Community Board 1 – Jonathan

In an area spanning from north, Greenpoint, to south, Williamsburg, Community Board 1 area’s ethnic makeup seems to be very diverse. Mostly white and black individuals live in this hip, cool Brooklyn. In terms of socio-economic composition of the neighborhood, middle class Bohemians predominantly live here for its authenticity followed by working class who escape the high rents of the city in search for affordable housing and lastly small portion of rich, upper class, who fight the middle and lower class in efforts to invest large amount of money in modernizing the area with high rises and commercial buildings, backed by the city governments.

Personally, the main issue that the people who are living here face is the struggle between the interests of the Haves and the Have Nots. “Have nots” are the middle and working class people who are resisting the Haves for their interest. “Haves” are the groups who have power; living in a capitalist society, money is the source of such power. These haves want to create more power by various means but one way, in this situation, is materialistically, by planning and constructing areas to “Manhattanize” to make Brooklyn more attractive to the world and to increase in revenue. On the other hand, the Community Board, comprised of more or less 50 volunteers who live and work in the neighborhood, who ultimately love the place they live, discuss and advise community issues. According to their District Needs Statement, main thing they ask for is housing. They argue that in order to create a dynamic economy of the neighborhood, the rent-burdened residents need to live in affordable housings so that they may remain viable and create a stable work force.

The pressure “from above” is from the Haves such as private investors and the city government. They wish to develop parts of Williamsburg and Greenpoint from once-empty industrial zone lined with trash and decorated with graffiti into a radically different skyline of Brooklyn shorelines. Their interest seems to be raising up towers after towers to let upper class to move in to the buildings. Such transformation may seem as improvements to the city and its surrounding areas, however, on the other side, the lower class people are gentrified as more and more buildings create neighborhoods unaffordable. The pressure “from below” are the lower class and local community boards such as Community Board 1. They think about the neighborhood they live in and figure out ways to improve the residents lives. Housing is one of their main goals of the message delivered to the “above.” Hopefully mayor de Blasio’s Affordable housing plan will do well and alleviate many of the rent and economic burdens lower class experiences.

It is true that Community boards only have the power to advise, but I think that it doesn’t mean their voices are not heard. Although city governments may dismiss their statements and fund areas that they prioritize, issues such as rent-burdening class of people are not only covered by community boards. Often times we see mass media cover stories of issues the minority and the under-represented face. Countless articles make headlines about the problems of city and each time they raise the awareness. In professor Zukin’s chapter, “How Brooklyn Became Cool,” she examines the history of northern Brooklyn, such as Williamsburg and Greenpoint, on the influx of various people and how it made Brooklyn cool. She notes that with the coming of media coverage of newly transforming Brooklyn, the place began to become new “authentic” neighborhood. The role of media was evident in that it hastened the transformation of Brooklyn into both artists’ and middle class’s new favorite place to go. Similarly, media coverage of issues like affordable housing can have a huge impact in city government’s decision.