Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Explaining Myself, Not Very Well

Xmastime wanted to know if I was glad that the city seems to be taking a slight downturn. While I responded to his comments regarding "Everything is just a little askew," I thought I'd take a whack at explaining myself here.

Of course I don't want a return of high crime, unsafe streets, dirty subway stations, homeless everywhere, men crapping on the streets (oh wait, that was me), etc.

But I also don't want more hideous hi-rises. I don't want Harlem to vanish into a sea of gentrification and corprification (that's my own word). I don't want a Duane Reade on every corner (I know, too late). I'm disgusted that Williamsburg and Green Point look more like Tel-Aviv these days with those awful glass buildings everywhere. I'm not against construction, but does every building that goes up have to be in direct contrast to what's already in the neighborhood? Does every architect think he's the new Howard Roark? Peter Keating is more like it.

So does this mean I'm against progress? I'm not sure how we define progress. If a city losing its character and color is progress, then yeah, I'm against it. I'm against turning Willets Point into a strip mall. I was against the westside stadium.

Am I one of those hypocrites who bemoans gentrification after they've gentrified? Probably. After college I made a beeline for Alphabet City and lived on 5th Street and Avenue B. This was 1986. Tompkins Square was full of tents, etc. I loved it. Not the apartment. That was an overpriced room ($520 a month, which was a lot back then)with a floor that you could skateboard on.

Now I look at the East Village and I literally do not recognize it. I dare say my Manhattan Valley hood (not the UES Xmastime, come on!) has more cred. But I played a part in all that by moving there when I did.

I want to see Danny Hoch's one man show on gentrification even though obviously some of that shit applies to me. That said, I won't be buying in Washington Heights or Hamilton Heights.

So what? Is no one supposed to move to New York? That makes no sense. Of course, it doesn't. What's changed is who moves to New York and why. New York used to be a creative and cultural hub as well as the financial center of the world. Now, more often than not, the ones who can come here and stay here are in it for the money. The rest can't make it here anymore.

I don't know where the hell this post is going. I'm sure my views have only become more muddled and I've set myself up for a verbal beat down.

But I'll still smile the empty apartments and retail space inside the two twin monsters on Broadway and 100th everyday on my way to work until the inevitable Whole Foods arrives.

And yes, I'm a hypocrite. I'm saying it now so in a few years when I buy some one bedroom in Hamilton Heights I've covered my tracks here.

But I sure will feel guilty about it.

4 comments:

Xmastime said...

hahaha! sorry, Manhattan Valley, not UES! ;)

one thing thats changed is you dont need to come here to be creative or get "discovered"...you prolly have as good a chance of having your YouTube moment becoming a viral video smash hit as you are coming to NYC to "make it"...therein, the only people that end up coming are those with money anyways.

duane reade opening up a few blocks from me next year! love it! :)

tourguide said...

I can never remember which is first as you move uptown; Hamilton Heights or Hudson Heights. I suspect that both of their borders are amorphous, in the way that realtors now call half of Brooklyn Park Slope.
Columbia has won their planning battle for the Manhattanville area, just north of 125 by the Hudson. That's fine, it has the least amount of land in the Ivies. It will almost certainly bring some of the g-word.
Seems I'm going to have to crusie 125th Street again, because the changes all seem to stop at the Harlem/East Harlem nexus. THe city keeps trying to put in at least semi-high rises around the 125/Lexington subway/Metro North train stop, but it's still on the drawing board for now, from what I know. Breathe easy, the area still looks like shit, unless you're looking for a cut-rate nail parlor.

tourguide said...
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LoveJoy said...

Musta missed this part of your post on first glance . . .

You could NOT skateboard on that floor. Let's see . . . wooden floorboards, painted over two hundred times? You said it was a room. Just a room. You would have killed yourself on a board.

Were you part of the gentrification with that particular real estate tranaction? Maybe, but the person who rented the place before you would answer the description of one of the whitest people on the planet, so consider that trail blazed. Maybe your role was to continue the trend, but really, you did not start the fire there. It was already lit.

I get the need to curb wildfire development. I do. I just don't think you need to beat yourself up over it as much as you may be doing.

Just my two cents.