Latest Attacks On Columbia Students Raise Question, Is Race A Factor In Recent Assaults?

Last week NYC The Blog reported on a mugging of a young man in Hamilton Heights, describing the victim as a "petite Asian man," which prompted a commenter to write, "Good to know it was a petite Asian man. I'm a petite white man, so I can be confident it would never happen to me. While we're identifying races, can you say what race the assailants were?"

Though the comment was dripping with sarcasm, it appears that not being Asian might serve the commenter well considering the latest rash of assaults last Sunday night around 113th and Broadway. The Columbia Spectator reports that seven Columbia students were assaulted, with Fox 5 wondering if the race of the victims played any role, noting that six of the students attacked were Asian. The photo at right captures the assailants on security cameras.

UPDATE: The NY Post is reporting that four kids have been arrested and charged with the assaults."The suspects - Deshaun Busby, 16, of Brooklyn; Lawrence Jones, 17, of The Bronx; Quentin Cox, 16, and Jan Germosen, 18, both of Manhattan - were charged with gang assault for allegedly participating in five attacks in a span of 17 minutes."

These assaults bring to mind an attack earlier this year in the same neighborhood that ended fatally when Columbia University graduate student Minghui Yu was assaulted during an attempted mugging. He fought his attackers off and ran into the street in an attempt to escape, when he was struck by a car and died later from those injuries.

Are the victims being targeted because of their race? Are these assaults the result of class frictions or town vs gown animosity? Likely that are three considerations have a role, as 'greaser vs socs' is a universal lubricant for antagonistic relationships between groups in any neighborhood, whether predicated on race, class, gender, or sexual orientation.

Or maybe there is a simpler explanation, as one of 84 comments noted on the Daily News' site when they reported the most recent attacks, observing that "Getting popped in the mouth has been a right of passage for Columbia students for 30 years. It's a pretty fair exchange for a life of privilege after college."

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Agenda To Agressively Leverage Housing In Harlem For Wall St Profits Not Turning Out So Well

Private equity firms who poured hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years into real estate in Harlem, paying top dollar for housing developments with the profit outcome dependent on driving out rent regulated tenants in favor of rehabbed apartments fetching market rate, are in trouble the NYTimes reports "...As many as 54,000 of the 90,000 apartments acquired in those deals, or 60 percent, are at risk...'The apartments are just not generating revenues anywhere close to market rents. Yet, they were underwritten as if they were.'" Though the Times notes that defaults have not yet occurred with these deals,

"...at least one one complex held by a private equity firm is teetering on the edge: Riverton Houses, 1,232 apartments in seven buildings in Harlem. Stellar Management, the owner, notified lenders this year that it was in imminent danger of default. A $1.1 million payment on a $225 million interest-only loan was due Oct. 1. A spokeswoman for Stellar said the company was trying to negotiate more favorable terms.

What's more the Times continues,

"The loans for the Savoy Park (ed.: AKA Delano Village until the hip name change after purchase) in Harlem and a collection of eight buildings on Broadway in Washington Heights have also been placed on 'watch lists' by lenders or analysts who fear a default based on recent financial filings."

Reviewing a number of buildings bought by firms who were hoping to convert regulated apartments into market rate homes, which so far have come up very short of their projections, aggressive tactics were used to displace tenants.

"Last year, tenants groups sued the Pinnacle Group, which has bought thousands of apartments with private equity in Harlem, Washington Heights and the Bronx, accusing the company of harassing residents. The company has acknowledged sending out 5,000 dispossess notices — typically the start of the eviction process — to tenants at about a quarter of its 21,000 units from 2004 to 2006. But a lawyer for Pinnacle disputed claims that the company engaged in deliberate harassment."

Curbed recently reported on this recent trend of private equity buying up rent regulated buildings, bluntly stating that these deals eventually become "an exposé on how tenants are being harassed until they leave their apartments."

Related:
Fear of Defaults After a Flurry of Apartment House Sales (NYTimes)
Investment Collapse Betting Pool: Savoy Park Next? (Curbed)
More city apartments facing foreclosure (Crains)

(Vantage Properties photo from Flickr user lornagrl)

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Trailer For 'Whose Barrio, The Selling Of Spanish Harlem'

"Definitely there is a benefit to having a mixed income community and setting. The problem becomes how people interrelate and interact to with surrounding community they are moving into."

Watch it on YouTube.

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TODAY @ 4pm: "Seriously, fuk those assholes and the Federal Reserve...SAY NO"

"Seriously, fuck those assholes and the Federal Reserve.

**SAY NO TO THE WALL STREET BAILOUT!**

Thursday, September 25 @ 4pm, Bowling Green Park--in the plaza area--Broadway and Beaver Streets, Manhattan. (4 or 5 trains to Bowling Green or R, W or 1 to Rector St)

Bring banners, noisemakers, signs, leaflets & your unsalable junk! This is a historic moment. We need to act now while we can influence the debate. This week the White House is trying to push through the biggest financial theft in world history with nary a stitch of debate.They're asking for a blank check for over 1 trillion dollars to bail out George Bush's Wall Street cronies who created this economic crisis in the first place.

If this passes, we can forget about any money for environmental protection, to counter global warming, for education, for national health care, to rebuild our decaying infrastructure, for alternative energy (or AIDS research and prevention!).

Let's rally and march against this bailout in the heart of the financial district! Gather at 4pm, this Thursday, Sept. 25 in the plaza at the southern end of Bowling Green Park, which is the small triangular park that has the Wall Street bull at the northern tip.

Since Wall Street is asking us to give them money for their worthless investments, some folks are planning to bring their OWN junk to Wall Street and see if they'll buy it. Bring your collectible mugs, broken sleds and limited edition Thomas Kinkade prints and add 'em to the pile! This action inspired by Buy My Shitpile -http://www.buymyshitpile.com/ Do whatever you can for this historic event and contact all your groups and friends. This proposed financial bailout is without precedent and we have to stop it!"

Or, as the Financial Times has written,

"A government rescue is on the way...Naturally, the need for such a government-sponsored rescue is annoying. Taxpayers may well wish for the imposition of a special tax on recipients of what have turned out, retrospectively, to be unearned dividends and unjustified salaries. But demanding such a pay-back is infeasible. The pragmatic thing to do is let bygones be bygones,"

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The Veritable And Much Ballyhooed About Free Market Is Beginning To Look A Lot Like Socialism

Shhhh...

That's a secret that the rich people don't want you to know. Just be quiet. This all looks like Socialism but it's not. It's prudent economics that will save your job and home. Just get back to work.

Sure, the cost to US taxpayers is approaching 700 billion dollars. We could have started another Iraq war with kind of money. Or you know, like built schools and hospitals and roads and housing. But the rich people need it. They are going to save your job!! So you can keep working and paying taxes to fund their endeavors. Yay!

It would have been interesting to watch AIG face the free market in all it's glory, which no doubt would have led to it's demise. Instead it was provided a life line by the taxpayers.The rich are not stupid you know. Contrary to what they might tell you publicly, they've really no interest in playing around in a free market. They much prefer socialism and the protection of a nanny state than the competition and cut throat nature of a free market. That sandbox is for us to play in. It's socialism for the rich, and a free market for the rest of us.

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[UPDATED] An Outbreak Of Smart Cars Is Discovered In Harlem

Blogger Harlem Fur recently came out of retirement to note one in his neighborhood. The story drew interest from blogs such as Uptown Flavor, Curbed, and myself.

Tuesday brought another fellow Internet savvy resident of Harlem, Miss Maura Mae into the mix, when she reported a spotting of the same Smart Car. Except wait a minute! It is not the same one noted above. Each are red, but have different state plates. One from New York, and one from Jersey. (boooo)

Yesterday morning I wrote that, "Hopefully I too will one day see the elusive Harlem Smart Car..."

As well, Curbed was once again on the beat yesterday, writing that "the first spotting, a few weeks back, nearly caused a neighborhood-wide panic, so who knows what this latest development portends. Be very afraid."

Well, we'll tell you what it portends. A fukn epidemic. NYC The Blog would like to be the first to report a full blown outbreak of Smart Cars in Harlem. That's right. Holla. Walking on Broadway yesterday afternoon, marveling at the different world that exists down there only a couple dozen blocks from my own home, a bright yellow (!) Smart Car was happily parked on the east side Broadway, near the corner of 122nd. And fwiw, this one also had Jersey plates has NY plates.

How many Smart Cars in Harlem? 3 documented cases. Will the outbreak spread, or do authorities have everything under control? dunt dunt duhh...And if you have seen a Smart Car anywhere above 110th, please do send a photo in for the Smart Car Watch©.

UPDATE: Curbed has just reported a sighting of another Smart Car, seen on the corner of 149th and St. Nicholas, bringing the now photographed number of Smart Cars in Harlem to four. !!!

UPDATE: A commenter claims the yellow Smart Car, Jewish heritage, and support for Obama.


More Smart Car Porn Below:

• Harlem Smart Car!!!
• Harlem Is Over: Smart Car Signals the End
• Harlem Gentrification Watch: 'The End'
• Harlem Smart Car Still On Street

Kalahari Harlem

2-4 Bedroom Luxury Condominium Residences from $765000 to $1650000. 116th St. in Harlem. Two bedrooms at about 1,100 sq. ft. going for $765.000. Add a terrace to that and you're at about $950.000.

The best part of this is the copy at the website. It's really good, but Luxury Meets Green is great.

"The soul of Kalahari is its "green consciousness". Kalahari Harlem was designed with the goal of limiting the building's impact on the environment while still providing luxurious, modern homes."

HAHAHA! It's "green consciousness". Yah totes. $$ Green, no doubt.

"...limiting the building's impact on the environment..." Double HAHAHA! Like, fuk the neighborhood right? Lets recycle more and eat heirloom tomatoes.

Why is it called Kalahari? Well,

"The 116th and 115th Street public street facades and the private courtyard are interpretations of the vibrant cultural decorative traditions of Africa. Outwardly facing the neighborhood, the street elevations are inspired by the iconic designs of the Kalahari region's San Bushmen."

Slap. Slap.

And just in case anyone is confused about who the residences located in a new building on 116th St in Harlem are for, or haven't gotten around to reading the beautifully written copy, the developers have put a huge sign on the front of the building to help mitigate any confusion.









Related:

• The Bridges NYC, East Harlem's Newest Expensive Apts. For People Who Def Will Not Be Shopping At The Goodwill Opening Up Next Door
• Build It In Harlem, And They Will Come (?)

Revisiting 11 Spring St

The photo to the right was snapped recently while passing by 11 Spring St in Downtown Manhattan. Here is what the building looked like two years ago.

In the middle of December 2006, the building was the impetus for a historic, week-end only art show publicly commemorating the buildings status as canvas for street artists throughout nyc and the world --one last hurrah before the new owners convert the empty building into condos to be sold for multi-millions. As I wrote at the time, under an alter ego at a now private blog,

"For those unfamiliar, the building at 11 Spring St. in NYC holds a revered spot in downtown nyc's history. It has been written about countless times, with much ado being made about it's history, fate, ownership, and especially it's status as a mecca for street artists from around the world. The Building is an enigma in Manhattan Real Estate, as it has sat undeveloped for decades, in one of the most actively re-developed neighborhoods in one of the most actively re-developed cities of the world, which has only fueled the interest shown in the building by so many..."

Here are some videos from the opening I took that week-end, including the infamous bombing by DYM the morning of. (last video linked)

11 Spring video tour (2nd Floor)

11 Spring video tour (3rd Floor)

11 Spring video tour (4th Floor)

11 Spring video tour (5th Floor)

Interview with Whalen (plaster gun w/flowers)

Interview with Jasmine Zimmerman (rubber band web project)

Interview with Stella (praying hands)

Giving life to Skewville's 'Fresh Crates'

Unknown artist tagging the wall (woman's face)

Unknown artist tagging the upper wall

DYM bombing the wall

Mincing Is For Cooking, Not Words

• Reports of shots fired in a class war:
  

  "You're aiding and abetting the demise of working class and middle class housing," said Senator Charles Schumer. "Banks share in the culpability" said State Senator Jose M. Serrano.

  I hope those aren't blanks your firing guys. <City Room>


• Remember that cringe worthy article in the NYPress last week? The one that reeked of hidden agendas not so well hidden? Well, two letters to the editor in this weeks' NY Press are in response. The first letter to the editor is great, and is from a resident of Italy who has visited Harlem and writes in cute broken english, but oh so earnest.

  "My passion for photography brought me to Harlem, where I spent one afternoon. There I realized that I would need more to learn, to walk around, to look around, pay attention, walk carefully...
  
  My impression is that the writer-journalist—as well as myself—would need to wake up: [Stop being] "naive"... you or I are not "black," you will never be black; it is a fact..."

  The next letter to the editor is not so diplomatic. Rashida Ayers writes,

  "...the article is so heavily peppered with condescension and entitlement that I frequently found myself doubling over with pangs of revulsion. Susan Bakos is truly an atavistic throwback, painting herself as a precious and fragile damsel who, by divine right, is supposed to be exempt from the ills of the world...The paradox is that, while savoring all of the (alleged) attention she receives from black men, Bakos uses every opportunity to denigrate and devalue black people and their culture. Her true loathing of, hatred for and myopic view of black people came through crystal clear. Bakos apparently views herself as a gift to the poor, uneducated black masses of the world: a people who should be grateful she would even consider commingling with them."

  <NY Press Mailbox>

I imagine the NY Press received similar letters from a wide variety of their readers, as the original article was such a masquerade of hate and bitterness laid bare.

Your Opinion Counts?

Seen taped to the outside of Rite Aid on 145th

• It's never nice when someone catches a hook on the temple, 'specially a woman who didn't see it coming. Reading the article though, and one could argue the writer has trouble seeing much of anything coming. <NY Press: Harlem, It's a Hard Knock Life >
  
• Keeping Harlem Affordable for Blacks <NPR>
  
• Harlem For Sale To The Highest Bidder <NPR>
  
• Harlem Fur Is Totes On The Smart Car Watch! <Harlem Fur>
  

"Please Buy This Gentrification-Kit!"

I did not notice the clever play on words in the headline above--snatched from Gawker--until this morning. Gentrification Kit. Kit Hodge. Tee-hee.

Yesterday, NYCTB reported on the Bogeda Party in a Box. Gawker and Gothamist picked up the story, and were as skeptical as I.

Before the post went up here, I sent an email to Kit Hodge, CEO of Neighbors Project, writing that I thought the box was silly and insensitive. She responded yesterday, as well as adding her own comment at Gothamist and on the Neighbors Project own blog.

In my email to her, I noted:

I saw the Bodega Party in a Box, and my first thought was how insensitive it was. If its about supporting bogedas, not only could one patronize them daily, offering economic support, but one could also take the time to talk with them, ask them questions about their day, their families, where they came from, telling their story via photos or written word perhaps, etc... Building community, social capital, and being sincere about it. Instead of a party that might seem culturally insensitive...

I wonder how comfortable the people throwing these parties would feel inviting the bodega owner to join them? I imagine they would feel uncomfortable extending that invite, because they would not want to appear insensitive or classist or culturally insensitive, no? So it seems insensitive, and a kinda of silly end around to actually building community and supporting bodega owners.

Kit responded:

So here's a full reply to your question. First of all, thanks for asking. Neighbors Project is one of the few organizations that's willing to get into these heated and complicated discussions, so we always expect pushback of all kinds.

I'm trying to follow your reasoning and coming up a bit short.

If you think that the Bodega Party in a Box doesn't go far enough, then I highly recommend that you make use of one of our two guides to taking it a step further (at the bottom of the page). The one of getting more fresh produce into corner stores actually has questions we recommend people use to help begin to develop a relationship with their corner store owners. Second, while there are definitely lots of younger city residents who already get the need for and appeal of shopping at their corner stores, the reality is that way too many don't, and their refusal/hesitancy/fear of giving it a try has real impacts for everyone in the neighborhood. As in, corner stores, even good ones, are more likely to go out of business or stop selling fresh items (or never bother trying), if the new residents of the neighborhood don't shop there and ask for produce. And that only exacerbates food desert problems, and paves the way for more chain stores to move in to your neighborhood. This is what we found though the Food & Liquor project in Chicago, else we wouldn't have done this. So if the Bodega Party in a Box gets people who wouldn't otherwise even consider shopping at their corner store into the store, we've done something good.

And finally, I'm guessing that most bodega owners would actually be pretty freakin happy that a bunch more people are shopping at their stores thanks to their Bodega Party in a Box experience.

Again, thanks for asking for your take. Keep up the dialogue.

Best,
Kit"

I should note here that I was initially a fan of the Neighbors Project when I first discovered them a year ago or so. (They even profiled me last year). But after signing up for their newsletter, and repeatedly receiving ones that made me cringe, I gradually came to dislike the whole effort. While able to understand the intent and purpose behind the organization, and enjoying a few of their efforts -such a guide to planting flowers- more and more it all seemed so asinine. So when Kit says, "I'm trying to follow your reasoning and coming up a bit short" that's really the problem. If you don't see any issue with needing to make a step by step guide instructing your members and supporters on how to say hi to your neighbor, if you don't see any issue with having a party for you and your friends that mocks a Bodega owners life, instead of just supporting them directly through daily economic decisions, and sincere social interactions, well, y'know, we're just watching the game from different sides of the field I guess.

I don't want to live with neighbors who need a step by step guide on how to be a decent human being. You don't know how to, or don't care to say hi to your neighbors, and need a step by step guide? Wow.

You are the neighbors we tortured relentlessly while teenagers, egging your house, leaving shit in a bag on your doorstep, and waiting for the day you left. If you don't already want to say hi to someone who goes to work everyday, for 12 hours a day, supporting his family and the community, so you can waltz in and buy your coffee and cigarettes when ever you want--if that is not enough incentive in and of itself, you should make a guide on how to lose your sense of entitlement and class privilege.

People who don't know how to be members of a community without a guide shouldn't be members of a community. That's why they make gated communities. For you. Don't feel bad or shy away from that. Embrace yourself.

Or, as a commenter at Gawker noted,

" Unfun at 02:10 PM - Seriously, white people, in most cases I'd bet your neighbors aren't "connecting" you because they don't fucking want to. And when you come up with ideas like this, why should they? If you need to be told that bodega food is edible, you're probably a fucking dickhead, and you should continue to ignore your minority neighbors for their sake."

Pretty Young Affluent Things Guide To Supporting Your Local Bogeda

The Bodega Party in a Box.

"Did you know that your corner store (aka bodega) probably sells a lot more than ho hos and beer? Perhaps even fresh produce. Taste what your corner store has to offer by throwing a Bodega Tasting Party.

The Bodega Party in a Box comes with a cook book, one silkscreened resuable shopping bag, 8 Party invitations and envelopes, and corner store-style flags - "aka, perfect party decoration"

Since building community with people takes actual effort, like saying hello, asking them questions about their families and life, and just generally being a gracious person, it's easier and less awkward for your class sensibilities to do it with detached irony while tying that to the belief that somehow the purchase you undertake is going to free these backward and uncultured bodega operators from the oppressed and unjust world they live in.

Because really, they don't like the Latin music they listen to, the sense of community, family, and national pride they hold onto only exists because you've never graced them with you presence and belief systems, and they haven't been stuffing more free cash then is your salary into brown bags every month for the last 14 years. They've been waiting for you to come and save them. Now you can. For $25.00. Cultural insensitivity not included. And don't forget to invite the bodega owners, I'm sure they would love to come to a party where you pretend that being a hard working immigrant in a foreign country is cause for a hipster party, while you eschew your daily purchase of coffee with warm milk for $1.00 at the bodega, instead opting to buy a book and some flags from somewhere else.

Sadly, as is often the case with the lives of pretty young affluent things who are going to save the world through buying things instead of doing things, the Bogeda Party in a Box is not joke.

A Neighbors Project project.

Related: You could and should also buy a shirt you for $36.00 that will let everyone know how much you really care.

UPDATE: Gawker and Gothamist pick up the story, with Gothamist commenting on: "people who have had it with the corner bodega’s refusal to carry the New York Times and stock more produce beyond the usual 'bananas that look like they're in pain.'" And as per usual, Gawker drives the point home much better than I, as the writers over there have hammers as opposed to the shoe used over here at NYC The Blog. Never mind the mallet that their commenters use to fashion the gold:

• Blactor at 01:29 PM - Box O' Crap - Priceless
• Private Hangnail at 01:33 PM - Listen, if the complicated problems of immigration and urban poverty can't be solved with some sort of branded party equipment, I say don't solve them.
  
• ineffable.me at 01:37 PM - Bodegas have everything, you'd have to be a jackass to need a book to tell you how to "eat well from your corner store.
• Unfun at 02:10 PM - Seriously, white people, in most cases I'd bet your neighbors aren't "connecting" you because they don't fucking want to. And when you come up with ideas like this, why should they? If you need to be told that bodega food is edible, you're probably a fucking dickhead, and you should continue to ignore your minority neighbors for their sake.

UPDATE: Kit Hodge, CEO of the Neighbors Project, responds via email.

The Bridges NYC, East Harlem's Newest Expensive Apts. For People Who Def Will Not Be Shopping At The Goodwill Opening Up Next Door

The Bridges "a Manhattan to call your own, a culinary playground, a private retreat" on the corner of 123rd and 3rd Avenue.

As of yet all still appear to be empty, and a resident on the streets tells me they have been available for "oh, at least 6 months now." Told that the broker jus quoted me a price of $4,000 for a 1,200 sq.ft apt., the local resident notes that he has a "really nice bedroom around the corner for $1,200."

How much are the unfurnished 1200 sq ft to 1700 sq ft apartments renting for at The Bridges? (you can also opt for furnished apts.) Let's listen in.

"Hi Leo, this is Paolo, how much are the 1200 sq ft spaces renting for?"

"...$4,000. But I might have a few for a bit less."

"What's a bit less? $3,500?"

"yah. I can also negotiate a bit on those."

"ok, and what about the 1,700 sq ft apts?"

"Those are going for $5,600"

"ok, so what about those apts that you can be rented for less than $4,000? What's the story with those?"

"Well, I am negotiating to lease 8 of them in a block to a medical school. That might fall through, and if it does, I will lower their price individually to get some apartments rented quickly."

"Oh, I see. Cool. What medical school? Colombia?"

"No, actually they are for (inaudible)"

"Ok thanks..."

The Bridges website provides a handy list of shopping and dining options in the area. They forgot to list the Goodwill opening up next door, and the plethora or 99cent stores that line the block. And though they mention the transportation options nearby, "Near 4, 5 and 6 subway lines, Metro North and one block from the Triboro Bridge" there was no mention of the bus stops that are on almost every corner.

UPDATE: Curbed has covered this development recently, and the comments on that post are interesting, with one commenter making note of the buildings surroundings. "I walked by this trainwreck 2 days ago. As I recall it's across the street from a Firehouse (Sirens all the time 24/7), HEAVY traffic bothways (CROSS TOWN on 125th and running the length of Manhattan, 24/7, The PATHMARK across the street is a homeless, bottle/can collectors magnet! Around the clock, 24/7)."

Some more photos taken from The Bridges website below:

NYC, When You Buy Counterfeit Goods, You Support Organized Crime, Child Labor, Even Worse...

...so based on this logic, whats that make someone who rents an apt. in nyc for $25,000 a month?

So a Real Estate Agent and a Snake Oil Salesman Walk Into This Bar In Harlem...

Walking around the neighborhood the other day up here about 145th streets, a sign advertising apartments for rent beckoned from the attractive brick building. Always curious, I dialed the number.

Damn if a woman from the agency didn't call me back twenty eight minutes later.

"Hi, this is Karen, returning Paolo's call about the apartments on Convenant Ave."

"Hey Karen, Hi, this is Paolo. Thanks for calling me back."

"Sure. So what are you looking for?"

"Well, actually, I'm not really looking, just curious. At some point in the near future, I'd like to get a two bedroom with my sister or a friend, and I'm pricing out the inventory, to see what's out there."

"We have some nice two bedrooms here, I'd be happy to show you one."

"How much are they going for?"

"The 2 bedrooms start at $2,000"

"Oh. wow, that's way too much for me."

"What price range are you looking for?"

"Hmm...well, I'm hoping to find a cute two bedroom for $1,200. No more than $1,500, but at $1,500 it really needs to be perfect, with a nice porch or backyard."

"Oh, you won't find that in Harlem. Harlem is an up and coming neighborhood, and the rents are reflecting that lots of people want to live here now. You can't find a two bedroom in Harlem for under $2,000."

"umm...actually, my neighbors are looking for one now, and $1,500 is their limit, and according to them, they have seen lots of nice 2 bedrooms for that price."

"They must be lucky, you just can't get a 2 bedroom in Harlem anymore for less than $2,000. I can show you a one bedroom in our building for $1,500"

"Karen, thanks, I appreciate that, but I'm not paying nearly that now, and I want a two bedroom that reflects the price I currently pay. On Craigslist, I search for 2 bedrooms in Harlem with the max price set at $1,300 and many show up every week."

"Hello? Hello? Karen?"

p.s. fukin real estate agents, who regulates these people? I mean, like, srsly, "You can't find a two bedroom in Harlem for under $2,000" That is an inaccurate statement. They shouldn't be able to say things like that. But I don't know...buyer beware, free market, due diligence, and all that other tra la la.

Related from the NYO: Overall, Harlem remained the cheapest place to rent in June, with average prices ranging from $1,287 for non-doorman studios to $2,636 for full-service, two-bedroom apartments. (via Uptown Flavor)

MF Gallery's Last Show On Rivington

This past Saturday evening, as part of the Make Music New York 2008 Festival -a festival hosting over 2000 free shows across the five boroughs- the MF Gallery (MySpace) at 157 Rivington downtown held their Equinox Music Festival. It was the last show being held in their space on Rivington, getting ready as they are to move across the bridge to Gowanus BK.

The Gallery was making great drinks for a suggested donation of two dollars, (holla) and some people obvs really put some time into their outfits; little details like pink ribbon for shoe laces, for instance.

Death Metal music makers Deth Race performed on the sidewalk, as dozens of well heeled people walked by looking either bemused of indifferent; present in the 'hood to attend to their social rituals at one of the many bars in the neighborhood. People living across the street threw oranges at the crowd of punk rockers and artists gathered around watching the band; locals who live on the street or nearby frustratingly pushed their young children in strollers through the crowd, shaking their head with what seemed like disgust at the motley crew gathered. The police were called for a noise complaint. For brief moments, either perceived or real, subtle notes of class, race, gentrification, young vs old, rich vs poor, us vs them, locals vs tourists, artists vs workers, hate bitterness and happiness all stewed together in nyc's soup. It smelled really good.

An attendee lamented MF Gallery moving to BK, and noted a long list of venues no longer around, venues which allowed like minded art and life to be. I thought of the man I saw pushing his child in the stroller through the crowd, with other children following close behind, and wondered what he thought about this.

The Gorgeous Ladies of Blood Wrestling performed at the event as well, though they asked me to refrain from posting the photos and video I shot. :(

Maybe photos from Deth Race, with a few other randos, can suffice?