Jan 22, 2012
Take Back Our Neighborhood
. . .
From the COLlive Inbox: With landowners and investors attracting yuppies to Crown Heights, we need to do what Satmar is doing in Williamsburg. We already pay a premium to live in this neighborhood.
Dear friends, landowners, community leaders and community members,
I ask you to please take a moment and read this letter with an open heart.
Demographic changes are swiftly changing the culture of our neighborhood. Local Lubavitch landowners and outside chassidic investors are making Crown Heights an attractive location for young, non Jewish tenants. In fact, it has come to attention that some investors are specifically targeting their advertising for this purpose. This is clearly seen with the new PLEX building Montgomery Street and Nostrand Avenue.
Young, upwardly mobile professionals may seem to be pleasant tenants who bring in reliable income, but they also introduce a very different way of life: new nightclubs and bars, sun tanning on rooftops, bike lanes and an increasing amount of immodesty on our streets. Some of these changes are hard to ignore; for instance, one of the sun tanning parties are visible for our young children to see from the window of a local school.
Rising rent compounds the problem and makes it even harder for our young couples and families to compete in the rental market.
Friends, we pay a premium to live in this neighborhood, and we strive to create an atmosphere of holiness and kedusha for our children and teens. These yuppies bring pritzus to our neighborhood. They come out at night to our restaurants and act inappropriately while waiting on line etc.
We would hope that landlords, especially the Crown Heights landlords, would put a priority on our values, but sadly the need to make money is taking precedence for them. Some young agents and landlords will specifically rent to these goyim instead of a fellow Jewish family. Sadly, some homeowners have gone as far as bringing these yuppies as tenants in their home in prime locations.
Therefore, I suggest taking appropriate actions to help preserve the special the unique nature of our neighborhood.
We must form a group to come up with effective ways to reinforce the observant Jewish character of crown heights. The Satmars in Williamsburg are faced with the same problem and have made a successful committee to curb this issue. This could include meeting with investors from our own community and possibly outside, subsidizing rent for our own community members or other creative solutions.
Friends, I too am a landlord. Yes, it may seem easier to bring these young people as tenants. However, think about how they will change the face of our unique community In spiritual and physical sense. They are buying condos from our OWN landlords in the heart of the community. If we don't give precedence to our own couples and help our communities expand, Then who will?
As a community we have survived through thick and thin. We have survived through the riots to help preserve our community. Why are we bringing in more outsiders with open hands?
Please help us in defending the special, unique place that is Crown Heights for our children and their future.
Thank you,
A Crown Heights Resident
or is this just another op-ed
THank you, I hope you get a committee together.
As a homeowner down near Maple street I fully support you!!
There is not leadership. The rabbonim are busy fighting with themselves as if someone cares, the vaad hakohol is broke and incompetent, the mosdos only cares about themselves, so who is left? oh, us, people!
Stop building hopes. Sadly, there is no chance for CH to ever shape up. You want a good community, good chinuch and environment? move out and move on! I'm sure the Rebbe is shepping so much nachas by all the selfish people living in this community.
There are plenty of yidden looking for apartments, but dont try to make ch into a "trendy" up and coming neighborhood.
Yes, there is an issue with tznius here, but will it REALLY help to bring in people who foster that descent in chassidishkeit??
Its very sad that people are so driven by money these days, and for a couple more dolars they'd rather rent to non jewish people
Are we here just for the money???
Where is the chasidus and all the rebbes teachings?
this young Realtors are the Problem
and why is everyone so concerned about who wrote what?!?
the point is the message- who cares who wrote it!
it crown heights. Do you believe that something will be done now?
THE REBBE ALWAYS WANTED THIS TO BE THE Neighborhood
WHERE THE SHCHINA IS, SO LET KEEP IT HOLY.
The 2 and 3 family homeowners are paying mortgages, taxes, insurance, heat and utilities, must get their rent in a timely fashion. They are not Tzedaka funds but are homeowners with responsibilies to fulfill.
Rent today for kolel yungerleit is almost $1000 for a badly kept up one bedroom apt.
The problem is that frumkeit is all about bein odom lamokom, bein odom lachaveiro is out the window, unless it's specifically tezdakah.
For the most part, frum yidden have drunk the capitalist Kool Aid, and subscribe to supply and demand market forces.
In truth however, they should be accommodating fellow Jews to obtain affordable housing.
Instead of throwing money to help people with kaparos and save $20, they should help people with their rent. Instead, people are more concerned with getting filthy rich off their fellow Jews.
Here's a litmus test, would you pay an extra $1 to dry clean your suit by a yid?
To make a long story short, I had a young very secular Israeli renting from me who was not very interested in any of the rouchnious aspects that is offered in CH. After some time I had him and his gentile gril friend over for a shabbos meal, he began to go to 770 more often, etc. etc. I was a very minimal part in his journey towards becoming a frum yid but fast forward to today and while I no longer live in CH, I've heard he and his mi-gouerd wife are raising fine cahsidesher kinderlach. This could be a fluke that I was zocheh to be a part of but if we work to truly be an or lagoyim and are successfull at it, I don't think outside influences are strong enough to combat such conviction.
that said, there's another obvious thing that occurs on shlichus. The parents and the kids know that they are differrent. they stand for something more. how do you think the kids know?? because their parents teach them that at every opportunity. and the parents learn that with extra chassidus they are hoepfully learning. so when they go out, they are not surprised by what they see but are prepared.
surely they are careful not to take them where they dont belong etc.
also, on shlichus, they are actually LEADING their lives not just taking community values passively. they obviously have no choice. so their chassidishkiet is active and alive. (sadly shluchim also have their challenges) .
Dear neighbors and friends. WAKE UP! take your life and your kids life and be attentive to it. Every day. yes, wake up and doin't expect others to create an atmosphere so that you could just give birth to children and then go on vacation till a bar/bas mitxvah and a wedding.
thanks these people that are coming to the neighborhood and giivng us all a wakeup call. the cacoon you thought you were living has obviously not been working!
The reason we loose so many of our young ones is because of people like you. Close minded people whose only solution to a problem is to isolate the person like a disease. These people are not a disease they are our people. They are mikaravim, they are our children, our friends children, and you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking this up let alone right the article
To #8: This is not a matter of being close minded. This is the Rebbe's community. If someone davka wants to mix with the goyishe crowds, R"L, then they should move elsewhere.
Think long and deep into what the OpED is all about and you'll see. One disgruntled neighbor craoking about sun bathing. Give me a break - I bet these are our kids - guaranteed - some of us have totally put our heads way deep in the sand.
There is a trend in Crown Heights that one landlord will see that someone else is getting a higher rent than them and will then raise their rent. Jewish landlords, maybe through the Rabbanim, need to set a guidelines on how much rent can be charged to anash.
Look, they have African American, Hispanic, Russian, and Asian neighborhoods. We should have one too. It's a testimony to the diversity of New York, and if we were all a milkshake, it would just be another place. What do you say SENATOR? :)
Also, as someone posted above, frummer Yidden often make the most unreasonable demands. The only reason I got my apartment was because someone at the last minute dangled the lease in front of my landlord, refusing to sign it until a big renovation was made (he wasn't legally required). She thought she could force him to give in. When he finally said, "I'm not going to rent to you," she laughed, thinking he'd be desperate enough to reconsider.
Guess what? Five minutes later I called. I ran over & signed the lease, paid him 1st & last; end of story. That lady was gnashing her teeth for quite a while.
young lubavs can't afford it. it's become a rich man's place. funny, the rebbe envisioned something completely different. houses are being sold for prices 5 to 10 times what they are worth and rents for matchbox spaces is just ridiculous. if your old and bought a house when it was 50,000 good for you the rest of us....
2) the fact that we have Tznius issues from inside the community doesn't mean that we need to compound that problem, it can very easily lead to inter marriage Ch'V.
3) Yes the fact that Jewish renters and landlords in certain cases don't treat each other right needs to be fixed but the answer to that isn't to invite Park Slope to move in.
Hopefully there'e going to be a turn for the better.
They have leadership in their community so they don't decide everything's kosher to make another buck.
This ideology only spreads prejudice and hate, there is enough of that in this country already, you don't have to make it worse.
You're saying you should kick educated people out who can afford rent, and not that you need to educate your youth so they can get a job, other then at 1saleaday...
This is the saddest thing I've ever seen out of your insane neighborhood. Wow...
Of course your religion will fall if this is how you react to natural evolution that takes place in any environment. WOW!!!
Moshiach now!!!!!!!
Next time I am sun bathing I will make sure to look around and see if there are any peeping toms like you around
The owner of the plex building is affiliated with b & h. Perhaps they should be told that they will be boycotted if they don't try to accomodate the type of people befitting our neighborhood. Yes, we have a right to demand that, after all were it not for us holding firm to this neighborhood it would have become another brownsville or harlem.
in other frum Jewish communities there are also outside influences loud & strong-ie. Los Angeles where billboards and neighbors portray a lifestyle so foreign to ours. Notwithstanding that, B"H people have had the siyata d'shmaya to raise very fine and wholesome families (they must have had built very strong, loving homes).
But this case is different!
Crown Heights is not just another neighborhood. It's where the Rebbe has declared 'kan tzivah Hashem es habrocha", the Rebbe's shchuna etc. should have a higher standard of living! Crown Heights is a place that brings light and inspiration all across the world, it's our spiritual nerve center, and it deserves to be on a higher level. Like Yerushalayim, the kosel and other holy sites-we need to preserve its sanctity......
when the Rebbe said that we should do whatever we can to bring Moshiach, he meant each and every one of us-even the landlords and businessmen amongst us!!!
Dear landlords & building developers-
If it means a little thinner wallet and a budgeted life vs. building a sanctified community-for yourself, your children and for Jews worldwide -please choose wisely-we are counting on you!!!!
a concerned Jew
I feel that if we work together we can have condos that are a tad less fancy yet more affordable. In addition we should be using frum sites like COL etc. to post apartments.
I do not have any concrete ideas of how to solve the issue of rising unaffordable rents and unfair rental practices to our own community, however if you are willing to work in unity and in respectful manner to discuss this issue and perhaps get a committee to work on this, feel free to email soscheights@gmail.com.
You need not to be a big name or big shot, just a willingness to work together for the benefit of expanding our community.
2. Your battle with the economic reality is a foregone conclusion; it can result only in new chilul haShem. We have enough of that as it is.
3. You take pride in foregoing the rent premium these people would pay. I have another suggestion: donate the difference to help struggling parents with tuition and improve our yeshivos. It is a more productive way to improve the yiddishkeit (and tznius) in the neighborhood. And it will help melamdim pay their rent too.
The real worry for this "landlord" that these yuppies will expose the grim reality that crown heights is no longer a haven for frum bums who refuse to get a real job and face responsibility of supporting a family. Unlike your fine examples for bum communities like Williamsburg.
do what the shluchim do, and look for the good!!!
2) I am going to guess that 15% of the newcomers are Jewish. We need to do hafatza and invite them to our homes, not chase them out of theirs.
3) We were never able to take over the whole area the way BP and Willy were because our young people often move away for shlichus. Those who don't feel comfortable in the new Crown Heights should do just that and join shlichus communities where neighbors are not on top of one another as they are in Brooklyn. In Yupetzville, you don't have to see suntanning parties because they're held in fenced backyards (otherwise no insurance for the pool).
Kingston and Albany Ave merchants like all three Raskins,Mr. Green's, Gombo's, the chocolate shop, Mimulo etc will get plenty of new customers.
These customers don't use food stamps or take things on credit. They pay in full with cash or a good credit card.
Now, not only do you have the nerve to decide that it’s “your” neighborhood, you now want to prevent anyone a bit different than yourself from living there. The attitude in this article is exactly what’s going to one day get you and your like minded people kicked out.
Nevermind that I would never in a million years sunbathe in plain sight of a school, regardless of the cultural background of its students.
Nevermind that I would never in a million years be loud or obnoxious in a restaurant where other patrons are just trying to enjoy a nice meal.
Nevermind the 20 years of my life that I spent in schools which emphasized respect for and sensitivity to cultural differences. Nevermind the years I've spent putting these ideals into practice. Nevermind my own deep and abiding faith in G-d and the Ahavat Habriot that is such a major part of this...
Nevermind that I am the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, some of whom were Jewish and some of whom weren't.
Nevermind that my Gentile relatives risked their own lives to save Jewish lives because they could not and would not be made to believe that their friends and neighbors were somehow fundamentally different from themselves. They certainly could not believe that their friends and neighbors did not deserve to live on their street. Nevermind anything I ever learned from this...
Nevermind anything that I do or think or say or feel or am,
nevermind anything that makes me unique, anything that makes me human- this discussion reduces me to "not Lubavitch" and nothing more.
And once I have been reduced to "not Lubavitch," you want to make me the enemy. You want to turn me into a walking, talking assault on Yiddishkeit, Napolean storming Russia...
But I'm not your enemy. I'm your neighbor. And right now I am deeply, deeply hurt.
goooooo calis!!!!
However ours...nuff said
however still in williamsburg they are truly frum. here we are truly not
You say you are an educated and moral inclined person, yet you were so quick to make a demeaning generalization of the whole Crown Heights Jewish community based on a few comments.
I do not agree with what the op-ed has called for and I didn't like what some comments have written, but that's not the point.
The discussion here is about residents of the United States wanting a quality of life. For others, quality would a suburb of Boston. For us, that means living amongst frum Jews.
For years now, we have been paying top dollar to live here although the crime rate was constantly rising and although we feared to leave our homes after 8 PM. We chose to stay because this is what we want: To live together.
Now, after defending the neighborhood for a several decades and surviving perils such as the 91 riots, non Jewish Caucasians are moving in, causing a hike in rent and filling the homes that we are trying to live in. It took my son months to find an apartment for after his wedding.
Nobody hates you, the yuppies or the young professionals. Although we are still in exile and waiting for redemption, want we want for our families is to live peaceful. Drug deals or wild parties is not a peaceful life.
So some residents are letting out some steam on the web - courtesy of the anonymity option. We are far from being violent or bigoted. What are we going to do about this "problem"? most probably nothing. All we can do is complain (a known Jewish trait) and even that you want to take away from us?!
As for COLLive, please review the ninth circuit court of appeals decision in "roommates" that addresses possible violations of the FHA through Internet postings.
For those who would like to address this matter further, I'm sure you can find my contact info.
Mendy H
This is shocking on so many levels. After all the hate and discrimanation that we Jews have faced throughout our history and in crown heights we now wanna label an entire group of people (who are only a group in that their skin color is white and they don't dress like us) and encourage not giving them equal opportunity to live where they want in the UNIUTED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!
This is such a chillul Hashem! This is the Internet. You don't think that maybe your nice new next door neighbour may find this article???
I mean come on people. Think (and feel) before you post such hatefully moronic trash.
I wanna wish a big Shalom Alaichem to anybody that comes in peace - be he a yid or a goy.
I am poster 91/92, so it is not as if I am writing this to argue against the content. I'm a Web pro and I have zero patience for trolling even when I do agree with some or all of the troll's message.
If your point is so weak that you need to troll to make it, either let someone else do the posting or rethink your position. Trolls don't roll in da' hood!
Teach your children according to the laws of the Torah, perhaps make aliyah and pray for the best.
Kicking people out of your neighborhood will hold your kids in line until they accidentally leave the neighborhood and their eyes will open up - as did Adam and Eve's.
It's better to simply educate your children in your way - there is no insurance policy for any chasidut or family.
I by no means believe that every frum Crown Heights resident hates me, nor do I believe that every member of the community hates all non-religious and/or non-Jewish people. My words were " SO MANY neighbors," as in the so many people who used insulting language here or made assumptions about my behavior based on the actions of people I've never met. I live in the neighborhood. I interact with people. I understand as well as anyone that Lubavitchers are a beautifully diverse group of people. Even here, the comments represent a broad variety of viewpoints. But this doesn't fully erase the sting. It's disheartening to walk down the streets you've walked for years and wonder whether the person three feet ahead of you was the author of the "white trash" comment or wishes you weren't on the same sidewalk. I responded to this in a very human way, I told you how it FEELS- it hurts. But please, let me be clear, I agree with you 100% that the words of individual members of a community are no excuse for nurturing any form of bigotry.
There seem to be two primary fears that are voiced in the article and comments- 1. There is a shortage of housing for Lubavitch families in the neighborhood. For a number of reasons (the Rebbe, 770, the established community,) many Lubavitchers cannot just as easily live in another neighborhood, so it is vital that the community do all that it can to ensure its families have somewhere (nearby) to live. Anything that accelerates rising rents (gentrification) will make this problem much worse. 2. The new wave of "yuppie" neighbors pose a danger to the survival of the Lubavitch community because they introduce "a very different way of life." It is very easy for anyone to understand and empathize with the first issue. The second issue is trickier. Crown Heights as a whole is predominantly African American and West Indian. There are already a great number of bars and non kosher eateries within walking distance. There are ample opportunities to see people out and about in skimpy outfits. Is this easier to ignore when your neighbor is visibly "the other"? Are "yuppies" so cool that every Lubavitch kid can't help but want to be like them? (This seems to greatly underestimate the strength and beauty of Chabad. As other readers have pointed out, going on shluchis isn't a fast track off the derech- quite the opposite.) In rationalizing the second fear, the author uses examples of individual behavior to imply that a "group" of people who are tied together by demographics rather than a defined allegiance or shared system of beliefs are all up to no good. And this sort of thinking isn't fair to anyone.
As for complaining, oh my gosh, everyone loves to complain! The beauty of this forum is that it gives us all the opportunity to have a dialogue. Even if someone writes something that I personally find offensive (which occurs very rarely,) I am grateful to COL Live because it offers a space in which we can all contribute to the discussion. And it is through this discussion that we move forward.
Hey #98 don't despair most of us have no problom with you at all. I won't even bother to elaborate but just assume most commentators here have nothing to do and feel like belching on the airwaves so this is their outlet.
They probably number fewer than you think.
If you really live in CH and you really know your neighbors then you know what I mean. You likely have none of these "problems" with any of your Chabad neighbors.
All are welcome here - this is chabad central after all!
OH, for those HAPPY they left CH - thanks , we need all the room we can get.
For those moving or thinking about it - great - perhaps we can get even more apartments opening up for our folks, families, newcomers or the new troupe!
Food for thought:
Running away is not dealing with your own issues. Learn more about that line of thought. You ain't gonna be happier elshwere.
M
I think we have different ideas about what constitutes a "troll." I thought that a troll uses the cover of online anonymity to post inflammatory, insulting, or otherwise divisive comments. You have labelled me a "troll" because you imagine that I am writing in character or from the perspective of someone who does not share my background. Like, say, a novelist...
In the meantime, your arguments for why I must be a Lubavitcher dredge up some nasty stereotypes, ie bad spelling. As we're on the same page about not dismissing people by putting them into boxes, let's recognize that this isn't fair. Plenty of Lubavitchers, male and female, have an excellent grasp of written English.
I can see two instances in which I referenced things that might be outside of the frame of knowledge that you expect from a secular person. First, "Ahavat Habriot" is a concept that is shared by a great number of religions. And the phrase is not unique to Chabad. But then I referenced the Alter Rebbe. And therein lies my biggest point- it is 100% possible to come from a secular background and know a thing or two about the history of Chabad. Because, believe it or not, it's interesting to people from all walks of life. When I moved to Crown Heights, part of my idea of being a good neighbor was to talk to people and to read and to learn, to take a genuine interest in the culture around me. I've tried very hard to cultivate an understanding that runs deeper than "what is Shabbos." So, perhaps for this reason, I was especially hurt to be lumped in with schoolyard sunbathing and senseless belligerence in a kosher restaurant.
I stand firmly behind my original objective in writing. Each and every Lubavitcher is a unique individual. Each and every non-Lubavitcher is a unique individual. And when we look beyond the surface and allow ourselves to see what makes each of us uniquely special, we can see so much that is truly beautiful. And when we can't, it hurts.
It's called EQUALITY in this country--people live where they want to live and how they want to live and it is ILLEGAL to discriminate against non-Jews or anyone else for that matter. Don't forget--it is precisely YOUR BRAND of intolerance for other faiths, beliefs and values that causes people like Hitler to gain followers. Keep up your intolerance and it will come back to you. Learn to accept others and you just might be happier and healthier.
Think about making a better life for yourself and your family, not hiding in fear of the real world.
And you're absolutely right- the many frum neighbors I do know personally are amazingly kind and wonderful people and I adore each and every one of them!
Most of us live with the belief of live and let live.
It happens that I do agree with your fake persona and I am disgusted by this op-ed.