“Urbanization, we may conclude, has played a crucial role in the absorption of capital surpluses, at ever increasing geographical scales, but at the price of burgeoning processes of creative destruction that have dispossessed the masses of any right to the city whatsoever….The urban and peri-urban social movements of opposition, of which there are many around the world, are not tightly coupled; indeed most have no connection to each other. If they somehow did come together, what should they demand? The answer…is simple enough in principle: greater democratic control over the production and utilization of the surplus.”- David Harvey’s “Right to the City” essay from New Left Review (2008)
In the context of your research, how might the urban groups you are studying build better bridges with like-minded utilization of the surplus” — even if not explicitly stated — a core principle of their mission? Please explain.
At City Lore, the places that I am studying are from different locations in New York City: South Bronx, Washington Heights, and Harlem. These areas have been associated with being predominantly black and/or brown. Along with their large populations of black and brown lower income communities, they are recognized for becoming currently gentrified.
Through learning about the Puerto Rican history in the South Bronx at Bronx Music Heritage Center, I discovered how, through cultural production, this community has maintained their place in the South Bronx. The BMHC serves as a site for this cultural production, which includes providing the space to enjoy Latino music along with the various other cultures located in the South Bronx.
Through studying Washington Heights and interviewing Word Up bookstore’s founder Veronica Liu, I have discovered how in the process of creating a neighborhood, a location in a city, there are many gains and losses. Over the years, it been related to racial and economic factors. According to the Moynihan Report, a public policy document, black culture was a breeding ground for poverty, a “fact” that was later disproven. Today, we have richer white, blacks, and other cultural/ethnic identities moving into communities that are predominantly black and Latino lower class. The South Bronx and Washington Heights are examples of that.
Historically, the South Bronx and Washington Heights communities have organized to gain basic human rights. Community organization took place in order to combat poor quality public institutions in the area. The South Bronx is known for their high rates of asthma, link to the poor air quality created by the creation of highways in their area. Organizations, like Mothers on the Move, were created in order to fight these injustices. Through researching and writing about Washington Heights this week, I learned of the Dominican activism that occurred in the 1980s.
This week, I solidified my article combining the history of Washington Heights with the history of Word Up community bookstore. Here is an excerpt:
“With the help of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) and Liu’s friends who volunteered, Word Up opened up on West 176th and Broadway in 2011. It was initially expected to remain open for a month, however it surpassed that. Due to an extension of their agreement with Vantage Properties, the owner of the building Word Up rented from, to pay no-pay as a nonprofit store. Prior to this agreement with Word Up bookstore, Vantage Properties was threatened to be sued by then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo due to their displacement of long-time residents. Cuomo released a statement saying the following:
‘Landlords who harass tenants harm all New York City residents by displacing long-time tenants from stable neighborhoods and exacerbating the affordable housing shortage. In these tough economic times, the preservation of affordable housing is of the utmost importance.’
Liu suspects Cuomo’s potential lawsuit as Vantage Properties’ motive to allow the bookstore to be rent-free while renting under the realtor. Vantage would eventually sell the building that Word Up rented in to another landlord in February 2012. After the first month of this change, the landlord gave them notice; if Word Up wanted to remain in the space, they would have to start paying $9,200 in rent. Reflecting back on this moment, Liu found the sky-high rent which caused empty storefronts as disheartening: “Places that are accessible on Broadway are empty. . . it’s horrible,” stated Word Up’s founder.
According to Robert W. Snyder, oral historian and author of Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City, Broadway in Washington Heights has maintained itself as a significant marker of social division:
‘Depending on the era, Broadway has been a boundary between white and black, Irish and Jewish, affluent and poor, Dominican and American born.’
Not only a site of social division, or even segregation, Broadway was a site what made the different communities aware of their othering. Prior to the contemporary Washington Heights with a Dominican majority, the neighborhood used to be a home for German Jewish, Puerto Rican, Irish, and African American enclaves at different points in American history. All of these communities have come to the states for distinctive reasons, whether they were escaping murderous dictators or rural poverty.”
Urbanization is very complex. Urbanization means constant change to meet the needs of the evolving community. In Washington Heights, like South Bronx and Harlem, the black and brown people who lived there during more difficult times will, if they can’t already, face the unfavorable rent that Liu mentions in the interview. This unfavorable rent works in the interest of profit, not the public.
Work Cited
Clark, Mariel S. “Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Settles With Upper Manhattan Mega-Landlord Vantage.” DNAinfo New York. DNAinfo New York, 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 14 July 2017.
Michaud, Jon. “Walking the Heights.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 20 June 2017. Web. 14 July 2017.
Veronica Liu Interview, Face-to-face, June/July 2017
Snyder, Robert W. Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City. Ithaca, NY: Cornell U, 2015. Print.
Sounds like you are off to a good start with the Word Up article and learned quite a lot about the specifics of its potential displacement, although the huge rent demand was in 2012 — what’s happened since then? They don’t pay that, do they? I’m not sure you really answered the question Harvey or I posed about whether organizations are finding common cause with one another to demand control of the city’s “surplus.” My sense is that the city claims to have no surplus at all, making it difficult for such demands to be made. Would you agree? Do you think bookstores like Word Up make common cause with organizations like City Lore and Mothers on the Move? How or how not?
Hi Becky! I apologize for the delayed response. I think that the organization Word Up, City Lore and Mothers on the Move organization with like-minded organizations or rather organization with similar causes.= to survive. I provided the example of NoMAA helping Word Up maintain affordable rent at their first location for months. They both work towards making art/literature accessible. Also, I should have made it clearer that the reason why I brought up BMHC was because BMHC and City Lore collaborate often on events, especially since Elena Martinez works at both locations.