Can Ditmas Park Save The Middle Class?
Despite tremendous quality-of-life gains, more residents left New York City in 2006 than in 1993. (Brooklyn was the one borough that bucked that trend.) The main reason, says an article from the American Enterprise Institute, is the the rising cost of living for middle-class families. In fact, New York now has the lowest rate of…
Despite tremendous quality-of-life gains, more residents left New York City in 2006 than in 1993. (Brooklyn was the one borough that bucked that trend.) The main reason, says an article from the American Enterprise Institute, is the the rising cost of living for middle-class families. In fact, New York now has the lowest rate of middle-income families of any city; and, except for Los Angeles, it also has the smallest percentage of middle-income neighborhoods. One exception—and a model for the future—is Ditmas Park:
The ‘place’ Ellen and Joe looked for was not just a physical location but something less tangible: a sense of community and a neighborhood to raise their hoped-for children. Although they considered suburban locations, as most families do, ultimately they chose the Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, where Joe had grown up. At first, this seemed a risky choice. While Joe was growing up in the 1980s, the neighborhood—a mixture of Victorian homes and modest apartments—had become crime-infested. The old families were moving out, and newer ones were not replacing them. Yet Joe’s Mom still lived there, and they liked the idea of having grandma around for their planned-for family.
Politicians genuflect to the idea of maintaining a middle class, yet their actions suggest otherwise. In a city that has been losing middle-class families for generations, the resurgence of places like Ditmas Park represents a welcome change. In recent years, child-friendly restaurants and shops have started up along once-decayed Cortelyou Road. More important, some local elementary schools have shown marked improvement, with an increase in parental involvement and new facilities. Even in hard economic times, the area has become a beacon to New York families, as well as singles seeking a community where they will put down long-term roots. There’s an attempt in this neighborhood to break down the city feel and to see this more as a kind of a small town, notes Ellen. It may be in the city, but it’s a community unto itself, a place where you can stay and raise your children.
If cities like New York want to nurture their middle-class populations, the article suggests, they will need to shift their priorities away from “subsidizing developers for luxury mega-developments, new museums, or performing arts centers” and instead focus on “those things critical to the middle class such as maintaining relatively low density work areas and shopping streets, new schools, and parks.” In our opinion, at the end of the day, it’s all about the schools.
The Luxury City vs. the Middle Class [The American]
Arch, you’re absolutely right. Right now, people that have been living here more than 10 years vastly outnumber more recent newcomers, but most of them would not be able to afford their house today. So it’s a stable, middle-to-upper income area that will be slowly changing as the older cohort moves on eventually. Might take quite a while though, because once you’re here you don’t want to leave.
But I want to comment on one line from the article: “The old families were moving out, and newer ones were not replacing them.” What does this mean, that there were empty houses all over the place?
Evfred, the times, they are a changing… I can think of half a dozen wall streeters including hedge fund guys (and one gal) in the nabe now… You got in when the middle class could buy into DP (30 years ago!), as did a lot of the people you seem to know. I love the variety of DP, too… But, I hate to tell you – only those with deep pockets have been able to buy in, renovate and maintain over the past 8 years or so… Oh, and those who made money in the housing market and were able to trade up from an apt. in the Slope to a house in Victorian Flatbush… And a few with (modest) trust funds come to mind as well… We have a log of dear friends in Victorian Flatbush who have been there for a decade or more, but to be honest, none of them could afford to buy a house there now. Like PS 30 years ago… A middle class neighborhood, gentrified and co-opted by the upper middle class.
Having lived in a Victorian Flatbush historic district for almost 30 years and sent 2 kids through PS 217 and one through Murrow HS, the other in Midwood HS, and been able to compare their school experience with their cousins in the “upscale” suburbs, I can say that we’d never leave here. The mix of housing stock, the old and new neighborhood businesses, the mix of people, and the lack of ostentation, even among those of us who live in (formerly!) million dollar Victorians, is unmatched. It’s the kind of neighborhood where your the haircutter, pharmacist, wine store owner, and hardware store greet you by name; where you can have a house with a driveway, backyard, know all your neighbors (some of us have each others’ keys!) have neighborhood picnics, parties and baseball game trips, and still be a half hour from Union Square on the subway.
We can debate middle class forever. My neighbors are teachers, physical therapists, school principals, lawyers, artists, social workers, architects, doctors, etc. No Wall Streeters that I know of, no bond traders, no hedge fund managers, no Fortune 500 CEO’s. I consider this a middle class neighborhood based on how we live and who we are.
Upon reading in my own post it comes across as smartarse. I didn’t mean it that way.
Mopar, get with the new yardstick. The highest average household income group in the US are asians, not whites. It doesn’t mean spit that you can’t afford PS.
sometimes (and i know ill get rocks thrown at me for this) but i wish families stayed out of nyc and left it for singles < 40.
*rob*
Agree with Southbrooklyn and ennulator.
Density and immigrants are characteristics of New York City. Naturally you’re not going to live like a Texas oil rancher here no matter how many millions you have. That means no car and less space per person. Also — gasp! — people from all over the globe.
All we are arguing about here is the change in some Brooklyn neighborhoods from working class to elite. And also, to some degree, the end of racial segregation. I may move to Bed Stuy soon because my income is similar to the people living there even though my skin color is different.
I am not under any illusions that prices in Park Slope are “unnaturally” high because I, a white person who went to college, cannot afford it.
All this talk that middle class people cannot raise children in New York City is total bs. You can buy a very large three-bedroom, pre-war walkup in Queens in a very safe neighborhood with very good elementary schools for $350,000. Actually, probably less now. You will be living with people from all around the globe — some of them with more advanced degrees than you. IMHO, this make the area more rather than less desirable.
Quite a few families in New York City make do by living in three- and four-room walkup railroad apartments even though they may have three or more children. This has been going on for generations, obviously, from the Lower East Side at the turn of the century to Carroll Gardens in the 1950s to Bushwick now.
Yes, ditto, I agree with your statement.
ENY – I’d agree with that with the caveat that the school one is attending must also have the power to separate, or expel, continually disruptive pupils. The absence of that can really bugger things up.