NYTimes: Corcoran steered whites to PH

WhyFi wrote: [quote=LeeHo]Is it not fair to say that white folks=$?

Let's just admit that simple fact.

An insult to all minorities that have made something of their financial lives and a (horrible) rationalization for not striving to achieve if you're a minority that hasn't yet 'made it.'

I would guess that Leeho was joking. :roll:

Yes the Corcoran Group is insulting those minority groups that have lived in Prospect Heights.

There plan must be working becasue there was a primarily African American population in the Area 5 years ago and beyond. As far as I knew the apartments weren't vacant at that time. Thus there wasn't a real change in the population count. The demographics of race and income in the neighborhood has changed and it is noticable to those that have seen this transition.

In terms of rise in property value, this place has sky-rocketed a hell of a lot more than queens. We can attribute this to the media that also steered people to this neighborhood.

Breuckelen wrote: [quote=WhyFi][quote=LeeHo]Is it not fair to say that white folks=$?

Let's just admit that simple fact.

An insult to all minorities that have made something of their financial lives and a (horrible) rationalization for not striving to achieve if you're a minority that hasn't yet 'made it.'

I would guess that Leeho was joking. :roll:
Sadly, I think that that 'joke' reveals a lot of the truth of LeeHo's outlook.

Breuckelen wrote: Yes the Corcoran Group is insulting those minority groups that have lived in Prospect Heights.

In what way? I can see the insult to the minorities that qualified and weren't steered towards the area, but how are the people that have lived here being insulted?

Breuckelen wrote: I don't know? But what is the gentrification process? What does it really mean and posters please refrain from the wikipedia definition because that doesn't help.

When I think gentrification, there are positive and negative notions, but it does insinuate a raise in property value. In terms of Brooklyn, it started in Williamsburg.

When I think of the process, it starts with an affordable place being deemed desirable by artistic types. That then draws people with more money that want to be in the 'happening' place. Sometime in these first two steps, savvy business people realize that these new members of the neighborhood might have needs and wants that aren't being catered to by the current businesses. New businesses move in to fills those needs and wants. This increase in amenities attracts even more people with the money to pay for the services that they want.

It's a process that takes time, and each step can be looked at individually. Taken individually, each step is logical. Looking at it only as a whole might lead some to believe the some sort of conspiracy exists, that some unnatural evolution is taking place, that some sort of insult is being leveled against the long-time residents, but I really don't think that that's the case... also, just because step 1 has been taken, doesn't mean that step 2 is a forgone conclusion, nor that step 3 is inevitable, etc, etc...

I have an acquaintance (who happens to be part of an interracial marriage), who bought a property off Franklin a few blocks north of E.P last year.

This friend then had to find tenants for the several rental units in the building. Mentioned to me that several middle class African American couples had inquired, but passed on the building when they found out the address. Not because of the cost, but because they had other options and didn't want to deal with a sketchy neighborhood.

when i went to the open house i didn't know much about PH either way.
all i knew was it was close to park slope and the subway.

and after the open house when i was walking around the immediate area i did notice how racially mixed the place was. i thought the area demographic wise was half white and half black.

to be honest the best thing i liked about the place was that it was on a peaceful tree lined street.

Breuckelen wrote: [quote=jgregorie]i dont see how any racial steering was happening in my case. anybody who read the posting could have come to the open house and made a bid.

If the place was listed in East New York or Brownsville, would you have bid on the property and why? What made you want to purchase in the Prospect Heights area?

The idea that 92% of the people that came to see the open house where white says something and is not a coincidence. The neighborhood was already popular 2 years ago.

WhyFi wrote: Just my two cents - most of the tenants in my building are black, but are squarely (NYC) middle class...

Same with my section of Clinton Hill. Most of the townhouses are owned by black families, and the prices have been going up up up

Breuckelen wrote: If the place was listed in East New York or Brownsville, would you have bid on the property and why? What made you want to purchase in the Prospect Heights area?

The idea that 92% of the people that came to see the open house where white says something and is not a coincidence. The neighborhood was already popular 2 years ago.

Breuckelen wrote: Franklin has always had a bad reputation and it doesn't surprise me that the African American people that inquired about the property passed it on. They know or know someone that understands Franklin. Regardless, Franklin is in Crown Heights.

1. "Franklin has always had a bad reputation" Always is relative in this context.

2. My point was that there are factors other than race at play when people choose where to live. The fact that Franklin is in a neighborhood adjacent to PH, depending on who you ask, is irrelevant to my point.

I don't use brokers. 8)

pitu wrote: Anybody remember the particulars of a realtor scandal in Brooklyn in the last ten years . . . there was coding system on the applicant's cards, where the real estate office noted their race.

Slimy!

X-brooklynite wrote: But middle class blacks and whites tend to live in separate neighborhoods and don't socialize together all that much. Plus in the past few presidential elections, mc blacks voted overwhelmingly democratic, while mc whites primarily for the republican. The race division almost as much as the class division.

I don't know the actual numbers, but I bet those are nationwide statistics, not stats for within NYC.

interesting read..

Corcoran is wrong to not give people in similar income brackets the same treatment..period.