Sunday, 3 November 2013

The High Price Of Bedford Stuyvesant Rentals

By Allyson Burke


It may seem a contradiction in terms to want to find a rental in Bedford Stuyvesant or to be doing anything but buying up properties and getting rid of rentals, but Bedford Stuyvesant rentals raise some of the most interesting questions about the direction of the neighborhood. There was a time when to rent there meant nearly assuring yourself of becoming the victim of crime. Even now with many new properties fixed up or old ones torn down the crime rate is too high for most. Two gentrification efforts have taken place in the twenty-first century, one in 2000 and one in 2010. The neighborhood is changing in good and bad ways.

Black populations spilling over from Harlem were the first residents of Bed-Stuy when it incorporated into an official neighborhood in 1930. Several public school serving the community including a high school of business and technology named after Paul Robeson spot the area. Located in the northwest part of Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy is noted for its lovely brownstone townhouses. These buildings make great fixer-uppers for wannabe designers or clever architects. Social ills have always plagued efforts to improve this place.

As more and more young, upwardly mobile whites and blacks mingle in the surge towards neighborhood improvement through property ownership, rental opportunities and new business, Bed-Stuy is losing some of its older, disabled, ill and poor residents forced out by new pricing and few laws to protect them. The proximity of Bed-Stuy to the island of Manhattan makes it an especially good place to live and commute to work without paying Manhattan prices. However, older long time residents do not have that option.

many notable African-Americans have been born, grown up and lived in Bed-Stuy. Among them are the politician Shirley Chisholm, singer Lena Horne, musician Richie havens, and actress Vanessa Williams. Rap music has been highly popular and numerous well known rappers have emerged from Bed-Stuy streets. The most noteworthy white person to have grown up there was comedian Jackie Gleason.

Lower prices for property, transport, proximity to Pratt, and overall affordability make this place a gem for opportunistic thinkers. Gentrification implements new policing at the same time and so crime rates are driven down. Crime has always made Bed-Stuy cheaper to live in than other neighborhoods. It remains a frontier for those willing to invest in order to secure property and assets in New York, even if it is in Brooklyn. The whole of Brooklyn is becoming more desirable.

The problem of gentrification is that it tends to dramatically change the character, texture, and long-term tenancy of a neighborhood and its populations. It almost always forces out poor people in favor of those who can pay high rents when renovations have taken place. These people have frequently lived in these places for decades; are seniors, the ill, or the disabled.

the history of immigration in Bed-Stuy is one of African and Caribbean influx. Many new families there are also black, but upwardly mobile and middle income. Landmarks such as Pratt make for a positive and educated community, one which will also invest in lowering crime and developing.

while some changes, especially in crime rates, are desirable in most lower-income neighborhoods, Bedford Stuyvesant rentals and their prices may indicate that this once historically poor and black neighborhood is rapidly changing and becoming a place where many African-Americans are no longer at home. It is not sustainable thinking to displace older residents and people with disabilities.




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