Bargaining for Brooklyn: Community Organizations in the Entrepreneurial City

Bargaining for Brooklyn reveals one side of the social process underlying poverty, opportunity and inequality. It lets you understand how elements of social structure, which extend beyond interpersonal relationships –like families- contribute to poverty and its related social problems.

The main topic of the book is how community-based organizations (CBO) work to improve the conditions in their poor neighborhoods. Poor-quality housing may seem like a natural condition of a poor neighborhood. But neither housing nor a neighborhood becomes -or remains- poor in a vacuum.


Source:

Map by James Quinn, ISERP,

Columbia Unieversity



‘A Place to Live’ is a chapter about the evolution of the poor-quality housing in the neighborhood of Williamsburg, and about the working of the CBO ‘Los Sures’ (the Southside United Housing Development Fund Corporation).

 

Source:

http://dumbonyc.com/category/

brooklyn-queens-expressway/

 It all started when Robert Moses –the city’s immensely
powerful development czar- planned a massive system of highways (the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), with Williamsburg as a key link. By 1954 Williamsburg looked like it had been partially hit by bombs. And the housing that escaped the bulldozer became even more decayed. 

Groups of new, poorer people arrived, the Hasidic Jews and the Puerto Ricans. They formed what looked like the ideal-typical immigrant community: as the immigrants grew steadily in number, they gave birth to a succession of formal organizations to provide their needs (Thomas & Znaniecki, 1918).

Source: Late 1970s organizing efforts by

Southside United Housing Development

Fund Corporation (Los Sures). Photo

courtesy of Los Sures.

When President Johnson declared the ‘War on Poverty’ in 1965 and the CAP (Community Action Program) was introduced, a fundamental change happened. There was a tense competition over government resources between organizations representing the Hasidim –later formed as the UJP, United Jewish Organizations- and the Puerto Ricans –Los Sures, later representing all Latinos-.

This struggle went on when and in 1997 they were battling over zoning. The NY’s Department of City planning proposed the rezoning of an area surrounding the Williamsburg Bridge. UJO supported the proposal, Los Sures was against it. Not only was Los Sures fighting against the Hasidic –they doubled their population every ten years-, a new fighting front came from the growth machine’s return –consisting of artists, college graduates,…-.
Los Sures, as a member of the alternative rezoning coalition, lost their battle.

This story shows some important lessons about the possibilities of reconnecting poor urban neighborhoods to the broader economic and political systems of the city through the actions of community-based organizations. Because the UJO were able to shape the details of the growth machine’s operation in a way that benefited them substantially.

The book shows an interesting look on the other side of the gentrification, the fight of the current population. Marwell followed Los Sures in the critical moments in 1997, so you get a very accurate describing of their meetings and protests. It is very instructive in understanding community-based organizations.
But it shows only one side of the story, the one of the Latinos. I find it difficult to form an honest opinion when you don’t know the other sides, like the city’s side or the other community, represented by the UJO.

Source: Marwell, N.P. (2007). Bargaining for Brooklyn: Community Organizations in the Entrepreneurial City. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press