities and minority owned neighborhoods. It is not as simple as buying or owning a home and keeping people out. Infrastructure is what is needed. Businesses beyond the 3 Bs (Bodega's, Barbershop's and Beauty Salon's) will aid in the long run against gentrification.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesl...me-ownership-keeps-blacks-poorer-than-whites/

 

[King Crimson]

Only objection I have to it is that they are you NEIGHBORS and don't speak to you unless you have a cosign or they see white folks over your house. However they speak among each other in these neighborhoods.

Why not take the opportunity the learn from one another? Why live in an area because it's "trendy", but omit the very people who are the essence of the neighborhood from your consciousness?

Just yesterday this mexi-cac bytch tried to curve me, I'm like "yeah aight" ...then when this awkward dork hipster white girl gave me a hug, the mexi-cac got all "hey black guy"...I'm like "bytch get the fukk up out my face, fake hoe".

I keep saying this, but it's true, I wish blacks had our own planet, or atleast island. Just leave us alone or learn to RESPECT and LOVE us on OUR terms, not YOURS.

So he's not supposed to buy property?
Last time I checked, Spike is not building high rise condos in the middle of Harlem or Bedstuy, or telling drummers to get out of Marcus Garvey Park. Sure he's making money off real estate over the years, but he's not renaming districts or trying to get rid of old traditions(telling drummers to leave), which were his main complaints.

And that's my biggest issue. I get that the city is like a person; it changes, grows, morphs etc. I don't have an issue with other groups of people moving in. I actually kinda welcome it. Truthfully, I don't think it's all black or white either. I've met and chatted with some cool white folks that have I have more of an issue with building owners and the like feeling that that gives them license to jack up rent prices. I also get that that's business and they're trying to maximize profit. It's a sad, but real part of life. Dollars trump people 8/10 times.

What I do have an issue with is the mentality that a lot of these people come in with. I don't expect your friendship, or kindness. I don't particularly want it. They stick to their little dives and coffee spots, and I don't blame them if that' their scene/style/whatever.All I want is some common decency and courtesy. I'll never forget the day I was heading home and for the first time ever, this white chick that was walking into the building ahead of me actually clutched her purse and closed the door behind her before I could catch the door. I thought that type of shyt only happened on tv.

Here's another article that puts an interesting spin on the plight of minorities and minority owned neighborhoods. It is not as simple as buying or owning a home and keeping people out. Infrastructure is what is needed. Businesses beyond the 3 Bs (Bodega's, Barbershop's and Beauty Salon's) will aid in the long run against gentrification.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesl...me-ownership-keeps-blacks-poorer-than-whites/

Gonna check the article just now, but that's what I meant. Some folks throughout the thread have made it seem as if had everyone owned their houses, that would've curved everything. Not true. Pardon the tired phrase, but there's levels to this. Owning is only one part.

 

[newworldafro]

Im about 50/50 on this piece that Spike spoke about. I am a Brooklynite, through and through. Moved back to the borough 10 years ago near the hood I grew up in over those that were beginning to gentrify or take shape. I purchased a home over there and split my time in between that neighborhood and one where my GF lives that is currently gentrified and I have noticed the following.

In my neighborhood, during the housing boom, all of the older folks moved out, cashed out when prices were high, knowing that the houses were in no way worth their prices and sought refuge elsewhere. All of the younger folks, not educated on the pitfalls of home ownership purchased and subsequently used the houses as an ATM to fund luxury lifestyles (cars, vacations, material items etc). No businesses were opened, no investment was made into their neighborhoods or properties. Once the market crashed, homes went under and so did the neighborhood. Now, in my GF's nabe, prices have soared consistently due to its proximity to Manhattan and all of the infrastructure in the neighborhood (shops, transportation, etc).

Those transplants have invested in the neighborhoods, renting at first, testing the waters and then slowly branching out to ownership of homes and businesses in the area. The area that I purchased in, although it is 20 minutes away from the city, is now beginning to see the effects of gentrification as many whom first sought refuge in parts of Brooklyn closer to Manhattan are now moving inwards. Trains are more crowded and the streets can barely handle all of the traffic from the influx of people moving inward to these parts of town.

In all I cant blame the hipsters for coming to NYC and inflicting their values and priorities upon their surroundings. If minorities had more than "civic" pride about where they are from, or their neighborhoods as well as priorities, it would make things a bit easier for those who are complaining about being displaced. I cant tell you how many homes I see on my street that has littered trash out front, yet fleets of Mercedes, BMW and Audi's line the streets.

Everything bolded is part of the issue ...... I can't call it ...

 

[Tupac in a Business Suit]

Everything bolded is part of the issue ...... I can't call it ...

Yeah man. I mean my exposure to both sides of the fence leads me to believe its a lot deeper than what we see on the surface. A lot of it has to deal with mentality too. In my neighborhood, it is primarily Caribbean migrants whom come from countries with heavy government involvement in socioeconomic affairs. Most have it ingrained in their psyche that the government must improve neighborhoods, quality of life and employment. In my GF's nabe, most of the migrants are from states (and mindsets) where accountability, values and ethic go a long way in improving their living standards. Government is used as a conduit to make these things happen.

Religion also plays a big factor as many of these "businesses" in minority neighborhoods are store front churches of the assorted variety. Drive down any block after Empire Boulevard on Nostrand or Rogers and you can count about 4 or 5 storefront churches on every side of the street. 10 churches on one block

Whats going on reminds me of a song my father used to play back in the day by old school Reggae artist Half Pint.



"Cost of Living get higha, Half Pint seh there's mo sellaz dan buyaz"

He spoke about that in 85..

 

[mson]

Im about 50/50 on this piece that Spike spoke about. I am a Brooklynite, through and through. Moved back to the borough 10 years ago near the hood I grew up in over those that were beginning to gentrify or take shape. I purchased a home over there and split my time in between that neighborhood and one where my GF lives that is currently gentrified and I have noticed the following.

In my neighborhood, during the housing boom, all of the older folks moved out, cashed out when prices were high, knowing that the houses were in no way worth their prices and sought refuge elsewhere. All of the younger folks, not educated on the pitfalls of home ownership purchased and subsequently used the houses as an ATM to fund luxury lifestyles (cars, vacations, material items etc). No businesses were opened, no investment was made into their neighborhoods or properties. Once the market crashed, homes went under and so did the neighborhood. Now, in my GF's nabe, prices have soared consistently due to its proximity to Manhattan and all of the infrastructure in the neighborhood (shops, transportation, etc).

Those transplants have invested in the neighborhoods, renting at first, testing the waters and then slowly branching out to ownership of homes and businesses in the area. The area that I purchased in, although it is 20 minutes away from the city, is now beginning to see the effects of gentrification as many whom first sought refuge in parts of Brooklyn closer to Manhattan are now moving inwards. Trains are more crowded and the streets can barely handle all of the traffic from the influx of people moving inward to these parts of town.

In all I cant blame the hipsters for coming to NYC and inflicting their values and priorities upon their surroundings. If minorities had more than "civic" pride about where they are from, or their neighborhoods as well as priorities, it would make things a bit easier for those who are complaining about being displaced. I cant tell you how many homes I see on my street that has littered trash out front, yet fleets of Mercedes, BMW and Audi's line the streets.

My problem is when they try to impose their so called "values" and priorities.