Goodbye, Queens. Hello, Brooklyn

I’m not a well-traveled person. I secured a reputation of sorts in grad school, on the first day of Elaine Bernard’s global labor movements class. As we went around the room for introductions, and everyone explained who they were and where they came from (yes, yes, they were the union, the mighty, might union) and discussed their various international contacts and trips abroad, I introduced myself with a flip “Shaun Richman, AFT, Queens, NY. Frankly, I’m uncomfortable leaving Queens.” I’ve spent my entire life – nearly 30 years of it – in this fine borough, but all things have an end. I finally received an acceptable offer on my apartment. I signed the contract of sale on Friday and will be gone by November.

I’m looking to move to Brooklyn, someplace close to the Belt Parkway and the Verrazano Bridge, and within an hour of midtown by subway. Someplace quiet, pretty, affordable and in close proximity to fun. I’m not sure such a neighborhood exists. It’s the “affordable” part that’s difficult. I managed, in the end, to sell my apartment for nearly twice what I paid for it five years ago. Unfortunately, everything else went up in cost at least as much. Obvious choices like Park Slope and Fort Greene are prohibitively expensive.

I had high hopes for Sunset Park, with its ubiquitous park and skyline views. It is affordable – barely – but sleepy and undeveloped. Bay Ridge, slightly to the south, had much more appealing shopping and dining, but it’s so far from everything, I’m afraid no one would ever visit me and the neighborhood would serve as little more than a bedroom community for my Jersey commute.

Yesterday I got my hopes up about the unfortunately-named Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, but I dashed them today by visiting there. Even the nabe’s enthusiastic booster blog has trouble highlighting more than nice architecture and convenient geography:

“PLG is among the last of the neighborhoods that border Prospect Park where average working people can still (almost) afford to live… That lower price tag, however, comes with concessions – there are none of the higher-end boutiques, bars and restaurants that populate Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Brooklyn Heights.”

It was lovely, but I had a hard time locating a supermarket, a fruit stand or even a decent slice of pizza. You could call places like Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and Sunset Park “up and coming” neighborhoods, but only a fool counts on a neighborhood turnaround in troubled economic times like these. Perhaps I’m asking for too much. Perhaps simply being able to afford a roof over one’s head is the best one can hope for these days in New York. I’ve got three months until I’m out on my ass. Expectations decline on a daily basis.

2 Replies to “Goodbye, Queens. Hello, Brooklyn”

  1. I hope you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find. I’m entirely ignorant of the NY everything, which I’m sure is entirely different from the Milwaukee everything, but each time I’ve had to find somewhere to live, I’ve had very little time and have always found the perfect place, even if it usually was at the ceiling of my rent allowance.

  2. You went to the wrong neighborhood booster blog! Planet PLG is mostly dormant. Though, truth be told, so is my blog, Hawthorne Street,

    The grocery stores here aren’t the greatest – but they aren’t hard to find, either. The Pioneer market is right next to the Parkside Ave. subway; the Associated is on Flatbush across from Hawthorne; there are others on Rogers and Nostrand Aves., but I don’t know that part of the nabe as well. There are also a lot of fruit stands, including one on Washington and Flatbush that I don’t remember the name of and OJ on Flatbush and Midwood and some increasingly good stands on the south side of Flatbush, around Caton, just south of the nominal PLG border.

    Pizza? Family Pizza (Flatbush and Parkside) is an excellent slice joint and Gino’s (Flatbush and Lincoln) is decent. There is even a Sushi Tatsu on Flatbush and Fenimore. And the best jerk chicken around is at Peppa’s on Flatbush and Clarkson.

    I’ve been here for almost two and a half years and – while it is missing some amenities I’d like – I have no regrets. The subway access is excellent, the neighbors are friendly and we are right near the blocks from the city. We even have a good coffee shop and decent sit-down restaurant.

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