10 Plagues of Brooklyn
Every Saturday we are fortunate to receive the free newspaper The Brooklyn Paper. Last week's issue was all about faith in Brooklyn in which Christ's Church for Brooklyn got a little write-up. This week's edition, in the spirit of passover, printed what it thought are the 10 Plagues of Brooklyn. And so here they are:
10. Lousy Bagels
9. Gowanus Canal
8. Chuck E. Cheese (yep, we've got one)
7. No late-night cabs
6. Leftover chicken bones on subway
5. Overdevelopment
4. Lice
3. Traffic
2. Baby discrimination (sign in front of restaurant reading "No Strollers!")
1. Manhattanification
Most of these won't make sense to those of you reading outside the city but if you ask the old-timers about the current climate of Brooklyn, they'll shake their head and sigh. "It ain't what it used to be," is a common refrain spoken in the thickest of Brooklyn accent.
The problem is my family. We moved here from Manhattan because of the family friendly environment and the cheaper rent. Now the demand to live in Brooklyn is high and so naturally rent is going up (way up) and businesses are starting to have that snobby, Manhattan feel. And so while I want to lament with the old-heads of Brooklyn I realize that my family is part of the problem.
This growth and demand would seem ideal for a church plant, right? It would seem that we are in a good place and that we got here just in time. The problem is that none of the core people at Christ's Church for Brooklyn can afford to live in this ever-expanding part of Brooklyn. Of the 25-30 of us who attend CCfB, my family is the only family living in the target area and Laura and I feel the burden of high rent that is surely only going to raise in the future.
In the meantime, our little church is trying to think creatively about how best to reach out to these neighborhoods that are changing daily.
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10. Lousy Bagels
9. Gowanus Canal
8. Chuck E. Cheese (yep, we've got one)
7. No late-night cabs
6. Leftover chicken bones on subway
5. Overdevelopment
4. Lice
3. Traffic
2. Baby discrimination (sign in front of restaurant reading "No Strollers!")
1. Manhattanification
Most of these won't make sense to those of you reading outside the city but if you ask the old-timers about the current climate of Brooklyn, they'll shake their head and sigh. "It ain't what it used to be," is a common refrain spoken in the thickest of Brooklyn accent.
The problem is my family. We moved here from Manhattan because of the family friendly environment and the cheaper rent. Now the demand to live in Brooklyn is high and so naturally rent is going up (way up) and businesses are starting to have that snobby, Manhattan feel. And so while I want to lament with the old-heads of Brooklyn I realize that my family is part of the problem.
This growth and demand would seem ideal for a church plant, right? It would seem that we are in a good place and that we got here just in time. The problem is that none of the core people at Christ's Church for Brooklyn can afford to live in this ever-expanding part of Brooklyn. Of the 25-30 of us who attend CCfB, my family is the only family living in the target area and Laura and I feel the burden of high rent that is surely only going to raise in the future.
In the meantime, our little church is trying to think creatively about how best to reach out to these neighborhoods that are changing daily.
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posted by jch at
12:37 PM
5 Comments:
I once saw a woman eat an entire chicken on the train. No kidding.
Up early. Chuckling at the mention of leftover chicken bones. Surely that's putting it mildly. Interesting that the list has no mention of being dissed by the Dodgers over their departure 50 years ago. I guess it's easy to overlook that at a time like this when the M-E-T-S are off to a hot start . . .
Those chicken bones make their way to Manhattan too. I like the little write up.
I subscribe to "Time Out" magazine and I'm always reading about new restaurant, bars, and shops opening up in Brooklyn that seem so cool and trendy. It does seem like it's becoming more like Manhattan. The magazine never (rarely) mentions anything new and cool happening in my borough of the Bronx.
That's because the Bronx is boring.
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