Thanks to Keith Carr for sending me a Village Voice article about three African American men who tried to create a Brooklyn venue for urban arts and music. Todd Triplett, Shaun Jenkins, and Philip McKenzie invested $1.3 million in a property on Ashland Place and Fulton here in Fort Greene. They took loans on their houses, secured other investors, applied to the city and received building permits, applied to the city and received a liquor license, refurbished the building, gave the singer songwriter John Legend a tour… even named the place.
Amber Arts and Music Space was a month away from opening when the three received a letter from Jack Hammer, director of Brooklyn planning, stating that the city was taking over the building in an eminent domain action.
After all their work in refurbishing an existing structure, the city will bulldoze the building and construct, ironically enough, a cultural center. According to The Voice and The Brooklyn Paper, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, operating under the plan to revitalize the BAM Cultural Center, will construct a new building to house a Manhattan-based dance company, Danspace Project, along with about 30 new condos.
Joe Chan, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, gave a PowerPoint presentation of the new site at a recent Community Board 2 meeting. The three enterprising Black men who rolled up their sleeves to create Amber Arts and Music Space dreamed of a multicultural venue that celebrates Brooklyn in all its diversity. In the new vision that took their dream away, all the people pictured were white.
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I can only hope they got a fair price for their property–one that takes into account the improvements they made, increases in the property value, etc. I know 3 brothers who opened an Ethopian restaurant in New Brunswick, NJ. About 18 months after the place opened, the block was acquired by eminent domain. With help from the city they were able to acquire space across the street,opened a bigger place, and 10 years later they are going strong. I realize that’s harder in Brooklyn–property is at a premium. And are our City officials sensitive to the needs of community business? Another question open for debate. I have been through renovation, so I know how much it takes out of you, but I hope that together they are strong enough to pursue their original vision. Don’t let the dream die.
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Thanks for your positive comment, Donna. I think the issue for these three brothers is, they didn’t own the building. They were leasing it from another man, so all the money they invested is just gone.
There are folk rallying in support of Amber Arts and Music Space, though. It just kills me that this can even happen – and that it’s our city, our taxes, that make it happen. Eminent Domain is a beast.
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I agree, eminent domain can be wielded as a bulldozer and if they received no benefit, then that’s just wrong. The 3 brothers I mentioned did not own the building either–they leased. It was the City government that made the difference. So, we need to require NYC government to respond as well–it’s not just the property owner who is affected. And when is the rally?
D
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Oh, wow. That’s something. Maybe these brothers can find some compensation, too…
Maybe I shouldn’t have used the term “rallying.” I mean there are folk chatting about this situation, especially in the context of Ratner’s plan for Atlantic Yards, on the Internet. Sorry about that!
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I’m moderating a panel down here at Busboys & Poets in DC with nathan McCall. His first work of fiction is called “Them,” and yeah, it’s about gentrification. The G word.
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I often think developers cut off their own noses to spite…the city. What I mean by that, is that cities have organic growth processes. The project you described where three Black Fort Greene entrepreneurs create a community center in their neighborhood; A cultural center devised by people who have lived and participated in the community for some time. These entrepreneurs were participating in the growth of Fort Greene in a way consistent with its history. Corporate Developers, on the other hand undercut the success of their own projects by creating a sterile “corporate feeling” spaces which have no cohesion with the neighborhood’s history and organic development. I mean if people wanted to live in condos, they’d move to the suburbs. People do not come to cities to experience this corporate ideal of community space. They come to experience and participate in the growth of a neighborhood with character and authenticity.
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McHall’s book is next on my list – after I finish E Ethelbert Miller’s new collection of poetry. Chris, please tell him I’m very excited to enter this new work and read the way a strong writer handles the problem of gentrification and displacement in our communities.
Amanda, I agree with your powerful, astute assessment! I actually think it’s even more sinister than you describe. I believe the organic process, which includes community review and planning,is impeded by corruption. Seriously. I do believe we will start to get stories of under-the-table deals… how else to explain the fact that the interests of the community and the vision of local residents are ignored? I feel like Brooklynites are being treated with such disregard… and isn’t that the inherent nature of corporations? Doesn’t money, and the misuse of it, silence people and basic human needs? Doesn’t paper (green money, crisp white balance sheets, aged yellowed deeds) become more important than flesh (Black, Brown, and White)?
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Indeed, much more sinister. Where under the table deals don’t move quickly enough, arson does. We’ve had a couple of fires on Bridge Street in downtown Brooklyn this year. I’ve wondered about them. Busy restaurants and businesses that have been there for years have lost their leases, and now await the process of eviction in the shadows of new construction. There is a high school across the street from me on Bridge. Fabric stores where women come to buy fabric for tailoring clothing. Medical imaging centers on Willoughby. Organic growth has been these establishments and the restaurants (Tio Pepe, the Coal Pot among others) that support people who go to school and work here. Through my window out on Duffield, there is what is said to be “a station” on the Underground Railroad. Right next to it is a new building going up: condos. I believe that those players in the game of downtown Brooklyn will stop at nothing to achieve their air conditioned nightmare.
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Just a warning. Nathan’s book does pose a thorny, unresolved tension. Indeed I think some people who feel that there should be a push back on gentrification might think Nathan doesn’t go far enough in that regard. He doesn’t “let black folks off the hook” for essentially messing up or allowing our own backyards to deteriorate in some circumstances.
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I’m reading the book now (it’s my subway read, and I’m really enjoying the “thorny, unresolved tension.” 🙂 So far, I think he’s right on point. I’ll let you know what I really think when I’ve read the last page.