December 6, 2011
To the Members of Community Board 3:
Recently, a group of residents from the converted industrial buildings on Spencer Street between Myrtle and Willoughby got together with the intention to create a community body. It was hoped that via such a group we could address, as a collective, the issues we face here.
On the table was standard fare: safety, parking, traffic, environmental concerns, and the like.
But as we continued talking we uncovered so much more -- and it became quickly clear that the corner of the district we represented (from Classon to Marcy, and Flushing to DeKalb, approximately) had long existed on the fringes of classification and ownership, breeding misunderstanding between those who live and work here and the other community bodies that operate within this district.
Our little pocket of Bed Stuy is unique in many ways, and residents and visitors alike often comment on its seeming multiple personalities, something I heard recently described as the “four H’s: hipsters, homies, hispanics, and hasids.” But our goal here is to remark not on difference, but on similarities, of shared intentions and positive goals. Furthermore, it is our hope that we can work together to move away from the snap judgements and oversimplified classifications that continue to cause so much harm in our efforts to become unified in the interest of a common good.
If our intention in forming the Spencer Myrtle Block Association and in coming to you can be distilled into a single hope, it would be that we will come together in open dialogue, allowing for the pooling of those rich material, virtual, and intellectual resources that we would offer as a united front in the service of creating a sustainable, profitable, safe and beautiful neighborhood.
We hope you will welcome our members to your meetings, which we will attend beginning immediately -- and we hope you will excuse what areas of experience in which we are lacking! We are here to learn and listen, and are equally as interested in your concerns and ideas for the district as a whole as we are to share our thoughts and hopes for this small sector of it. Ultimately, we are here to help.
There is somewhat of a myth painting the renters in this district as part of a primarily youthful and transient population -- a myth that exacerbates the perception of difference in the concerns of the home/land owners in Bedford Stuyvesant’s residential areas with those of renters here . However, the 50 and 90 unit buildings that form the core of our membership are full of long-time renters, many of whom have been in these buildings for around 10 years, and whose ages fall largely between their mid 30’s and 50’s. We may rent but many think of ourselves as “permanent residents,” with a desire to ground and make our lives here. Many of us have renovated and built our spaces with our own resources, much in the way homeowners do. We are committed and connected to this place.
There are many individuals and unmarried people but there are also families here, and an always increasing number of persons who either own or work in local businesses -- some run out of the home, but also many which rely on both storefront and/or studio/manufacturing space in the immediate vicinity.
This mention of local business and in particular manufacturing provides a natural segue into another topic of great interest to us: the recognition and preservation of this portion of the district as one of the rare remaining neighborhoods in new york where light industry not only persists, but thrives alongside a residential population. Where, in fact, it is often this population who supports, begins, owns, or works in these same industrial concerns.
While we of course welcome the financial viability and safer neighborhoods that are said to accompany the growth of the service sector in our neighborhood (ie: restaurants, cafes, shops, and bars) we are even more committed to the goods that are produced here, on a variety of scales. From bakeries to metalwork, from cottage industries making boullion to teams building massive stage sets for tv and video production, we are excited that this is a place where all our diverse populations come together and MAKE things.
The economic downturn frightens us all. But, despite this, small businesses and local, artisinal production continue to see success and consumer growth, as our individual and collective attentions shift towards more people-oriented, sustainable models. Which means to me that our little corner of the district has the potential to serve as a petridish, a blueprint for the continued financial success and growth of the neighborhood as a whole. Which is why we want to talk to you, perhaps at the upcoming meeting, about the zoning changes proposed for Bedford Stuyvesant North.
We have some planners among us and have been in contact with the good people at the Pratt Center; together we have done some fairly substantial research and would be grateful for the opportunity to present some ideas about how to approach the zoning of this complex area. It is our hope that together we can work towards creating a collaborative network of residents, homeowners, and businesses across traditional boundaries to move ahead in fostering an innovative future for our neighborhood -- building the Bedford Stuyvesant we all know is possible together.
Respectfully,
Lynne DeSilva-Johnson
Vice President
Spencer Myrtle Block Association
To the Members of Community Board 3:
Recently, a group of residents from the converted industrial buildings on Spencer Street between Myrtle and Willoughby got together with the intention to create a community body. It was hoped that via such a group we could address, as a collective, the issues we face here.
On the table was standard fare: safety, parking, traffic, environmental concerns, and the like.
But as we continued talking we uncovered so much more -- and it became quickly clear that the corner of the district we represented (from Classon to Marcy, and Flushing to DeKalb, approximately) had long existed on the fringes of classification and ownership, breeding misunderstanding between those who live and work here and the other community bodies that operate within this district.
Our little pocket of Bed Stuy is unique in many ways, and residents and visitors alike often comment on its seeming multiple personalities, something I heard recently described as the “four H’s: hipsters, homies, hispanics, and hasids.” But our goal here is to remark not on difference, but on similarities, of shared intentions and positive goals. Furthermore, it is our hope that we can work together to move away from the snap judgements and oversimplified classifications that continue to cause so much harm in our efforts to become unified in the interest of a common good.
If our intention in forming the Spencer Myrtle Block Association and in coming to you can be distilled into a single hope, it would be that we will come together in open dialogue, allowing for the pooling of those rich material, virtual, and intellectual resources that we would offer as a united front in the service of creating a sustainable, profitable, safe and beautiful neighborhood.
We hope you will welcome our members to your meetings, which we will attend beginning immediately -- and we hope you will excuse what areas of experience in which we are lacking! We are here to learn and listen, and are equally as interested in your concerns and ideas for the district as a whole as we are to share our thoughts and hopes for this small sector of it. Ultimately, we are here to help.
There is somewhat of a myth painting the renters in this district as part of a primarily youthful and transient population -- a myth that exacerbates the perception of difference in the concerns of the home/land owners in Bedford Stuyvesant’s residential areas with those of renters here . However, the 50 and 90 unit buildings that form the core of our membership are full of long-time renters, many of whom have been in these buildings for around 10 years, and whose ages fall largely between their mid 30’s and 50’s. We may rent but many think of ourselves as “permanent residents,” with a desire to ground and make our lives here. Many of us have renovated and built our spaces with our own resources, much in the way homeowners do. We are committed and connected to this place.
There are many individuals and unmarried people but there are also families here, and an always increasing number of persons who either own or work in local businesses -- some run out of the home, but also many which rely on both storefront and/or studio/manufacturing space in the immediate vicinity.
This mention of local business and in particular manufacturing provides a natural segue into another topic of great interest to us: the recognition and preservation of this portion of the district as one of the rare remaining neighborhoods in new york where light industry not only persists, but thrives alongside a residential population. Where, in fact, it is often this population who supports, begins, owns, or works in these same industrial concerns.
While we of course welcome the financial viability and safer neighborhoods that are said to accompany the growth of the service sector in our neighborhood (ie: restaurants, cafes, shops, and bars) we are even more committed to the goods that are produced here, on a variety of scales. From bakeries to metalwork, from cottage industries making boullion to teams building massive stage sets for tv and video production, we are excited that this is a place where all our diverse populations come together and MAKE things.
The economic downturn frightens us all. But, despite this, small businesses and local, artisinal production continue to see success and consumer growth, as our individual and collective attentions shift towards more people-oriented, sustainable models. Which means to me that our little corner of the district has the potential to serve as a petridish, a blueprint for the continued financial success and growth of the neighborhood as a whole. Which is why we want to talk to you, perhaps at the upcoming meeting, about the zoning changes proposed for Bedford Stuyvesant North.
We have some planners among us and have been in contact with the good people at the Pratt Center; together we have done some fairly substantial research and would be grateful for the opportunity to present some ideas about how to approach the zoning of this complex area. It is our hope that together we can work towards creating a collaborative network of residents, homeowners, and businesses across traditional boundaries to move ahead in fostering an innovative future for our neighborhood -- building the Bedford Stuyvesant we all know is possible together.
Respectfully,
Lynne DeSilva-Johnson
Vice President
Spencer Myrtle Block Association
