glass houses, stones, etc.

Subject: Re: glass houses, stones, etc.

Asil wrote: So it's not just the long-time residents making noise.

I'm sure that you're 100% correct, but...

Not trying to be a smartass, but simply asking a question - do you feel that it was ever stated or implied that only long-time residents were/are responsible for noise?

Also, why do white faces = new to the neighborhood?

To me, inconsiderate people are inconsiderate people, no matter their race or how long they've lived in a given neighborhood. There are a-holes of all races and origins...

I have lived in this neighborhood for seven years now, and it's plainly obvious that white faces are new faces. My roommate and I were the only white people in my building when I moved in five years back - now I think honkeys are a majority.

And yes, since the white people - mostly morons just out of college excited to get chewed up by New York City and spit back to whatever strip malled suburb they're from - have moved into the building noise has been WORSE. Late night parties, chatty co-eds smoking cigarettes on the front stoop while blathering on their cell phones, etc.

I tried blasting King Diamond out of my window.

Maybe there's some validity to your idea of ignoring the racial tension inherent in gentrification situations. That could be the answer to all racial issues - ignoring them!

Subject: Re: glass houses, stones, etc.

Asil wrote: Given some of the recent discussions on this board re: noise on and around St. Johns Place and the endless long-time residents vs. yuppie gentrifiers debate, I feel compelled to mention something.

I was kept awake until 3am this morning by a big party in the back yard of the Ripple Bar. The back door was wide open, tables were set up in the yard, people were out there talking and yelling, and loud music was spilling out the door. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think this is even their yard, I think it belongs to the first building around the corner on St. Johns.

Anyway, the Ripple is a relative newcomer to the neighborhood. Since they were kind enough to set up a blindingly bright light in the yard, I could plainly see (and hear) lots of white faces out there, young hipster/yuppie types. I'm guessing that the party had to do with First Saturday. Maybe these folks were visiting; I'm sure at least some live around here.

So it's not just the long-time residents making noise.

It's funny that you mention, you are guessing that the party at ripple had to do with first saturday since the faces were white. Are you suggesting that Ripple is a "Black" bar? Have you ever been in there? This thread started with race and thats why it is based on the race issue...

Ripple as a name has been in the neighborhood for 2 1/2 years and it used to be called ButtaFly. It still has the same majority parter through the years of ButtaFly and Ripple. So it isn't a realative new comer to the neighborhood. In fact it took the neighborhood to make it...Way before the New York Time wrote about the neighborhood and North Slope spilled into Prospect Heights. The bar existed. Its obvious that you don't get what you are talking about.

Subject: Re: glass houses, stones, etc.

qtrain wrote: [quote=Asil]I could plainly see (and hear) lots of white faces out there

"I hear white faces."


that's an amazing skill to hear white faces...

Subject: Re: glass houses, stones, etc.

WhyFi wrote: [quote=Breuckelen]that's an amazing skill to hear white faces...

There's a subtle difference in the way the reflect sound - amazing, indeed.

And you might be able to pick it up... if you were a bat.

Subject: Re: I was at the party

RBG wrote: So, the blame for Saturday's noise at Ripple can be blamed on EVERYONE...old people and new, young and old, black and white.

Yaaay, everyone! I mean, boooo, everyone! I mean... oh, man, I'm so confused.

Not to be too cornball, but... I was out at Coney Island one night a few weeks ago with some friends and some people were having a little dance party on the boardwalk that was very mixed, both in terms of race and age, and everyone was having a blast. A police car came nudging its way down the boardwalk and the DJ hollered out for the cops to put on their "disco lights" for us and they obliged, and then a parks department truck came from the other direction and the driver started honking her horn in time to the music -- it was just such a fun situation.

They were playing mostly old funk stuff, but then they put on that Steely Dan song, "Peg," and everyone got into that one just as much as any other song they'd been playing. There was this great moment when the DJ turned down the music just before the line -- and then everyone shouted it out in unison -- "I know I'll love you better!" and I remember thinking how cool it was that this completely mixed crowd was having such a blast together. It's nice to hear there was a similarly friendly vibe going down at this party, noise problems notwithstanding. It was just a really nice moment and the kind of thing that makes you feel good about living in New York.

Much deeper than any racial or economic tension, this neighborhood is divided between those who like to sleep and those who like to party.

I used to live on Wash ave...in a big, pretty apartment that faced the front....it was the loudest apartment i've ever lived in...noise all day and all night...so i moved to so called "crazy lane"...i now live in a quiet apartment facing the back...washington ave was torturous to live on...

qtrain wrote: Much deeper than any racial or economic tension, this neighborhood is divided between those who like to sleep and those who like to party.

this is something that has been on my mind for some time now
though i see it as a little along the lines of "young" & "old"
granted these are relative not necessarily chronological terms
but even though i believe i am officially "old"
(so no, not a yuppie, & for more reasons than just age)
i still have a pretty clear vantage point from where i was as "young"

and one thing that has most definitely changed for me is my relationship to "quality of life" issues

i grew up in nyc, on the 2nd floor, on an avenue, before there were double pane windows,
i never thought street noise of any kind would be a factor in my life
but
guess what
it is

i am staying on classon now and it is REALLY loud
(tho not as loud as right off canal st. where i lived for 25 yrs)
but my home is on park place, which i love
and it is REALLY quiet in the back
and sometimes when i get bothered by something other than the squirrels screaming at each other,
i do have to remind myself that i choose to live in the city,

in my younger days i was totally "live and let live"
and while i considered myself to be ubber respectful,
for a long time i didn't have a sense about how my life style might negatively impact someone else's
that is something that seems to come with age.

and
honestly, imho
that's what a lot of this is about:
"kool young things in love with their street kred" vs "can't i just live my life without intimately experiencing yours"

sidebar
when you are dismissing those sirens as "just part of the city experience that we all should embrace"
have you stopped to reflect that isn't just background noise?
those sirens represent lives potentially in danger,
a person shot, a heart attack, a fire and the families that will be affected.
because that's what community really boils down to: caring about what's around you as if it were your own

RBG wrote: I used to live on Wash ave...in a big, pretty apartment that faced the front....it was the loudest apartment i've ever lived in...noise all day and all night...so i moved to so called "crazy lane"...i now live in a quiet apartment facing the back...washington ave was torturous to live on...

this is me, my room faces the bright lights of thriftway & the martial arts studio although mayday seems to have their brights off these days - it is nearly as bright in my room at night as it is in my room on a cloudy day. i often wake up to the sounds of martial arts and confuse that with the sounds of my neighbors having sex. still the best place to live ever, i would rather my neighborhood be alive than dead. although, i honestly try to sleep elsewhere friday & saturday night to avoid the ripple//party space noise.... but i am also in bed before 2am on fri/sat, so whatever, it's brooklyn.

Neene wrote:

in my younger days i was totally "live and let live"
and while i considered myself to be ubber respectful,
for a long time i didn't have a sense about how my life style might negatively impact someone else's
that is something that seems to come with age.

...because that's what community really boils down to: caring about what's around you as if it were your own

amen to Neene.