Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
New York Shitty Day Ender: The Unbearable Blightness of Being
Filed under: 11211, Bloomblight, Culture War, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
As I mentioned previously, the online and offline zeitgeist in north Brooklyn— be it northside, southside or even Greenpoint was on decidedly on the surly side today. I have spent a great deal of my day patiently listening to people complain about one thing or another that pisses them off. Now it is my turn.
218 North 9 Street
I have no idea who inscribed this on the rapidly deteriorating construction fence which graces this site, but he or she hit the nail on the proverbial head. Follows are a few amenities you can find at this property located in the heart of fashionable Williamsburg.
Pockmarked sidewalks and garbage.
LOTS OF GARBAGE.
As the previous photograph indicates, this open air loft has an open door fence policy. Any and all are welcome to come on over, sit a spell and hang their hat.
Or in this case, a coat.
Who wouldn’t want a balcony looking at this?
Or this?
184 North 8 Street
I have written about this site on a number of occasions. They have since sealed off the garage door which had been pried open. With predictable results.
CANT STOP US WELCOME MATE
236 North 7 Street
But Bloomblight isn’t just about derelict lots. Just take this, for example.
The above summons is for a defective sidewalk shed. Somehow the heap of garbage (which includes a suitcase) was overlooked.
And last, but hardly least…
This failed attempt at public safety hails from North 6 Street just west of Wythe Avenue.
Lest I have not made it clear already I strongly believe people respond to the environment around them. This is why I am a big fan of public art— especially in our subway system. Gestures as grand as a mosaic or as simple as keeping public facilities neat and clean send a positive message. The vigilance (or this case, lack thereof) with which our municipal government enforces the laws put in place to preserve our, the citizenry’s, quality of life speaks volumes about their attitude as public servants.
This is unacceptable. No one should have to live with this.
Miss Heather
P.S.: All the above photographs were taken December 14, 2009.
Introducing The “Blighties”
As some of you might have noticed I have spent a considerable amount of bandwidth this week making light of the development-induced blight that plagues north Brooklyn. There are a number of reasons for this, but to give you a short list:
1. Each and every derelict construction site is a testament to what happens when bad policy-making, easy credit and greed meet with farcical enforcement by the agencies deemed to serve the public interest and safety. Yes, I am talking to you Department of Buildings.
2. A great number of these sites were once places of employment for some, homes to others. Now they’re rubbish-infested wastelands.
3. While the intended effort (ostensibly) of the rezoning in north Brooklyn was to improve the quality of life here the actual effect has been quite the opposite. I suppose there have been winners (like people whose budget for rental property exceeds the per capita income for a family of four here— the last time I checked Greenpoint was hovering around $30,000 a year), but this community as a whole is not one of them. We will shouldering the consequences of their malfeasance for a very, VERY long time.
4. I have seen my quality of life substantially degraded in the last 2-3 years as a result of points #1 and #2.
Suffice it to say I have become a bit of a connoisseur of development-induced crap heaps over the years. And for this reason I have elected 218 North 9 Street to receive New York Shitty’s first ever Blighty award. What does it take to get a “Blighty” you ask? Well, I haven’t determined the criteria just yet but this site will be used as a benchmark!
Three indicators of a good piece of developer blight can be seen in the above photograph:
- A for sale/for rent sign on an adjacent property.
- Lots of concertina wire.
- Plenty of graffiti and street art on the fence.
Not to suggest the latter most point is a negative. I think this bunny is cute.
This pile of garbage not so much.
Oh look, part of the fence is down! Let’s see what’s inside!
A pile of rubbish, a busted up toilet…
AND MORE RUBBISH!
Congratulations 218 North 9 Street on receiving the first, but certainly not last, New York Shitty Blightie Award! Given the tough times we’re in nowadays— and all the developer blight that has come with it— methinks I will have to ask my good friend Hard Hat Hannah to come out of retirement and lend me a hand.
To be continued.
Miss Heather
NYS Flickr Pool
You must be logged in to post a comment.