I guess you get to a point with anything — when the love just stops. I have been thinking about it and I think Brooklyn has stopped loving me (for now). That’s not to say that we won’t eventually come back here — because we love Brooklyn, I think it’s just time to leave for a bit. It seems many others are having the same problems as we — hence, the same thoughts.
When you are getting priced out of your own hood (happening a lot lately in my fine borough) it makes it hard to move on with future plans for your life. Yes, it’s convenient to travel to our jobs, but is that enough? It’s finally a time in our lives when we can buy a property and it’s hard to give that up just because the place we live is too overpriced and inflated to buy anything.
Park Slope, Red Hook, Williamsburg, DUMBO and BoCoCa have been referred to as Brooklyn’s “Creative Crescent,” due to a high volume of self-employed creative professionals. Park Slope is in first place with over 3,500 self-employed creative pros reported in 2003. Now, there are many more. Recently, with the strange shift in the NYC real estate market, this group is getting priced out of Brooklyn. Not long ago, many people like these professionals and a large number of artists were priced out of Manhattan. It didn’t take long to price the whole population out of Brooklyn. This crisis is being called the “single largest challenge facing New York’s creative core.”
What would New York be, – hell, what would BROOKLYN be – without this “creative core”? If all of the artists and designers, etc. keep being priced out of this town, where will they go? We are going to Jersey City, but where are all the others going? And what will this borough be in a few more years? Without culture, without art (or maybe just without the artists)… Whatever the case may be, the prospect seems bleak.
And it’s not just the artist community (such a vital part of our culture) it’s also the middle class. What would Brooklyn be without the middle class either? I feel like Brooklyn has always been a low to middle class borough. In recent years, we’ve watched the upper echelon of New York City society come across the river and inflate the prices of our homes and rental spaces. Families making between $80k and $150k a year can’t make it. How is that possible? Where are the people making under that?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Wait for the election (could make things worse). Wait for the “bubble to burst” (we’ve waited decades for that). Wait for the market to level out (???). Just wait…
I enjoyed your writing style and I’ve added you to my Reader. Keep these posts coming. Karen.
Now, there are many more. Recently, with the strange shift in the NYC real estate market, this group is getting priced out of Brooklyn.
There’s a whole lot more to Brooklyn than the four neighborhoods closest to Manhattan….It’s certainly possible to find affordable housing in other parts of the borough.
Yes Ben K., you are right. However, I was referring to the “Creative Crescent” which is limited to Park Slope, Red Hook, Willyburg, DUMBO & BoCoCa.
This much-hyped “Creative Crescent”, which in the past was strictly limited to Manhattan, would never have happened if those same people had not been priced out of the East Village, Chelsea, Upper West Side, etc.
I was priced out of Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill in 2001. While I was sad to leave, and I spent a very happy seven years there, I’ve found that other neighborhoods have a lot to offer as well. Good luck finding some place that makes you happy!
Thanks BestView. Where did you land? We’re looking in Jersey City, but still hate the idea of leaving Brooklyn.
Thanks Karen, keep coming back!
I grew up in Brooklyn (43 years next month, baybee!) and never heard of this crescent of which you speak. I left for Beacon a few years ago because I no longer loved Brooklyn. There are loads of ex-Brooklyn artists here. However, not enough for my liking, so I had to get a place back in Bed Stuy too. Now I’m happy to have the connection, but I don’t think I’d ever want to go back full time. I believe the only reason I’m so drawn to it is because it will always be my home. Brooklyn isn’t the universe. You can make yourself happy wherever you are. Just choose right. Jersey City should be great!
We were contributors to that high number of self-employed and creative professionals living in BoCoCa and Park Slope in the earlier part of this decade, and were priced out. We even left the city for the Hudson Valley (further north than Beacon, but we considered Beacon!) only to return a year later.
We looked in Jersey City and liked it, but settled in Ditmas Park and are very happy. Lots of creatives and self-employed. Prices going up all the time but for now, lower than the others and really very convenient and pleasant.
Best of luck!
Thanks Amy! Glad to hear you came back and are doing well! Best of luck to you, too!
Nice blog, i have added it to my favourites, greetings