Sunday, June 8, 2014

Brooklyn's on fire

On the cover this month, Abe Ana Choveche.
Design by K.K.W
Out-pacing the rest of NYC: Brooklyn's on fire. Photo's & text by K.K.W.


Looking around these days, who the hell could imagine that it was populated by the Canarsie tribe? Between the current residents, the recently arrived, newly arrived, and the rest who will quickly follow, its hard to tell who loves Brooklyn more.

East 18th & Beverly Road. 
Dumbo is posh, Park-slope is a jewel, and with most of Manhattan priced-out, its only natural for people to start flocking here in droves. Back in 2006 when I lived on St Mark's in Brooklyn, there were very few "young-people" there like myself. The neighborhood was undesirable, somewhat grimmey and a little dangerous at times.
Church Ave. A major stop on the Q-train.
Atlantic Ave, while Barclay's Center is going up.
Drugies, junkies, vagabonds, thugs, wanna-be thugs & the "usual suspect's" cavorted with the everyday respectable people who called the area home. Now Crown-Heights and Bedstuy have both seen a drastic influx of new residents, causing residential constuction, road improvement and increased police patrol. Changing the neighborhood. 
Bushwick sector. Its young people like these
two who are helping to change Brooklyn. 
Most of my friends though it was "a little bit ghetto", and not really a "good neighborhood". And at times I had to agree; though there was many reasons why the neighborhood was great. Meanwhile on Myrtle the "Toren" would soon be up; one of many new luxury building in North Brooklyn only minutes from the Brooklyn & Manhattan bridges. 

A former hospital across from Prospect Park,
on Parkside Ave. 
In the South, Courtelyou Road would have new eatery's, and bars to match the successive waves of new residents to area [Ditmas Park].  Williamsburg has been a major destination over the last 10 years, especially for artists, and with this would follow new buisnesses, places to eat, and a wave of residental & commercial constuction.
A former hospital across from Prospect Park,
on Parkside Ave. 
A former hospital across from Prospect Park,
on Parkside Ave. 
Between 2003 & 2012 private sector employment spiked by 19.8%, nearly double the amount of growth for the rest of the city [10.6%]. By 2013 there were more then a half million private sector jobs [with wages @ more then 18.7 billion].
Barclays Center, under construction. 
"..its a remarkable transformation thats changing neighborhoods and the economy. Its our job tp make sure this is a rising tide that raises all boats..." (Mayor Bill De Blasio). By 2011 there was about 50,000 businesses, with many more by now. 
Broadway Sector. 
Broadway Sector. 
The borough's largest job sector is health care and social services, which contributed 33.1% of employment. Along with this the leisure and hospitality industry [such as restaurants & bars] grew considerably; 10,000 jobs between 2008 2012. Two weeks ago the City Council approved a 1.5 billion redevelopment plan for the former Domino Sugar Factory site in Williamsburg that will create  2,000 permenant jobs and new offices space [not a balanced equation, of course].  
City Points construction project. Formerly
Deklab Market, on Flatbush Ave. 
Tillary Street near Myrtle. 
If you would like to know more, go to:www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/realestate/moving-deeper-into-brooklyn-for-lower-home-prices.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0. Some info for this article was taken from the article "Brooklyn's Boom",  by Ivan Perreia, from Am New York. 'Art is the reason, art is the way'

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