Coney Island
Mar. 25th, 2010 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutI read this article in my paper copy of Mother Jones:
http://motherjones.com/photoessays/2010/02/surf-manor-adult-homes-coney-island
Two things jumped out at me. First, Coney Island. Back in the before-everyone-had-cars day, Coney Island was kind of a big deal, being accessible by public transport. In my attempts to forecast what the future might look like, after fuel is expensive and everyone has taken to living closer in and driving less and maybe not even owning a car, Coney Island is a big deal again. When a left wing magazine like Mother Jones reports on group homes in the area having a bunch of pro bono lawyers helping the poor residents escape from the profiteering people who run the group home, I get a little suspicious.
Okay, I get a lot suspicious. "All it took was six years, more than a dozen attorneys, and tens of thousands of hours of work, culminating in an 18-day trial in federal court featuring 30 witnesses and 300-plus exhibits." I want to be clear here: these people do not have good lives, probably somebody is taking advantage somewhere, most of the people involved in the process of trying to shut down the group home(s) have good intentions all around. Etc. But I'm still really suspicious, particularly since a little google mapping suggests that virtually all the property in the area is some form of public health or other assistance for the downtrodden. You put a lot of stuff like that on top of property that (I think) is about to become hella valuable, and a little showcase of evil for the left wing likely to complain about gentrification makes a _lot_ of sense.
I hadn't actually gotten around to researching whether any development was planned for Coney Island until today, when a little googling found me this:
http://www.thecidc.org/News/CIDCUpdates/021610.html
And that just makes me feel a little queasy. I mean, I like being right. And I actually think that building an amusement park in that location again makes a lot of sense and is a good idea. However, I _really_ wish this had gotten at least a sidebar in the Mother Jones article, because I think a whole bunch of people who _should_ have been trying to make the process a little more fair just got taken for a ride.
The second thing that jumped out at me was the last sentence:
"and residents dream of a life no longer confined to an adult home on the edge of town, but in an apartment they can call their own."
I don't think that is going to be an improvement.
http://motherjones.com/photoessays/2010/02/surf-manor-adult-homes-coney-island
Two things jumped out at me. First, Coney Island. Back in the before-everyone-had-cars day, Coney Island was kind of a big deal, being accessible by public transport. In my attempts to forecast what the future might look like, after fuel is expensive and everyone has taken to living closer in and driving less and maybe not even owning a car, Coney Island is a big deal again. When a left wing magazine like Mother Jones reports on group homes in the area having a bunch of pro bono lawyers helping the poor residents escape from the profiteering people who run the group home, I get a little suspicious.
Okay, I get a lot suspicious. "All it took was six years, more than a dozen attorneys, and tens of thousands of hours of work, culminating in an 18-day trial in federal court featuring 30 witnesses and 300-plus exhibits." I want to be clear here: these people do not have good lives, probably somebody is taking advantage somewhere, most of the people involved in the process of trying to shut down the group home(s) have good intentions all around. Etc. But I'm still really suspicious, particularly since a little google mapping suggests that virtually all the property in the area is some form of public health or other assistance for the downtrodden. You put a lot of stuff like that on top of property that (I think) is about to become hella valuable, and a little showcase of evil for the left wing likely to complain about gentrification makes a _lot_ of sense.
I hadn't actually gotten around to researching whether any development was planned for Coney Island until today, when a little googling found me this:
http://www.thecidc.org/News/CIDCUpdates/021610.html
And that just makes me feel a little queasy. I mean, I like being right. And I actually think that building an amusement park in that location again makes a lot of sense and is a good idea. However, I _really_ wish this had gotten at least a sidebar in the Mother Jones article, because I think a whole bunch of people who _should_ have been trying to make the process a little more fair just got taken for a ride.
The second thing that jumped out at me was the last sentence:
"and residents dream of a life no longer confined to an adult home on the edge of town, but in an apartment they can call their own."
I don't think that is going to be an improvement.