apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

a great mix, made an interesting read i held on to that issue for 3 days.

that lamp reminds me of paul's apt...his vase... =)

The Forte Greene house built from scratch interested me. There's some good commentary on brownstoner.com and one person noted something that I thought was unusual - they used the walls of the two buidlings either side of them for their own walls. The other person wondered about hanging pictures but I'm thinking there is a potentially more dangerous situation in case there is ever a chance where either building next door needs to be demolished.

Other than that, I think they did a great job of selecting cost effective building techniques and materials where it made sense to and then spending on good appliances and (I assume) some of the furniture.

That gun lamp is also soooooooooo Marlon!!!

The Ft. Greene house is cool -- I remember seeing it come up and thinking how shoe box ugly it was -- but they turned it into something that works, design wise. But I gotta say, it pains me to see all these articles that turn innovative gentrifiers into intrepid heroes. Would House and Home ever show us where all the people live who've been pushed out of Ft. Greene by rising prices?

(Sorry for the politics.)

Actually, doesn't Paul have the flower vase cousin of that gun lamp?

Yes, he does!! Hey Paul, I think you should start scouring EBay for that vintage/iconic anti-war poster of a flower placed in the barrel of a gun. It would totally work, color- and vibe-wise in your space.

While I totally agree that there should be affordable, safe housing for everyone, and that we should pay attention to where people priced out of areas are going, where do you draw the line? I mean, neighborhoods are constantly in flux, and there are probably very, very few people who visit this site who don't live in an area that has gone through a gentrification process at some point. Don't get me wrong, vileonath, I'm not trying to argue, because I think your point is valid. I'm just saying that I always hear this point raised, and I always wonder how we should deal with it.

I hear you, Fiona. Gentrification is often inevitable. But also, I think it can easily be made more equitable.

The new high rises in Williamsburg, for example, whatever else one might think about them, are going to reserve around 1/4 or 1/3 of their units for the moderately incomed – surely the result of local residents speaking out.

So if you support affordable housing and economic diversity in your neighborhood, one easy thing to do is let your local elected officials know about it.

I think those builders are either bound by code/loan stipulation or rewarded by tax shelters. (not that they shouldn't be.. just that I think it is not out of the goodness of their hearts that they reserve such units...)

Yes, I think the city council (responding to community pressure, I presume) required the developers to set aside units for middle-low income, as a condition of rezoning the area from commercial to residential. Or something like that.

There was a story on NPR recently about what happens to the longtime residents when a neighborhood goes "upscale." While I'm uselss, since I don't recall speicifics, you can listen to it here[colon]

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4620340

Talk of the Nation, April 26, 2005 · Poor people lose out when America's city centers go from urban blight to neighborhood chic -- or so goes much conventional wisdom. But new research challenges that idea, and suggests that everybody wins. We examine the costs and benefits of gentrification.

Guests[colon]

Lance Freeman, assistant professor in the Urban Planning Program at Columbia University

Bill McLennan, executive director of Paul's Place Outreach Center in Baltimore, Md.

Stephanie Cisneros, student at Downtown Magnet High School in Los Angeles; making a documentary, Gentrification Documentary

Patrick O'Connor, 40th Ward Alderman on the Chicago City Council

Thanks for that link, Jon B.