Do Not Call It A Comeback

Hello Everyone: 

It is a warm and windy start of the new week.  Today, we travel to the Bronx for a look at how the borough is coming back from decades of economic and cultural neglect. The Bronx is the northern most borough of New York City; home to the fabled Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo, the Bronx Museum, and the Bronx Botanical Gardens.  You really cannot call it comeback because the Bronx has always been here. 

The Bronx was originally called Rananchqua by the local Siwanioy band of Lenape.  The territory was bisected by the "Aquahung" river, later renamed the Bronx River.  Europeans settled the territory in 1693, when Jonas Bronck, for whom the area was named for, established a farm along the Harlem River--now known as the Mott Haven section. Originally territory now within Bronx County was part of Westchester County.  Modern day Bronx County was contained within four cities: Westchester, Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. (yesthebronx.org; date accessed Oct. 15, 2018).

In 1914, parts of the Bronx was annexed by New York City.  After the First World War, the Bronx experienced rapid growth. Subway extensions contributed to the rapid population increase as thousand of immigrant made the Bronx their home. During the sixties and seventies, the Bronx began a period of sharp change. Among the theories posited was the urban renewal projects that destroyed low-density neighborhoods, replacing them with roads. Another theory is the reduction of financial services--i.e. redlining--by insurance companies and banks.  A crime wave hit the southern portion of the Bronx, bringing with it various theories as to why.  Some of the theories include: the illicit drug trade, landlords deliberately setting fire to their buildings for the insurance money, then the crack epidemic. Since the nineties, the Bronx been experiencing an upswing in development. In 1997, the Bronx was designated an "All American City" by he National Civic League, an acknowledgment of its comeback (Ibid). This brings to the present.

The Bronx, like every neighborhood, is in a constant of change. What is the issue the nature and substance of this change. The South Bronx is witnessing a building and entrepreneurial boom; bringing with it gentrification in the low-income neighborhoods where housing (single family and rental) prices are on the rise. Median gross rent for Bronx County, as of July 1, 2017, was $1,098 (census.gov; date accessed Oct. 15, 2018). This may not seem like much, when compared to rents in New York City--$3,634 as of September 2018 (rentjungle.com; date accessed Oct. 15, 2018)--but it represents a 45 percent increase since 2005 (citylab.com; Aug. 14, 2018; Oct. 15, 2018).  Rebecc Bellan writes in "The Bronx: Don't Call It A Comeback," "In gentrifying neighborhoods a common grievance from long-time residents is that, in addition to causing prices to rise, newcomers have a different sensibility and don't respect the neighborhood's history and the locals' longevity" (Ibid).  However, a majority of the new intiatives surrounding the Bronx have come from locals, "...who are demonstrating a generations, shift in mentality.  They want he people who come after the to dream not of getting out of their hood, but enhancing it" (Ibid).

The common thread, according to Amaurys Grullon, the owner of Bronx Native (bronxnative.com; date accessed Oct. 15, 2018) is,

It's a mindset, it's a mentality,.... Because when your hear constant,y that the Bronx is dirty, the Bronx is ugly, oh you're from the Bronx?  It mentally can cause some damage. (ibid)

Princeton University sociology professor Frederick Wherry (sociology.princeton.edu; date accessed Oct. 15, 2018) and author of The Philadelphia Barrio, told CityLab, "in places like the Bronx with higher poverty rates and a high percentage of blacks or Latinos, people perceive neighborhood disorder with bias. 

They tend to remember more trash and physician signs of disorder in he sidewalk than there actually is,.... (Ibid)

Bronx success stories like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Desus Nice, and Cardi B help change the Bronx tale.  Mr. Grullon, his co-owner and sister Roselyn, and best friend Josue Caceres, absolutely support change in their community. 

We've been underrated for far too long.... The Bronx history is just so beautiful to me. We have a diverse group of people, our buildings were on fire, our people were struggling, they built highways so you could drive through without even looking at the BX. And from nothing we created culture.  (Ibid)

Bronx Native has become a cultural center, of sorts.  The store, decorated with Bronx memorabilia, has hosted poetry reading, open mic nights, youth group workshops and panel discussions with Tarana Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement.  Ms. Ocasio-Cortez also hosted an informal campaign event at the store last year.  

Professor Wherry has seen grassroots neighborhood transformation before. He told CityLab,

People inside the neighborhood and their community organization, their leadership and their artists, are willing to push back and say that this is not just a material struggle, but also a symbolic struggle. They're willing to counter negative symbols that have been thrust upon them.  That's where you start seeing a real difference and transformation. (Ibid)

To Set Free Richardson' Compund 1.0 is an example of what Prof. Wherry's point. Launched in 2010 as Mr. Richardson's idea of combining art and entrepreneurship, it is still an under the radar space for rappers, artists, athletes, and marketers to come together and create something wonderful. In early August, he hosted a soft launch of Compund 2.0, "a hip-hop inspired art gallery, the brainchild of Richardson and former rapper Mos Def, AKA Yasiin Bey" (Ibid). The Manhattan-worthy gallery is located just under the Third Avenue Bridge in Mott. Haven, once an underused, debris-strewn part of town. Compound 2.0's mission "is to showcase works from underrepresented artists" (Ibid). 

Compound 2.0 is not without pushback from some Bronx natives who do not want to see their community turn into another Manhattan. Mr. Richardson was born in South Bronx and you could say that he has a right to his vision of the Bronx. Be that as it may, no venture exists on an island. There has been some tension between the longtime small businesses and the new ventures with their attending development that can make the Bronx less frightful. To Set Free Richardson understands that the area near the Mott Haven waterfront is cause for trepidation as developers begin to reclaim the long neglected space (ny.curbed.com; Apr. 4, 2018; dated accessed Oct. 15, 2018). 

The Clock Tower building on Lincoln Avenue near the waterfront is either credited or faulted for setting off the development boom in Mott Haven. Since it opened in 2002, real estate investment soared from $1.9 million in 2003 to  $111 million in 2016 (therealdeal.com; May 18, 2017; date accessed Oct. 15, 2018). Along the waterfront, the skeletons of new developments are beginning to appear.  All of the units are scheduled to be rented at market rate (ny.curbed.com; Mar. 9, 2017). This is out of reach for 60 percent of Bronx households (osc.state.ny.us; July 2018; date accessed Oct. 15, 2018) paying at least a third of their monthly take home pay to rent. Rising rents aside, the poverty rates in the borough remains the highest in New York City--28.4 in 2016 (citylab.com; Aug. 14, 2018). 

Majora Carter, another Bronx native from Hunts Point, understands the tensions between long time residents' fear of displacement and the need for change. Ms. Carter, the owner of Boogie Down Grind coffee shop, told CityLab

I don't remember anyone who showed promise as a kid who wasn't to,d early and often that you're grow up and be somebody, what that meant, really, by association, was you're gonna measure success by how far away from here you get from here.... (Ibid)

Ms. Carter concedes that change is going to happen and understands what the cost of doing nothing is. She also believes "that gentrification happens when people,e in certain communities are taught to believe that their neighborhood has no real value" (Ibid). In 2016, the median home value in the Bronx was $378,000 (trulia.com; date accessed Oct. 15, 2018). 

The surge in Bronx pride is keep innovators from fleeing to Manhattan and creating a shift in Bronx culture. By keeping the creatives at home, " the residents believe they are creating a community that is open to more varied forms of expression and taste" (Ibid). The Bronx has become this wonderful cultural incubator and with this joyous noise comes the homegrown restaurants and coffee shops. 

Rebecca Bellan writes, "These Bronx-born entrepreneurs consistently say that the borough is going through an awakening, both culturally and economically and the figures beat it out: In 2017, here were more businesses in the Bronx that at any time since 1975 [osc.state.ny.us; July 2018]. But the question remains, will all of these native efforts to create new businesses and new-style spaces ease the pain of gentrification,mor will hear homegrown efforts make the borough appealing to deep-pocketed buyers, thus pricing out low-income, long time residents out? (citylab.com; Aug. 14, 2018)

Desus Nice (AKA Daniel Baker), half of the comedy duo Desus and Mero, loves the energy he is witnessing from his fellow Bronx natives.  He told CityLab, It's like a little village,... like the early days of Willamsburg before it turned into a film set. (Ibid)

He does not believe that the Bronx will become another film set, No, I don't think so because of the people here.  Everybody's coming together. (Ibid)

Desus Nice just moved into one of the new luxury condominiums.  He lamented,

It's sad because other people in the building are telling me, 'Don't go outside. The projects are out there.'  And I'm like, 'Yo, I grew up with people from the projects.'  People are not embracing the community. But if we keep working together we can push back.  (Ibid)