Article in Downtown Express on Gentrification in Chinatown

This was in the Aug.31-Sept. 6 issue of the Downtown Express, which is a free paper that is distributed there. There is a pretty good article on the battle against gentrification by the Asian community in Chinatown, "Game Teaches Chinatown Youth the G-Word" by Annie Lok.

http://downtownexpress.com/de_225/gamesteaches.html

Aug. 25....Party and Fundraiser

Host:	SPEAC & SPAN Collectives
Location:	Eclipse Restaurant 4314 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11232 US View Map | Find a Hotel
When:	Saturday, August 25, 9:00PM
Phone:	718- 851-3936
Join us for a benefit party to support grassroots organizing in Sunset Park, Brooklyn! All proceeds will support the Sunset Park Education In Action Community (SPEAC) School Planning Team - a group of community residents and allies seeking to open a new public community school in Sunset Park - and Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors (SPAN) - a collective of Sunset Park residents organizing to protect the community from over-development and gentrification. Please come out and support! Food & alcohol will be available. A DJ and great live performers will keep you groovin' all night long, plus, there is an outdoor patio space for chillaxin'... We are asking for a minimum $10 donation at the door. SUBWAY DIRECTIONS: R Train to 45th Street MORE INFO ON SPEAC SCHOOL: This school will be founded on * A BELIEF that youth succeed in an individualized, responsive, and rigorous learning environment with clear relevance to the world around them. * AN AWARENESS that wellness is the intersection of social, economic, and environmental justice, individual health, and community strength. * AN UNDERSTANDING that students, families, teachers, and neighbors play an active role as community builders working towards a healthier, more just world. * A COMMITMENT to developing sustainable wellness both within our walls and in the community beyond. MORE INFO ON SPAN: SPAN (Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors) is a group of people who love the community of Sunset Park, Brooklyn and are committed to its preservation and empowerment. We are committed to open and honest communication and education about the past, present and future of our diverse community. We recognize and work to preserve the economic, racial, ethnic and generational diversity of our community. Together, we can maintain and create an environment where all can freely and enthusiastically enjoy everything Sunset Park has to offer, in the present and future, in an atmosphere of mutual respect and equality.

Mural vs. Condo

Hello. My name is Amina. The place I call home is the Sunset Park area of Brooklyn, or more specifically, the Latino area of Sunset Park. (There is a Chinatown here that starts a few blocks from me.) My neighbors are from Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and a few other places. I am half Puerto Rican and half Arab-American and I have lived here since 2001.
For many years the place I call home had suffered a bad reputation. During the time of crack (80s and 90s) a lot of people would not set foot here. I lived in Park Slope at the time, so I did not need to. All I heard about Sunset Park was...Don't go there, it's a real shoot em up.

Then I got displaced, or became an economic refugee. After over six years of living month-to-month in a studio apartment with no lease or one single rent increase, I was told to vacate the premises because my landlady needed the place for her aging parents who were selling their house. When I looked around the Park Slope area, the rents told me I was not the kind of person they wanted there anymore. Which is why I ended up looking in other parts of Brooklyn and found a rent stabilized one bedroom in Sunset Park.

It was easy for me to adapt since I speak Spanish, a skill you needed then to even do your laundry here. During my first year, one guy got shot in the head in a club around the corner from me (that club was closed down), and a woman got shot in front of her children across the street from another club--a gang-related case of mistaken identity. Those two clubs are now a bakery and a church, respectively. Also during my first year year an off-duty police officer while driving drunk wiped out a family. He is now in jail.

So you can see things are getting better. As of today, August 9, 2007 there is still a lot that could be better. But I love my home. I love that all the countries of Latin America are repping here and that we pretty much all get along. Some people are here illegally and some like me are born and raised here, but pretty much everyone is just here to make a better life for themself and their neighbors, sometimes against formidable odds. Their strength inspires me.

MURAL

Last summer work was commenced on a mural on the PS 24 building at 4th Avenue between 37 and 38th Streets. The name of the mural is Feels Like Home: An Immigrant Journey and it is a project of the public school and Groundswell Community Mural Projects Voices Heard Series.

I quote from the wall: "This mural depicts the immigrant experience as told to us by women from the Sunset Park community. Beginning with the women's thoughts about leaving her homeland, the visual journey takes you through the various phases of immigration.
We hope to convey this story in all of its complexities as one full of hardship and happiness, struggle and hope. We celebrate the dedication and determination of these women as they move towards a brighter future."


Over the past year, the mural has become a significant source of pride for the neighborhood
and a second mural project is now underway on the street side of the school building. (More pictures to come!)

CONDO

Well by now you must have surmised that this neighborhood is not full of millionaires. An interesting fact I learned recently is that 40% or more of the housing stock in this area is rent regulated.
Here are some images of the Sunset Park I have been living in for the past 6 years:

Mexican flag in a grocery store window.


Taqueria, 99 cents store, Santo Domingo Invita restaurant.



The Taqueria Mixteca Restaurant


and here are our new future neighbors, on the corner of 36th Street and Fourth Avenue:


This structure is called the Green Walk, and the units are being sold at prices between $437,000 and $775,000.



The condo's website describes the building as being located in "greener pastures" in Greenwood Heights. Actually the building is in a cemetery and when you walk out the door you are in

Sunset Park!!......Welcome to the hood.

WHAT I HAVE SEEN RECENTLY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD...

Stickers like these....this one says "The gringos come, the rents go up."











and these "Hello, my name is Barrio.
Get out gentrifier"









Here they come....



to be continued......