Bedford Stuyvesant is Dying
I visited Bedstuy a few weekends ago. And its transformation became more apparent. Cops now occupied the streets to keep the gentrifiers safe. The graffiti on the gates of small businesses, the dirty pavement blackened with gum, the concrete gravel that had finger and foot imprints, that Bedstuy decor, was quickly fading away. My neighborhood was becoming beautiful. It was no longer Brooklyn Heights’ ugly sister. It had its own reputation now. And, apparently, a new name. Bedstuy: Do or Die, is now, Stuyvesant Heights: Pay the High Rent or Get the Fuck out. I don’t want a renaissance in my neighborhood. Let the monkey bars decay, lay low the rent of everyone’s favorite little coffee shop on dekalb, and leave the drug dealers be; they’re my mother and sisters only form of protection at night.
I remember old Bedstuy. When one second you’re in a neighborhood aligned with Brownstones, turn the corner and you figured you’re in the ghetto. Now every block looks like it went under some serious re constructive surgery.
My favorite part of Bedstuy was always Tompkins Park. The high-ass monkey bars, the baseball arena, the summer festivals that attracted all shades of Black and Latino, the playground that provided the perfect vacancy for tag and hide-and-go-seek. I remember the smell. The smell of sweat that my brothers and their friends exhausted on the court with strangers playing basketball. If you’re from Bedstuy you know what I’m talking about. Now, it smells like a Sarah Jessica Parker fragrance. And no matter how hard you play basketball and how much sweat you exhaust, that Sarah fragrance will eliminate the odor that made Tompkins park different. I can’t bitch and fuss about the smell anymore. And, in many ways, its upsetting.
The beauty of Bedstuy is dying under its now beautiful facade. But it’s ugliness is what made it so beautiful–
Bedstuy is dying.
Joey Bahamas said,
March 13, 2008 at 3:01 pm
So well written Steven. Neighborhoods in many of the big urban cities are experiencing this very same transformation. The character of these neighborhoods is quickly dying, replaced by cookie cutter condo’s and BMW’s….it is indeed sad. Great post!
Darius T. Williams said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:11 pm
When I lived in Jersey City I went to Bedstuy to meet this guy. It was horrible. I was so dayum scared to be there…fights were breaking out - people were shooting…it was a mess. I’m glad they’re going through a renovation. I haven’t been back since then.
Andrew Williams said,
March 16, 2008 at 12:54 am
I was born in Bed-Stuy, moved away for about 10 years, and recently moved back. So much of Bed-Stuy is not what I remember growing up, but there is still a sense of community among black folk. Sure there was fighting and drugging out in the open back then, but the mostly good working class people who lived there, and still do live here for the most part, had a sense of pride about their neighborhood because it was home.
That Bed-Stuy was synonymous with “Ghetto” back in the day is part of its history, and culture, and shaped the lives of us who lived there in both positive and negative ways. Bed-Stuy’s beauty, as you said, was wrapped up in its ugliness.
queerkidofcolor said,
March 16, 2008 at 3:26 am
Andrew I couldn’t have put it any better myself.
Kiemie said,
March 23, 2008 at 7:00 am
I’m torn with this post. Primarily because I’ve been a brooklynite all my life and I now live in Bed-Stuy and I know I would not have thought about moving here 5 to 10 years ago. I saw first hand how the drugs and violence ran rampant through the community and while there is heavy gentrification occurring, I cannot say that it has hurt the community either.
Unlike Harlem, if you walk down the main streets that guide traffic through the community, you’ll see restaurants, book stores and art galleries and furniture stores owned and operated by those that live here, and many are run by people of color. Most of these businesses did not exist 5 to 10 years ago.
I’ve been in my new apartment for about a month now and the crazy thing that I’ve had to get used to is the silence! The streets were actually silent. So if an increase in police presence is going to allow me to walk my neghborhood at night and not worry about potential danger, i think the trade off is more than even,
oh and lastly Queerkid, Stuyvesant Heights is and always has been a sub division of Bedford Stuyvesant. The Bed-stuy we know is actually 4 smaller neighborhoods, Stuyvesant Heights just being one of them. Of the four though, Stuyvesant heights probably has the majority of the “signature” brownstones and the other architectural details that we come to expect when we visualize The Stuy.
So no Bedford Stuyvesant can no longer carry the Do or Die label. However, I think “Do More and Live Better” is a little more fitting. aand now that my comment has become a long ramble, I’m compelled to post it on my site as well.
Crystal said,
May 12, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Drug dealers keeping your mother and sister safe at night? Can you say co-dependent? This type of low-level thinking is why Bed-Stuy still suffers in certain corridors from violence, poverty and poor education. Get over the ghetto mentality and stop assuming that the gentrifiers have made things safe and better. It was those brownstone owners, tenant organizers and race people who had a vision of something better for their community. We made Bed-Stuy what it is growing to be and if you and others like you stop seeing yourself on the outside of this change we will continue our march toward becoming a strong multi-cultural community of people who love Brooklyn for the sense of community it creates.