A few years ago you couldn’t find a more vocal opponent to the proposed construction over the Atlantic Avenue railyards than I was. Sure, the railyards is a patch of blight in a community that has been resurgent, but at what price to the existing community must we accept redevelopment?
New York City on the whole is squeezing the middle class like so much ripened citrus we are almost wrung free of our nectar. What makes this city such a wonderment in the first place are all the people making a living here despite our various ethnic, religious, politic and economic backgrounds. The city is becoming as segregated as a state in the antebellum south. The separations aren’t just racial, but more pronounced along economic lines.
How the fuck does the Bronx end up as the poorest urban county in America? Simply by Manhattan owning the inverse proportion of wealthy residents. LM sent me an online article from CNN/Money featuring some of New York City’s wealthiest families. Peep this shit…
What they all have in common is that their fortunes are tied directly to the land. Forget the stock market, or even broadcasting. New York City wealth is all about the ground that you walk on and who has claim to it. This is why I had such a great concern for the development slated for Brooklyn. This boro has the largest population of minorities and new immigrants who will be the last people to be recognized and protected when the big money is on the line. That big money is in the form of the development company led by real estate mogul BRUCE RATNER.
The ambitious project in downtown Brooklyn called MetroTech is spreading outwards to the west in the high gloss DUMBO arts community. It is spreading northward by capturing Fort Greene and Clinton Hill in its wake and it has its eyes firmly set on the east where the Atlantic Avenue railyards are. But with all of the noise for change and all of the young, new-monied folks moving into Brooklyn (read: w… you already know), there is still a voice that must be heard.
JOY CHATEL owns a venerable building on the downtrodden Duffield Street. Her building was formerly a stopover on the Underground Railroad. This was one railroad that she was not about to let RATNER demolish for his shiny new retail playground Brooklyn. She rallied for her rights to keep her home. She mobilized media not just around her home, but for the cause that we can not just push poor people out into the ocean. The courts listened to her arguments and this week she was victorious in her efforts.
By embracing new media Mrs. CHATEL has shown that activism has many forms and formats. You can stand up for your rights by sitting down for a few moments to blog to some of your best friends and let them know what is important to you. It wasn’t enough for the city to rename Duffield Street into Abolitionist Place. Mrs. CHATEL and her friends made the city follow through with action that preserves our American heritage.
