I grew up in 1980's East New York in Brooklyn by Broadway Junction, which for many Brooklyn residents is like a major landmark because of the structure of its train station that connects the A,C,J,L,Z lines and buses that take you deeper into Brooklyn and out into the Borough of Queens. Living in that area was not easy especially as an awkward kid that grew into an awkward teenager that was just trying to stay out of trouble. Everyone at the time was either on welfare, on drugs, or dying of AIDS from either unsafe sex with prostitutes or needle use. How do I know this well I may have small ears but I have supersonic hearing. Thinking back, probablyt he adults I grew to love are either in jail or dead. There was so much character in seeing the prostitutes on Fulton Street and Rockaway Avenue get out their "Johns" cars and slip the money into their shoes and walk back over to Eastern Parkway and Fulton Street to pick up their next John.
Other fond memories of living in Brooklyn was that I lived with my grandmother and my uncle in a five bedroom apartment on messy Fulton Street and she paid no more than $500, huge spacious, plenty of room especially for a family of people that is used to weighing more than 200lbs. In this living situation space is key.
The dynamics of the city was different then, I was born in 1982 and I have memories as far back as when I was very young. The blackout and riots of 1977 was still fresh in New Yorkers memories. It was the time when fear and poverty, pain and suffering saw no color. People were desperate, it was in the middle of a heatwave during a hotly contested mayoral race that launched Mayor Ed Koch to national stardom and won his first of 3 terms as New Yorks mayor. Anyone old enough to remember the campaigns against Ed Kock "Don't for the HOMO, vote for Cuomo" [referring to then incumbent Mario Cuomo who was seeking re-election] well Mayor Cuomo was an absent mayor during the blackout of 1977 which resulted into a citywide mass riot and arson of many buildings with the Bronx and many parts of Harlem being the worst affected.
After the Blackouts and Riots of 1977 many of the affluent whites deemed it "unsafe" to live in New York City Metropolitan Area. They moved to Connecticut, Upstate NY, New Jersey and many of them moved to Nassau and Suffolk Counties in Long Island never to return again until the real estate boom of the late 90s and new millenium. Well, Another thing to point out growing up in New York City was like living in an episode of HBO "The Wire" or HBO "OZ" but instead of being in prison you were living it in general public. You couldn't avoid not knowing people who were either alcoholic dependents or strung out on crack, cocaine, weed, heroine or dust. It wasn't right but it was something that I learned to accept was around me. Shoot outs were common and you just knew not to hang out in front of the bodega.
During those times rent was controlled everywhere. Now you have to scour for a rent stabilized apartment. Today a one bedroom apartment will start you at $1400 and up. a studio $1200. A two bedroom $1800 and up. To ride the trains and buses today is $89for a monthly pass, I remember when it cost $1.25 to get on the train and we still used tokens not Metrocards. When we did start to get "technological" and use Metrocards, it cost $63 a month to get around New York City and $17 for a weekly pass which was absolutely affordable since at that time, wages were able to support rent, food, utilities and transportation. As we are in a hotly contested health care debate one of the main arguments is that wages have either remained steady or fallen while the price of health insurance has gone up. Well as a resident in NYC that's not the only thing that went up. Food, utilities, rent and even transportation has all gone up which is what has been exposed as nationwide corruption in all jurisdictions. Who suffers? The middle class. Who else suffers? New York City minorities. Everyone is suffering right now regardless or race and status and that is what's so disturbing about the economic climate because I feel like we may be approaching another 1977!
I say bring on the 1977. Though I like Mayor Mike Bloomberg, I think this city can afford another round of burned down real estate and a citywide reintroduction of crack, heroin, cocaine and dust. It's just not enough to have weed and Ecstasy pills, bring on all the hardcore stuff and make it super cheap and affect all areas around the city and let them run a damn fool! It's the only remedy I see to where New York City will become affordable again. We can't really trust the housing market to fail. Despite a 14% unemployment rate which means that 14% of the population is currently out of work which is well above the national average of 9.7%, the housing market is still incredibly strong. Well, if the city becomes to unsafe to live then nobody will want to move here and if particularly affluent whites find it unsafe to live here and decide to move away and the city can't get new tenants to pay this unprecedented rent then what's next but a Housing Market crash!
Having lived through many economic highs and lows whether felt personally or global, it's the only solution I can come up with. Call me an absolutely cynic but you know what I absolutely miss living in a 5 bedroom apartment for no more than $500/month and you know what so does my grandmother who is now living in a Brownsville project complex off of the 3 train by Junius Street train station.
Drink of choice: a "40"
I need a "40" of Zima wit my crack! HOLLA
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