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July 18, 2006
Mayberry, Brooklyn?
NoLandGrab is calling a point of order here to come to Rosie Perez's defense.
It's plain nutty on the part of the Daily News to make an issue of Rosie Perez's "Mayberry" quote, which ran in The NY Times a couple of weeks ago, and just as odd that bloggers Norman Oder and Mole333 would tip their hats to the Daily News's reference.
Rosie Perez was quoted in a NY Times Metro article (archive link for Times Select customers only) about her directorial debut and community work:
"I'm all for progress and I'm all for development, but I'm not for the betterment of the filthy rich. If that eyesore comes to Brooklyn with the Nets, it's over, it's done. But why give in and let Bruce Ratner take over? My nabe was like my private [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayberry] Mayberry.''
Yesterday's News editorial ripped into Perez:
Yo, Rosie. This isn't Mayberry; it's Prospect Heights, and Prospect Heights and all of Brooklyn desperately need affordable housing. Those who would benefit are not the "filthy rich." Indeed, that term more aptly applies to smug celebs who are slamming the project from the comfort of their homes in California and the Hamptons.
Then in defense of transparency and smart and sustainable growth in Brooklyn, Norman Oder and Mole333 left Perez out in the cold. Oder said that the "quote can sound self-serving" and Mole333 wrote that it "may have been a bit silly at times."
HOLD THE PRESSES, BOYS!
Perez's quote implies that her old neighborhood was a "real neighborhood," the kind of place that people would want to live, as opposed to the pseudo-neighborhood, built "from scratch," that Gehry and Ratner have promised to deliver.
Perez loved her 'hood as much as any Tom, Dick or "Andy." If "Mayberry" was white-bread, that isn't her fault (blame the mores of 1960s TV). If her neighborhood was the kind of place where folks could build a life, bring up and educate their kids, and make lasting connections with their neighbors, that is to the credit of all the families that lived there.
As one girlfriend to another, don't pay any attention to those guys. They may be intimidated by the fact that you are a babe with a brain.
Anyone who grew up in rural America can tell you that any town that lays claim to "Mayberry" ain't no "Mayberry."
Perez makes an important point: every inner-city neighborhood isn't some ghetto block that's begging to be swept away by misguided do-gooders and their grand urban-renewal plans.
Posted by lumi at July 18, 2006 9:08 AM