Anti-Gentrification Activists to Protest Real Estate Summit at Brooklyn Museum, Tuesday Nov 17
For those not aware, the Brooklyn Museum is renting out part of its space tomorrow for a Conference of Real Estate professionals.
People will be protesting the event because they believe that:
- the museum should not host such conferences.
- Brooklyn has had enough gentrification and development, and/or
- they object to the various illegal activities that some in the real estate industry engage in.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1650083955247975/
Comments
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About 40 people out there as I caught the subway to work. The irony of the banner being obstructed by one of the primary signs of gentrification (bicycles) is rich.
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An oxymoron in this whole thing is that many of the low income people who move do so by their own free will after taking the buyouts from the landlords. If they would stay put maybe there would be an end to this or at least a slowdown. There's one family across from my office, landlord kept trying to get rid of this 94 year old woman who's been living in the building for about 45 years. The offer was up to $100,000 and still she didn't take it so the landlord is renovating the floors above and below hers and she's there until she dies. And there's nothing they can do about it. That's the kind of demonstration you need. Picketing in front of the museum may get some media coverage but it will be forgotten by tomorrow.
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How far would we have to go back in history to find a time when Brooklyn was not for sale?
400 years?
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Well, the Canarsie Indians sold Manhattan and they didn't even own it so I guess everyone is in real estate for the money. Why should the Brooklyn of today be any different.
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a bit of a mercenary view point, but you're not wrong. so many people are like "remember the brooklyn of 30 years ago!!!!" but they forget the brooklyn of 60 years ago...100 years...200 years....if they hadn't forgotten maybe they'd learn a little bit about how the wheel turns and how to try to avoid getting crushed
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We have to blame the whole high price of housing on the Jimmy Carter presidency and runaway inflation years. Bought my first house in Brooklyn in 1980 and sold it seven years later for nearly four times what I paid. Before then housing prices were somewhat stable. My parent's house was about 25K new in 1960 and when they bought it in 1968 in was still only 32K. After that even when the first housing bubble popped owners realized that in certain areas they were sitting on a gold mine.
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There are many reasons for housing in NYC being expensive, but my personal favorite is the disappearance of good jobs in much of the country, and the preference for living in cities.
This has caused an increased in demand, which has caused prices to rise.
...and one to be able buy a lovely house for $100k in many US suburbs.
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Try 1960. Then you could have a whole building for what an apartment costs today. How short are our memories!How far would we have to go back in history to find a time when Brooklyn was not for sale?
400 years?
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Prices have clearly gone up, but -as you point out- buildings (and vacant lots, and thus Brooklyn) was for sale.
Are they purposing a price ceiling for all of these types of real estate?
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Back in 1995 my ex father in law sold a 34 family (no typo 34 family) on Butler Place just off GAP for $600,000.
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Was it poorly maintained and/or occupied by rent stabilized tenants?
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Not at all....matter of fact the new owner turned the building into a co-op. Probably made a bundle.
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Was your ex father in law savvy enough to market the property wisely, or was he un-savvy to the degree that he could have done much better?
...that seems cheap even for 1995.
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I seriously doubt you can do that in the DC suburbs. I'm not even sure you can do that in the Philadelphia suburbs.There are many reasons for housing in NYC being expensive, but my personal favorite is the disappearance of good jobs in much of the country, and the preference for living in cities.
This has caused an increased in demand, which has caused prices to rise.
...and one to be able buy a lovely house for $100k in many US suburbs.
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I suspect I'd have the best luck in the Midwest.
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Press re: the protest
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maybe it's because i was raised by immigrant parents who grew up in a country with several socialist revolutions/decades of political unrest, but it's unfathomable to me anyone could protest development on the basis that cheap housing in the most desirable city in the world is somehow a right.... yes, corporations buying swaths of brooklyn en masse is worrisome, especially when they're based in foreign countries, but you lost me when you complain your rent in bushwick has gone up 30% and therefore you're mad as hell and want to fight the phantom menace of "Gentrification"every bit of work i've done up until now led me to be able to buy my own apartment. yeah, it's a 1 bedroom in flatbush, and laughable compared to the 12-unit brick building in chicago my parents owned when they were my age, but it's a start. the important part is that i'm not throwing my money into the bottomless pit that is rent. too many people in this city think of rent as just "the thing that you're supposed to do in new york" when in reality it's supposed to be a temporary solution. no one is campaigning for more affordable co-op conversions in the city--just affordable rental housing aka the short-term bandaid solution. people who've rented for 40 years! i can't believe it! it's mind boggling!i have so many friends in their 30's, getting married, with decent jobs, thinking about having kids, and they're still renting. i just want to knock on their heads and be like "HELLOOO where is your kid going to live, a closet?" i think a lot of them assume they'll just magically end up in the suburbs or something, or another city, and they never seem to think about the fact that if they bought in the city now, they could sell later and it would go a LOOONG way in a lot of places in the country.
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buy/rent ratios in nyc favor renting unless you want to make a huge bet on appreciation (which has paid off in brooklyn recently but Past Performance is Not Necessarily Indicative of Future Results)— also rent stabilization, if you have it (and one can still get it in flatbush) gives one stability in future expenses
you can save the excess and invest it in other instruments than real estate— and that, too, goes a LOOONG way in a lot of places in the country. -
This doesn't happen in all parts of the country but when I owned my house in New Jersey it lost 20% of its cost when newer houses were being built that weren't that much more expensive. Took about five years just to get back to the original purchase price. The laws of supply and demand are very noticeable in the real estate market and that's why housing has soared but it doesn't always and renting isn't always a terrible option. Besides, there's a lot of people who don't know one end of a screwdriver from the other and if you can't do basic maintenance or even some of the harder stuff you have no business owning a house because you'll be paying for everything.
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It is all about demand, and some demand exceeds regional norms:
Quote:When looking at where to build, Mack said he pays attention to how people commute –“We’re looking for places where there are bike lanes, but also where people are riding fixed-gear bikes,” he said.
“The quality of life is not where it needs to be to absorb supply,” he said. As it inevitably does when the topic of emerging markets comes up, panelists also discussed the Bronx. Bold New York’s Jordan Sachs noted a demand among younger, more affluent consumers to be “the first group” to take part in the borough’s redevelopment.
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Suppleknuckles-- Buying makes way more sense in the long run, and monthly costs (mortgage + charges) are often comparable to rent. The major problem is the down payment. Because NYC is so expensive (and the presence of many tempting expenses) most people live month to month and cannot save the now 20-30% needed for most down payments.
I myself have been "browsing" to buy for a couple of years now, but as I save up for a down payment, apartments are getting more expensive. They are going up at a faster rate than my savings and now I feel even further from my goal.
If you happened to be in a decent financial situation when the housing crash happened or a few years ago when there were good deals in PLG, Flatbush it Crown Heights, then buying was a great option. If you missed that boat for whatever reason, then you're probably out of luck unless a 75-100k inheritance lands on your lap. -
Buying is certainly not achievable, or even well advised, for most NYC residents.
Here is a reaction to an article on the demonstration: https://medium.com/@sergeiburbank/the-madness-of-the-anti-gentrification-crowd-491113855a27#.mmalo5was -
At least some gardens are being protected thanks to 596 Acres.
http://gothamist.com/2015/11/18/community_gardens_ftw.php -
I continue to fear 596 Acres is doing the average community gardener more harm than good.
...if I was a legitimate owner of a vacant lot, I might deny aspiring gardeners permission to use the land out of fear that when I ultimately told them "your time is up, and I hope you had fun", they would drag me through an expensive and lengthy court process.
It will be interesting to see whether land trusts or the parks dept ultimately ends up with these lots, or whether they just end up in the hands of a different developer with the city keeping the proceeds.
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I don't know that I'd be that worried about it. None of the 596 cases involve people who owned property, gave permission then changed their minds. The cases are always ones where a mystery "purchase" happens with the gardeners being none the wiser.It seems to me that in those cases where the ownership is unquestioned (like the Franklin Ave garden), the gardens disappear quietly without any issue.
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..The mere presence of a garden without a land trust or Park Dept sign on it, seems to peak the interest of those in the real estate industry who seek quick profits.
In many ways, the lots occupied by gardeners attract the same sort of people that are attracted to office workers passed out alone on the subway at 2 AM.
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The role community gardens continues to evolve. In the 60's garden were bulwarks against blight and abandonment where isolated and frightened folks came together for reassurance and support. Now the focus is on food production for resilience. Given climate change and volatile fuel supplies, who knows when or if that next shipment of California tomatoes will arrive. And life without tomatoes..... Hardly worth living.
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Will Detroit be the first 21st century city just as it was the first 20th century one?
http://naturalsociety.com/massive-self-sustaining-urban-farm-to-replace-detroit-blight/ -
@Capt. Planet....you're too much of a fatalist. There are no more volatile fuel supplies and you can get tomatoes from NJ. The sky is not falling.
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California is at the beginning of a century long drought. Conventional fossil fuel production has peaked. Because the mainstream media refuses to discuss these facts doesn't make them any less real.
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