Simone Davis, originally from Ojai, California has been calling NYC home since 1992. Having rented on the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan and the uber-hip Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Simone has experienced first-hand the ever escalating rents and real estate prices in “prime” areas of the city. “I simply refuse at this stage of my life to pay an outrageous amount of money to live in a cramped, tiny and often-subpar space, all the while paying somebody else’s mortgage. In my twenties it was great – no regrets - but after a while it just becomes time to live like a normal person," she laughs.Having bought and sold (and enjoyed a nice profit from!) a condo in a “transitional” section in Montclair, New Jersey in the past, Simone knows the value of investing in an area before everyone else “pounces." After a year of searching specifically for an affordable home that was sure to gain in value, the only areas that matched her criteria were The Bronx and Staten Island. After visiting both boroughs she found she much preferred the former, mostly due to the rich history of The Bronx as well as its close proximity and easy commute into Manhattan.
Two years ago, Simone captured instant equity by buying an inexpensive condo in the safe and serene Parkchester Condominium Complex (a self-contained village in and of itself) and has seen vast improvements in the community even in the small amount of time she has been there. “It is so great to see all that is going on and the diverse group of people moving to the community every month, including many people just like myself – former Manhattan-ites, sick and tired of out of control prices.”
Besides her passion for real estate, Simone is also an avid world traveler and loves photography, vintage cinema, antiquing and flea-marketing, and spending time at her second home in beautiful East Tennessee. Simone also just recently launched a website (http://www.thebronxrocks.com/) to combine her love of the Bronx with her passion for photography.
15 comments:
Excellent blog! Long overdue. Found you while googling for Bronx trends, etc. I'll be a daily viitor and I'll pass this site around.
Pardon my typo! That's "visitor".
Great Mike! Thanks for checking in and yes, please spread the word around!
Simone
NYC mags often discount the B.X. because the 2006 census notes the Bronx as the "poorest U.S. urban county".
That article was the basis for this movie we made called Bodega. Since you folks are still relatively new to the real Bronx please enjoy this slice of life film on how people in the host disenfranchised neighborhood in the U.S. most disenfranchised urban county feed themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11nsZ3lEWD0
THanks Dallas. I just wrote A TON about this site and gentrification and how, um well the implications of this site, the three people organizing the site, and really the whole state of the city in general. I don't know that it went through....
My basic point to this site...you are ruining the bronx with this "oh look look at the poor people, look they can't afford half of the stuff on this site we are highlighting but her WE CAN. Look what we found, cheap rent and CULTURE. Yay since we washed it alllll out of Brooklyn"
please do nyc a favor, leave the bronx ALONE to US people who call it HOME
Syd, I truly am sorry you feel the way you do and I can understand where some of your misplaced fear and frustration are coming from. Many of us struggle with the social, economic and moral implications of "gentrification" that we all have seen in other NYC neighborhoods. This is not what I believe is happening in the Bronx. A much needed revitalization - yes! Full scale class and economic stratification and gentrification - no!
However, I do need to make a few points about the sentiment in your post...a) we ALSO proudly call the Bronx home, b) I beg to differ that any of us are "ruining" anything and c) I suggest you get used to the changes taking place (as change happens in EVERY part of the world ALL the time) because it is here to stay. I'm sorry if what we are trying to do (change the horrifying and outdated perception of the Bronx) isn't your cup of tea, but that doesn't negate all the people who I meet every day who have lived here their whole lives (through all the misery and heartache) and now welcome the revitalization that is making this borough a safe and lovely place to live once again.
BTW, many of us newly-arrived residents are volunteering our time helping the many non-profit organizations out there dedicated to helping Bronx residents in need (young and old). Giving up our weekends and evenings helping to clean up the Bronx River, for example, or tutoring young children or volunteering at homes for the elderly. How can you possibly judge from afar how our presence here will affect this borough until you see what all of us are doing collectively to help this once crime-ridden, poverty-stricken hellhole of a borough that nobody would step foot inside it's "borders" unless they had to? Most people welcome all the new families, students, retail establishments and tourists with money to spend coming in - now that the word is out that the Bronx is making a comeback. And lest you forget, the Bronx was once a wonderful middle class enclave that people were proud to say they were from. Thankfully, those of you with an agenda to keep all newcomers out do not speak for the majority of Bronxites.
It is wonderful that you spend your time cleaning the river and tutoring kids, really, it is. However, once you and the middle/upper class make your way back into the neighborhood and thus raise the cost of living, property value, you won't have to worry about tutoring anyone and your river will be nice, hey maybe the city will even spring for pier. Now THAT would be nice.
For your information, people are still proud to say they are form the Bronx beyond the "middle class" that once was.
You are clearly not realizing your privilege in this situation, assuming you are helping people when you are part of the problem. And for the record, I am a white Latina, educated, and finishing a masters degree so do not talk to me as if I am some disgruntled person who is one upset over something that is "inevitable" and who can not possibly see the good in your after work/weekend hobbies.
Trust most people born in nyc are used to change. I know that changes are cyclical and people move in and out of neighborhoods. My point is that this time around there is really nowhere else for people who can't afford high price rents to go. A lot of families I have known for years, and by the way, families that were never considered poor, hard working people are struggling not to lose their homes. I don't really expect you to understand. You see, I have had this conversation before with people such as yourself, you really see the good in what you are doing.
Historically, residents in most places that have be considered ghettos, slums, "poor" are of COURSE glad to see new business, half of the people in these neighborhoods immigrated or ended up here seeking an American dream so when they get an artificial slice of it, it feels good. But do you think they know about housing laws and how they are changing, and how rent control is being de-stablized or how landlords are gaining more and more control over how much they can raise rents....when you move in and can pay even just a bit more than the people in the neighborhood, then it affects that landlords ability to charge more in general. I'm sure you know that since this is your job right? Buy places in poor places and wait for the neighborhood to get better.
Their is so much I could write but you are right about one thing, it's happening and will continue to happen...so that is that...money is power...
So you tell yourself whatever it is you need to sleep at night...tutor as many kids as you need to, hell plant some flowers, but some of us, know what's really going on, and it is just sad.
Syd:
So I guess you don't want to be a contributor to the site, eh?
You sound very angry about it. Why don't you just stop reading it? Every time you click on it, or on one of our profile pages, you are increasing our number of site visitors, therefore increasing our popularity.
By the way, you know nothing about our income level. Once you are done with your Masters degree, there's a good chance you'll be making more than my husband and I since we're on one income due to raising a child and he's a teacher. You shouldn't make assumptions about income - it is a slippery slope. Discriminating against anyone based on their income (poor, rich, working class, upper class, whatever) is a pretty bad idea in general.
Take my advice: stop visiting the site. It sounds as if you're about to have an aneurysm, and we don't want that. Or, start a competing blog if you feel that strongly about the issue.
~ErLu
Those two posts were my contributions. thank you.
and perhaps I will start a blog about people such as yourselves who don't understand structural violence or the true meaning of gentrification.
So Syd, when you get your master's and are making above average money, are you allowed to live in the Bronx? Not sure why you have such a gripe about people cheerleading for the Bronx?
Structural violence, hmmm.... How does the perpetuating of the social structures that lead to violence and despair help the Bronx or the people that live here. If people only see, hear and talk about the negative things about the Bronx, aren't the people who live here going to, even if unconsciously, buy into it? Doesn't a culture of 'why care?' dominate when the Bronx stays hidden away and written off?
What are you scared of? Would you rather have a website perpetuating the old stereotype of the Bronx?
Keep reading Syd. It seems like you're intrigued. We appreciate the clicks. You're helping the Bronx rise from anonymity.
What do you find so objectionable to BoogieDowner? Your anger seems to be displaced and mis-focused.
Can't wait to read your new blog.
As a lifelong resident of the Bronx I have been praying for gentrification for years even if it means we must attract newcomers. It's unfortunate that the people who have grown up here are either a) planning on moving to the suburbs, b) too accepting of the substandard lifestyle we live, or c) in prison.
Good Luck
Hi Simone - love the blog...quick question about parkchester - do you have parking there or do you not need a car in your situation. i dont own a car but i'd like to in the future and parkchester is great but i hear that parking is terrible, so just wondering if some buildings offer parking.
thank you.
Hi BonafideLatina,
Yes, sadly the parking situation in Parkchester leaves much to be desired. It is understandable; the community was built in the late 1940's - well before every household had the automobile.
The situation is: if you can afford the $150 extra a month to park in one of the garages - go for it! If not, I might suggest you give it a lot of thought as to whether or not you wish to deal with the hassle...
Every owner (and renter, I believe) is issued a parking permit if they want. However, although there are outdoor parking lots for every building, the number of cars far exceeds the number of spaces. I've seen people wait hours just to get a spot. There is parking on the street - but again, not an ideal situation. Although I toyed with the idea of bringing my car here (from another state), I decided against it. Just not enough need for me. I take the express bus or subway into Manhattan (for work and play) and take either cabs or bronx buses to other parts of the Bronx. Parkchester is quite near via bus to the Zoo, the Gardens, City Island, Little Italy, Morris Park (The Bronx' 2nd Little Italy), Pelham Park, The South Bronx, etc.
Great little community to live in -and getting better every day.
Please reach out should you need further info.
Simon
parking in parkchester cant be as bad as coop city.
I have to say that I agree with syd. The more attention that is paid to the Bronx, the more it will become like Queens and Bk - completely unaffordable for most working class folks.
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