« Times-O-Matic Real Estate Radar: In Which the Commute Out of the City Demands The Attention | Main | The Week In Crime: More iThefts, a Weaponized Book and a Severed Ear »
October 10, 2011
Brooklyn, borough of snobs
NY Daily News
by Snowden Wright
The curators of what's trendy are, unsurprisingly, also its creators. In that way, members of the creative class, by choosing Brooklyn as their home, made others want to do the same. Many of my friends who, years ago, claimed they would never leave Manhattan now live in Brooklyn, not out of economic necessity, but rather, as Truman Capote once put it, by choice.
...Ironically, many of the qualities that made Brooklyn desirable have been diminished by the influx of new residents. Apartments aren't very cheap anymore, and commercialization is getting pervasive. Jay-Z, for example, recently joked he can no longer afford Brooklyn. Added to which, the New Jersey Nets, a team the musician partly owns, will soon be playing at the Barclays Center, a project that exemplifies the Manhattanization of the borough.
NoLandGrab: Ha ha, good one, Hov. You got 99 problems, but a wit ain't one.
Related coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, The Brooklyn backlash, in full swing
Of course, that depends on the definition of "Brooklyn." Those who can't afford neighborhoods mentioned in the essay like Fort Greene, Red Hook, Greenpoint, and Park Slope may indeed move to places like Washington Heights. They also may move to neighborhoods mentioned in the essay like Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. Or they may move to even less-heralded zones.
So I think Wright overgeneralizes by claiming, "These days everyone seems to be subject to Brooklyn elitism."
Posted by eric at October 10, 2011 11:12 AM