http://acidito.com/?p=578

Your apology is graciously accepted, as I am new to this blog as well. No worries. I too apologize for sounding condescending, as it is not my intention. I am 100% invested (emotionally, physically, mentally) in neighborhoods like Mott Haven, so I suspect that my posts are assertive, to say the least.

Unfortunately, for reasons that will not be revealed to me or those blogging here, the ANGRY-BROWN-BUTCH has taken down all but one of my posts. Maybe it’s because she is unnerved by a Mott Haven resident who disagrees with her opinions; maybe it’s because she does not want someone with valid points countering her hate-filled and ignorant commentary; maybe there is only room for one angry-brown person on this board; maybe she is just annoyed at my recurring posts that go against her angry diatribes; or maybe she just doesn’t like me or what I stand for.

I thought this was a forum for the ANGRY-BROWN-BUTCH to express her opinions to the world, fight her causes, and also allow others to express themselves as well (this is a blog after all). But I guess it’s only for those who are not angry-brown people who share a different view.

As a longtime resident of the neighborhoods she purports to care so much about, I would think my posts would be encouraged, valued, and integral.

A TRUE BORICUA

nb

I am not exactly sure 1). who you are responding to, 2). nor do I really understand your need to be so condescending in your tone and in your response. Maybe I should have gone a little more in depth on what I mean by “fight” and what I mean by “change.”

I didn’t know my words could be so laden with assumption, but alas here we are, and I am slightly sickened that you have a BLOG and you write, more like you rant, but you employ no respect with your words.

Anyway—if I try to ignore the condescension and lack of tact, I can say this—
I meant the fight that social action incurs, as in, not trying to fight gentrification or support it per say, but the ‘community in question’, although it is unable to fund its own renovations and improvements as you say, due to the disenfranchised state of affairs as they already stand– people not making a living wage, people discriminated against based on class, race, color, country of origin, sexuality, what have you, the ‘isms’ will never end.

Who said anything about fighting gentrification? I want to work first at the underlying root issues belied by gentrification or rather, made more obvious through the visible political and social repercussions thereof. No where in my comment did I say I was a person looking for cheap rent, or preserving the situations where cheap rent exists or in other words hoping to fight gentrification itself. My desire is in giving a voice to the people who are debased to a point where they become unheard, where their voice vanishes because they don’t have the buck to foot the bill. There is something amuck with the capitalist-consumer culture that feeds the ignorance and lack of principle (of which you speak of) for all people, high or low class, where we are not asked to question, rather we are asked to eat, take, covet, want more, waste more, buy, buy, buy.

The issues at hand are much more deep-rooted than that, you and I both know that, and you and I both are not evil for knowing that and for living in NY where we (I’ll speak for myself here) can afford to. It is rather through grassroots’ initiatives I believe people can directly affect change that is inclusive, not exclusive. Yes, revitalization, yes improvement, yes at a cost— I can’t afford it either, why do you think I am living in a place you call the ghetto. Just so I can keep living there, please. I am being confronted by a reality I choose to live with/deal with by way of coming to New York City, a reality that many choose to forgo or shield themselves from, by living in places where there is no diversity, where differences are not welcomed, but rather subject to a perpetuated mainstream ideal that everyone is the same.

The whole reason I wrote anything in the first place is because I want to deal with it, do something, not just remain powerless or inert and let the powers that be continue bull-dozing and reconstructing communities. I want to be informed and I want to at least hope to be a part of bringing justice to this issue, I am hearing too many stories where social justice is forgotten, beleaguered, sidelined. This is what I am saying NO MORE TO. No more fantastic, eye-catching written pieces in the Village Voice every 30 years about gentrification, without taking it a step further, taking some sort of action personally to better understand the situation for the communities involved, and if I am a part of it (which I believe we all are) doing something about it.

NATOUNYC

I believe you missed the essential points of my prior comment, however I will clarify more for you and your readers.

1-In no way did I mention, imply, or assume, that the root cause of the obvious and entrenched problems of these neighborhoods are due solely to their residents, or any one entity, action, or policy, in fact. Nor do I assert that ever was the case. In my comment, I stated quite directly that it was the lack of investment (capital and human) that propelled these communities into the chaotic, ignorant, and powerless state in which they have languished for the better part of thirty (30) years. By lack of capital investment, I specifically mean the lack of any public and private investment (including detrimental public policies), and by lack of human investment, I specifically mean the extreme segregation, and fundamental loss of family values, education, and culture.

2-I acknowledge the historic effect of classism, racism, and privilege, and I understand how the continuing presence of these societal ills plays a role in everyone’s lives, including white people. As a lifelong resident of Mott Haven, I am one of the many unlucky benefactors of those discriminatory policies, beliefs, and actions. I do not, as you may believe, assert that the residents of these neighborhoods resort to drugs and violence because they just enjoy it. I do believe, however, the culture of laziness, violence, and the breakdown of accepted societal norms, is worn as a badge of honor and promoted as a viable lifestyle, none of which will change without the reintroduction of mainstream society at some level.

3-I agree that any revitalization of these neighborhoods should not purposely and intentionally force the removal of its current residents. However, the reality of the implementation of this renewed investment (capital and human) will be the eventual change of the racial and demographic makeup of these communities FOR THE BETTER.
Public and private investors will not revitalize a community (rehabilitate a building, open a new restaurant, provide more retail or community services, all of which would improve the lives of its current residents), if the neighborhood cannot, or will not, support such change. By supporting such change, I mean provide the monetary means to support the improvements. What investor would purchase a 12 unit building, for example, rehabilitate it for hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, and then maintain rents as is, or raise them from $400 to $425? Private investors will not make such poor decisions, and the city is no longer in the business of building massive subsidized, hell holes.

You want better housing, for example, but cannot, or refuse, to pay the rent that MUST come with these improvements, then housing will not be rehabilitated and such neighborhoods, as Mott Haven, will continue to languish in their current state of disrepair, disarray, and utter chaos. In order to garner the kinds of changes that you and others in the community desire, there must be the monetary means to support such investment! The only way to then support the improvements to the community that you desire, is to pay for it, either by its current residents, or by catering to new residents that will pay for it.

The bottom line is, you do not have the right, in this country, to live where you want, at the price you set. You cannot have “affordable housing” (whatever that means) if that means a public or private investor must shoulder all of the costs for your convenience. This sense of entitlement is a root problem for these neighborhoods, the residents of which have been lavished with numerous subsidy programs such as Section 8, Welfare, Food Stamps, that perpetuates this lifestyle, mindset and ghetto culture. The culture of I deserve, I want, I expect, will always lose to I earned.

As a result, the more you fight what you call “gentrification,” the more these neighborhoods languish in their current, untenable states. Whereas you see this as an attack on the community, I, as a longtime resident, see the investment (capital and human) as a long overdue breath of fresh air, with the promise of new residents, new ideas, and experiences. And isn’t that what this city is all about?

A TRUE BORICUA

However, where you and I differ is that I want those things to change, I want these neighborhoods to be revitalized, to attract substantial investment and care from the city, in ways that actually benefit the other Boricuas, other Latinos, other people of color, other low-income folks that live in these neighborhoods. You seem to be blaming those people for all of the problems that exist in those neighborhoods. I don’t, because I recognize the systems of racism, classism, and oppression that lead to the disastrous symptoms that you describe. I’m not trying to remove personal agency here, but do you think that people who resort to drugs and crime and violence do so because they like it, or are just lazy, or are just bad people? If so, you’re no better than the white people who impute such things on our people. It’s sadly difficult to maintain a healthy, peaceful, crime-free lifestyle when you’re given almost no other choices, few ways out, just because of the color of your skin, the culture you’re born into, and the money that your parents and their parents before them didn’t have. Yeah, some people manage to escape this cycle of destitution and self-destruction, but others don’t. You’re right about the social fabric being torn - it has been torn up, through racism, through classism. But do we punish the victims of that oppression? No, I don’t think so. We work to repair the social fabric without punishing people who have been damaged.

And on the segregation bit - don’t you think that when these communities get white washed after all of the people of color get pushed out, that’s just another form of segregation?

The solution is not to clear low-income folks and people of color out of these communities to “improve” them. Improve them for whom, exactly? Mostly richer and whiter folks, with the few brown and black folks who make the cut thrown in? No, I want these neighborhoods to be revitalized for the people who are living there now. Don’t you think that if housing was improved and yet remained affordable, public schools functioned more like institutions of education than institutions of incarceration, and people were given opportunities to make decent money and improve their lives in legitimate ways, the crime and violence that you describe would decrease? Let’s fight the root causes instead of blaming people for the resultant symptoms.

I am embarrassed by you and for you. By fighting what you foolishly call gentrification (although by throwing around that word people will keep reading) in horrendous places like Mott Haven, Bed-Stuy, and East New York, you are doing an extreme disservice to yourself, your future, your family, and your community.

As a Boricua myself, I was raised in Mott Haven (aka South Bronx) and have no delusions about the number of problems that this community endured, and continues to endure. You seem to paint these ghetto neighborhoods as something to be glorified, proud of, cherished, enjoyed, respected, or worthy of “saving”. These neighborhoods are rampant with drugs, crime, extreme poverty, and an entrenched ghetto culture. It was the direct lack of investment (capital and human) that propelled these neighborhoods into this chaotic and unnatural state, and I am flabbergasted to read how these same residents ( like yourself) fight tooth and nail to maintain the neighborhoods in this disastrously detrimental state by using scary words like “gentrification,” ‘priced out”, “white people are coming,” and the like, to rally the troops to their cause.

I continue to live in this neighborhood, however I am now labeled as an “evil gentrifier” by my own neighborhood “friends”..why? I have renovated my building, I speak properly, I dress respectably, and I present myself as an educated, intelligent person. The culture and neighborhoods that you claim needs to be preserved (saving from the evil white man) are the same neighborhoods and cultures that only place value on ignorance, violence, and thuggery. Why must these communities continue to fear, despise, and fight those that are different, especially white people? What exactly are we saving here? The horrendous public schools? The gargantuan subsidized housing hell holes? The filth on the streets? The rampant violence?

These communities are in desperate need of revitalization, investment, and human capital. If you believe there is some sort of social fabric that maintains these communities, you are sorely mistaken. This is a community, to its own detriment, that has foolishly relied on government handouts and services. The days of true community leaders are long gone and dead. The social fabric was torn to shreds long ago, with deep social, psychological, and interpersonal dysfunction the norm rather than the exception.

I am utterly shocked and disappointed that you openly fight the massive investment that these neighborhoods require. Using fear and scare tactics to keep these people, and neighborhoods, in these conditions so that you and your cohorts can have cheap rent, is morally reprehensible, offensive, and disgusting. Your parents came here and sacrificed so much to provide a better life for you, and now you fight to keep things ghetto, dysfunctional, and segregated. I should hope your parents are not alive to see what these once vibrant neighborhoods have become, and that you are now fighting to keep them that way.

A TRUE BORICUA

I went to work today disturbed by the aforementioned article, by gentrification, and when I told my supervisor about what was irking me, she told me the story of how her family living down by union square, in rent-stabilized apartments barely held onto their apt by going to court and in doing so the end owed 15,000 in legal fees.

God dammit, it makes me want to leave the city right now, but like elsewhere the situation is mighty familiar, in the city–rent is high and gentrification is overtured in redlining blocks and blighting of all sorts of varietals. I believe in social action, and I want to get involved in the fight, I am disgusted by the high-rise luxury condos I see left and right.
If we can’t envision it, it will not be. I cannot see mixed income neighborhoods, why is that? Zoning? real estate?, ailing poorly-funded school systems? There is a lot of degradation in knowing that people in power, conscious of the effect of their policies and actions, go ahead because of what? I couldn’t tell you. This is the end of the empire of the US, the myth of the land of milk & honey has long gone been shredded to bits. The opinion of how America is governed– locally and nationally– is at a debasingly low-point.

I am glad to have found this Blog and to have found so many voices. I hope to hear more. I was born in flushing, queens, I was moved out of the city to have a good education in the suburbs, and therefore i grew up in a vastly white small town, one of homogeneity and streamlining heterosexuality. I am a first generation American, my family comes from a minority in the Middle East.

I am looking for action, not entertainment, not multi-cultural vibrancy. I am looking for change, not acquiescence. I abhor politics sometimes, by that I mean I am an artist, I seek change through making accessible the voice of the people (whichever people this may be; for me in this case, it would be the oppressed, those who lack even the privilege to fight for the place where they raised their family, where they have lived for 25+ years), which can be expressed/demanded through art.