Saturday, April 28, 2007
Community News
Have you heard the news? Bushwick is hot. "It's what Williamsburg was in the '90s [and] what SoHo was in the '80s," says Len Moroz, he is the co-owner of Potion Café in the McKibben Lofts building. With the first several condo projects in the area having sold at well above expected prices last year, brokers are predicting that more and more landlords will be converting their rental buildings to condos in the near future. So who's going to buy all these new condos? "Artsy Yuppies," says Douglas Elliman's Lisa Maysonet, who's had her hand in the sale of several new condos in the nabe. "They're artsy in look and feel," she says of the gentrifiers, "but not in occupation." That is, they have a real paycheck but are still partial to the bed-head look. Do you think there are enough of these folks to fuel a continued condo boom in the area or do you not believe the hype? I do, and it is already being demonstrated.
Community News
There are many "amenities" in Bushwick, but they are mostly targeted to a low-income Hispanic population. There is a lot of great Latin food, decent grocery shopping, plenty of laundromats and an overabundance of cellphone and 99-cent stores. The main shopping drags are Broadway under the J between Gates and Myrtle, and Knickerbocker starting at Myrtle going toward Maria Hernandez Park. Bushwick has already gotten quite expensive, and its rapid gentrification is hurting longtime residents who kept it alive after the devastating 1977 blackout.
I have no doubt that Bushwick will only grow in popularity--it's an easy commute to desirable parts of Brooklyn as well as Manhattan. Bushwick is on the come up in connection with real estate.
I have no doubt that Bushwick will only grow in popularity--it's an easy commute to desirable parts of Brooklyn as well as Manhattan. Bushwick is on the come up in connection with real estate.
Community News
The residents of Bushwick are experiencing a health crisis – one that has significant costs related to hospital care and lost days of work and school and exacts an emotional toll no one can quantify. NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) research indicates that the residents of Bushwick bear a “heavy burden of illness and mortality.” The Bushwick community and its partners can overcome this crisis with the investment of time, energy, support, and funding.
The Bushwick Agenda for Children Tomorrow Collaborative (“Collaborative”) – a group of Bushwick residents, service providers, and supporters who meet every month to discuss and strategize about the needs of Bushwick community – has spent the last 18 months discussing a myriad of health issues confronting Bushwick families and children, focusing on obesity and nutrition, asthma, mental health services, and early intervention. The best approach to address the health crisis in Brooklyn is through improved access to quality health care. Improved access to quality health care, as defined by the Collaborative includes: (1) community education about prevention strategies and available services thus empowering families to make healthy choices and change their lives and their community; (2) recruitment and hiring of service providers who are culturally and linguistically competent; (3) availability of programs and services that are operationally accessible - located in convenient places for families, available at the times needed by families, and with a fee scale the uninsured can afford; (4) a sufficient number of programs and services to meet the needs of the community; (5) effective marketing and outreach to families as an essential component of programs and services; and (6) programs and services that collaborate with each other in providing support to families and maximize limited resources in the community. We need help from Health Resource Center, Cultural Competency, and others. Also, to accomplish this, we need the assistance of our residents and partners:Mayor’s Office
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Department of Education,New York City Housing Authority ,Department of Parks and Recreation ,Economic Development Corporation ,Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center. With the collaborative work of the community and its partners, Bushwick will improve the health of its children and families.
The Bushwick Agenda for Children Tomorrow Collaborative (“Collaborative”) – a group of Bushwick residents, service providers, and supporters who meet every month to discuss and strategize about the needs of Bushwick community – has spent the last 18 months discussing a myriad of health issues confronting Bushwick families and children, focusing on obesity and nutrition, asthma, mental health services, and early intervention. The best approach to address the health crisis in Brooklyn is through improved access to quality health care. Improved access to quality health care, as defined by the Collaborative includes: (1) community education about prevention strategies and available services thus empowering families to make healthy choices and change their lives and their community; (2) recruitment and hiring of service providers who are culturally and linguistically competent; (3) availability of programs and services that are operationally accessible - located in convenient places for families, available at the times needed by families, and with a fee scale the uninsured can afford; (4) a sufficient number of programs and services to meet the needs of the community; (5) effective marketing and outreach to families as an essential component of programs and services; and (6) programs and services that collaborate with each other in providing support to families and maximize limited resources in the community. We need help from Health Resource Center, Cultural Competency, and others. Also, to accomplish this, we need the assistance of our residents and partners:Mayor’s Office
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Department of Education,New York City Housing Authority ,Department of Parks and Recreation ,Economic Development Corporation ,Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center. With the collaborative work of the community and its partners, Bushwick will improve the health of its children and families.
About my Community
From its graffiti-strewn artists' lofts, to the hip-hop shops on Knickerbocker, to the volleyball courts jammed with Hispanic kids in Maria Hernandez Park, Bushwick is as diverse as Brooklyn itself. And it is booming.
This is springtime in the life of Bushwick, with businesses sprouting up across its terrain, the shells of factories being cleaned out and re-inhabited, and sparkling new condos are finding footholds. The late 1970s saw the last area breweries close their doors. And due to the massive blackout and subsequent riots and then sustained power outages and looting, the housing stock declined 20 percent.
This bust and boom comes 350 years after Bushwick, along with its neighboring Williamsburg and southern Queens, was last owned and inhabited by the Canarsie natives. Dutch settlers bought the land in 1638, calling it Boswijck—"town in the woods." Two centuries later, Boswijck joined four towns to its south to become Brooklyn. With the merger, Brooklyn inherited the rich farming community that Bushwick had become (its ethnic composition was never simple: from Dutch, it became predominantly Scandinavian and French, then German in the late 18th Century and Italian in the 20th) and profited from its small breweries.
After 1950, many Italian families were edged out by the influx of alot of Puerto Rican immigrants and African Americans—both of these groups still dominate Bushwick. What's missing is the breweries.
What's here is the mid-"L-ification" of what is becoming "East Williamsburg," with art spaces, vintage stores, organic markets, and music venues popping up between the Montrose and Morgan L train stops. It can be real hip—homemade skirts paired with hundreds-dollar boots don't need to follow their resident wearer to Manhattan on weekends. The cheap west Bushwick loft apartments may be hummus-happy, drafty roach homes, but they are filled with musicians and crafters who create by- hip entertainment at home. One loft contains an indoor skate park; another (a former opera house) has a yoga studio. I saw a post-punk Lauper-wannabe on stage at an art space that seemed to serve homemade moonshine. Archive, a film library and coffee shop, hosts screenings, chats, and occasional music.
But most of the time, hanging in the sunshine at Maria Hernandez Park feels a lot more genuine. One-fifth of the area's residents are on public assistance, and garment factories and pungent food-processing plants are prevalent. But so are Make the Road by Walking, a social justice group comprised of hundreds of low-income community members, and Still We Rise, a nonprofit community-advocacy group focusing on HIV/AIDS, education, and affordable housing in Bushwick.Our families and teens stroll through Knickerbocker,looking for clothes and kicks and scoping out all weekend—it is downright bustling and crazy in the summertime, with ices dripping from many hands. In Bushwick, everything happens in the summertime. Maria Hernandez Park is likewise a neighborhood hub in the summer, where all ages, all languages, and all styles seem comfortable. Yes, like everyother neighborhood in Brooklyn, Bushwick has a small rate of crime but none compared to other parts in Brooklyn. Our politicians, Erik Martin Dilan and Diana Reyna along with the 83rd precint make sure of that.
This is springtime in the life of Bushwick, with businesses sprouting up across its terrain, the shells of factories being cleaned out and re-inhabited, and sparkling new condos are finding footholds. The late 1970s saw the last area breweries close their doors. And due to the massive blackout and subsequent riots and then sustained power outages and looting, the housing stock declined 20 percent.
This bust and boom comes 350 years after Bushwick, along with its neighboring Williamsburg and southern Queens, was last owned and inhabited by the Canarsie natives. Dutch settlers bought the land in 1638, calling it Boswijck—"town in the woods." Two centuries later, Boswijck joined four towns to its south to become Brooklyn. With the merger, Brooklyn inherited the rich farming community that Bushwick had become (its ethnic composition was never simple: from Dutch, it became predominantly Scandinavian and French, then German in the late 18th Century and Italian in the 20th) and profited from its small breweries.
After 1950, many Italian families were edged out by the influx of alot of Puerto Rican immigrants and African Americans—both of these groups still dominate Bushwick. What's missing is the breweries.
What's here is the mid-"L-ification" of what is becoming "East Williamsburg," with art spaces, vintage stores, organic markets, and music venues popping up between the Montrose and Morgan L train stops. It can be real hip—homemade skirts paired with hundreds-dollar boots don't need to follow their resident wearer to Manhattan on weekends. The cheap west Bushwick loft apartments may be hummus-happy, drafty roach homes, but they are filled with musicians and crafters who create by- hip entertainment at home. One loft contains an indoor skate park; another (a former opera house) has a yoga studio. I saw a post-punk Lauper-wannabe on stage at an art space that seemed to serve homemade moonshine. Archive, a film library and coffee shop, hosts screenings, chats, and occasional music.
But most of the time, hanging in the sunshine at Maria Hernandez Park feels a lot more genuine. One-fifth of the area's residents are on public assistance, and garment factories and pungent food-processing plants are prevalent. But so are Make the Road by Walking, a social justice group comprised of hundreds of low-income community members, and Still We Rise, a nonprofit community-advocacy group focusing on HIV/AIDS, education, and affordable housing in Bushwick.Our families and teens stroll through Knickerbocker,looking for clothes and kicks and scoping out all weekend—it is downright bustling and crazy in the summertime, with ices dripping from many hands. In Bushwick, everything happens in the summertime. Maria Hernandez Park is likewise a neighborhood hub in the summer, where all ages, all languages, and all styles seem comfortable. Yes, like everyother neighborhood in Brooklyn, Bushwick has a small rate of crime but none compared to other parts in Brooklyn. Our politicians, Erik Martin Dilan and Diana Reyna along with the 83rd precint make sure of that.
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