By: 6:30 am on May 2 Permits have been filed for a seven-story residential building at 23 Ralph Avenue in Bushwick Located between Gates Avenue and Quincy Street the lot is one block from the Gates Avenue subway station William Shao under the 880 Quincy LLC is listed as the owner behind the applications The proposed 70-foot-tall development will yield 33,565 square feet designated for residential space most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 685 square feet The concrete-based structure will also have a cellar and 12 enclosed parking spaces Angelo Ng & Anthony Ng Architects Studio is listed as the architect of record Demolition permits were filed in January for the two-story structure on the site An estimated completion date has not been announced Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates Like YIMBY on Facebook Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews Perfect opportunity to reuse the historic base… but no… why would they want to do that?? Exactly what I was thinking — there are some great details on that building What a shame the historic facade is thrown away like Bushwick litter on the street Keep the historic facade please not another glass ugliness ga('send', 'event', 'beautyofblock', 'Impression', 'https://newyorkyimby.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Standard_336x280-100-2.jpg', { nonInteraction: true }); ADVERTISEMENT ga('send', 'event', 'PCRichards Builders Division', 'Impression', 'https://newyorkyimby.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PCR_Beko_Compact_YIMB_336x280.jpg', { nonInteraction: true }); ga('send', 'event', 'yimby+', 'Impression', 'https://newyorkyimby.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image.png', { nonInteraction: true }); Follow on Instagram var sb_instagram_js_options = {"font_method":"svg","placeholder":"https:\/\/newyorkyimby.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/instagram-feed\/img\/placeholder.png","resized_url":"https:\/\/newyorkyimby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sb-instagram-feed-images\/","ajax_url":"https:\/\/newyorkyimby.com\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php"}; © COPYRIGHT New York YIMBY® LLC YIMBY IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF NIKOLAI FEDAK / NEW YORK YIMBY LLC Log in to leave a comment all-nighters and ‘crazy-ass outfits’ in the US’s most exciting neighborhoodThis article is more than 1 month old Partygoers dance at Paragon in Bushwick Photograph: Marissa Alper/The GuardianBushwick is a dizzying At Maria Hernandez park men pack into the volleyball courts while children chase soccer balls around shirtless skateboarders Reggaeton plays from passing cars and techno leaks out of nightclubs under the M train Recent art school grads throw rooftop parties and split rent four ways and European tourists roam the neighborhood’s industrial sections to snap photos of street art A largely Latino neighborhood in north-east Brooklyn, Bushwick has become known as the home of New York’s young and reckless (and in recent years the rents in Bushwick started to inch upwards too the locals are getting priced out of even “affordable” housing and millennial couples pushing baby strollers have descended Charli’s gone home and an ominous political mood now blankets the city It feels as though all that is weird and freaky – part of what makes Bushwick Bushwick – has never been more important four writers explore the wonders and flaws of the neighborhood – before it changes again Last summer I spent a week in my childhood apartment – the apartment my mother still lived in when she died in June of 2023 – on Palmetto Street steps from the Myrtle-Wyckoff train station who lives in a very different Bushwick to the one I grew up in Burnt-out buildings and trash and rubble-strewn lots dotted the landscape and Bushwick was a hotbed of poverty and crime the carcasses of tenements became crack dens as the drug ravaged the neighborhood A basketball game with neighborhood kids in Bushwick in 1981 Inc./AlamyBushwick was a hard place to live and if one of us kids did something uncouth The piragüero knew me by name and asked “y tú mama como está?” as he prepared my tamarindo-flavored shaved ice treat the bodega owner Miguel gave us credit without question my Honduran mother learned to make pasteles en hoja from a Puerto Rican neighbor and Ma taught her to make frijoles Present-day Bushwick is making headlines for other reasons as countless travel guides rave about its bohemian vibe I sat down with my daughter Vasia to talk about how the neighborhood has changed She insists the community I grew up in is gone now that gentrifiers have moved in “It shows up in little ways: something as simple as them not moving out of the way for the vecina or offering to help the viejita with her groceries They don’t interact with the few old-school residents that remain,” she said Maria Aguialar sells tamales on a corner across from Maria Hernandez park in Bushwick in December Photograph: Lanna ApisukhVasia doesn’t think the gentrifiers are bad people “I work with a bunch of artists from Wyoming who come here in search of a dream That’s why I stayed in NYC for college – this is the place to be for artists,” she said it’s great you came here to pursue your dreams but you get to pay your $1,200 for your room with your three other roommates in Bushwick What about the people who’ve called Bushwick home for decades Where are these people being displaced by these exorbitant rents going to go?” I’ve written extensively about the gentrification that has exacerbated inequalities and sadly priced out so many with roots in Bushwick I still hear stories of longtime residents being treated terribly by landlords and living in squalor a friend had to start a social media campaign to get the property managers of the building her elderly mentally ill mother lived in to make the repairs they’d been promising for years Meanwhile there’s yet another luxury condo going up blocks away like less crime and healthier food options She doesn’t feel safe around the increased police presence in Bushwick of late – “half the time they’re staring at my body and objectifying me the same way the perverts do” – but says she feels safer in Bushwick walking down the street holding her girlfriend’s hand: “I don’t feel safe like that in some Latine neighborhoods I hate to say it but Latine culture is very homophobic A Dominican restaurant by the DeKalb L train subway stop Photograph: Lanna ApisukhAs a queer woman myself I was raised by lesbians shortly after the American Psychiatric Association took homosexuality off the list of mental disorders in 1973 and encountered a lot of homophobia in my youth our neighbor called my mother a terrible slur that I won’t repeat here I too can walk with ease around Bushwick holding my butch wife’s hand Still, it’s strange to find that this neighborhood that even other New Yorkers avoided going to a few decades ago is now garnering global attention. I learned from the local author Jacqueline Woodson that Bushwick was discovered in 1660 by Franciscus the Negro who was formerly enslaved and bought his freedom whose National Book Award-winning memoir Brown Girl Dreaming is centered in Bushwick writes: “When I saw how the Bushwick of my childhood was becoming a hipster neighborhood that was often referred to as ‘newly discovered’ I knew I wanted to put the Bushwick of the 70s and 80s on the page – so that it wouldn’t be forgotten the salsa and hip-hop playing from passing cars and Puerto Rico’s beloved flag hanging from windows every few blocks remind me of the rich culture that has always existed here Right: A mural and loft for rent sign.Bushwick was always rich in culture Folks expressed themselves with what they had an entire section of the street was roped off so the B-boys and B-girls could lay out their cardboard to do headspins and windmills siphoning electricity from a nearby lamppost to power his turntables; and a makeshift stage was built where emcees rapped and girls sang Menudo songs while back-up dancers replicated the boyband’s dance moves It wasn’t unusual to walk the hood and come across a group of men in guayaberas gathered for a jam session a guitar and a haunting voice that sang of longing heartbreak and the homes they’d left behind To the newcomers and transplants: you’re living in a place where “we made home when there wasn’t much to make home out of.” Don’t try to erase that there are at least a dozen venues hosting parties here every weekend – and the party never has to stop if you just keep saying “yes” Partygoers dance at Paragon in the early morning hours one day in December Photograph: Marissa Alper/The GuardianNights start at about 9pm and can extend past dawn there is a perpetual sense of propulsion: a chance encounter with a flirty stranger can lead to a secret afterparty in a club built in someone’s basement or a rooftop rager with the city skyline on the horizon the sidewalks themselves are a scene: clubbers in their 20s 30s and 40s spilling out of fog-filled rooms to smoke joints scored from nearby neon-lit delis thudding techno blending into the screeching of overhead trains No other neighborhood in New York City compares. According to a Bloomberg analysis from a Placer.ai database Bushwick’s weekend nighttime foot traffic has more than doubled since 2017 and currently surpasses that of other popular nightlife neighborhoods: South Williamsburg Bushwick’s demimonde spilled over from the DIY scene that had flourished along the Williamsburg waterfront in the 2000s, as new zoning laws pushed out artist-run music venues like 285 Kent and Galapagos for sleek new condos tropical-themed techno bar named Bossa Nova Civic Club one of the first electronic music venues to plant its flag in Bushwick in 2012 soon became a breeding ground for a new wave of underground techno born in Detroit’s Black queer dance clubs in 1980s The techno scene flatlined in the US after the 90s rave era died out only to be reclaimed by this new generation of club kids “The European take on techno is a lot cleaner and more paced out while New York City has a lot more sounds and people bringing in different inspiration to the table,” said John Barclay “There are way more people being smushed together in Bushwick which has a large Dominican element.” The convergence of cultures that defines Bushwick extended to its dancefloors too: DJs drop dembow or reggaeton tracks into their sets with a strutting confidence that crowds respond to with just as much attitude – anything goes here as long as you have the chutzpah to pull it off Corinn Morgan, 22, left, and Jimi Lucid, a 31-year-old musician, at Bossa Nova Civic Club in December.Partygoers dance at Paragon in December Photograph: Marissa Alper/The GuardianBut the expansion of Bushwick as a true nightlife hub was stymied by the cabaret law an outdated prohibition-era legislation that banned dancing in venues that did not have special licenses Barclay spearheaded a movement to repeal it repealed the law and established a government-run office of nightlife that same year it signaled that a post-Giuliani era of improved relations between the city’s nightlife operators and authorities had begun This fresh turn opened up investments into venues that have DJs playing regularly the neighborhood was home to a growing cluster of legal venues with DIY roots “A lot of people who cut their teeth in the 2000s and earlier doing underground events decided to follow a legitimacy route,” explained Todd P a longtime nightlife promoter who owns Market Hotel and Trans-Pecos venues where the music often veers hard and experimental the DIY backgrounds of many venue operators in Bushwick allow the scene to retain its community-driven Paragon in Bushwick, New York. Photograph: Marissa Alper/The GuardianMaima performs a dance at Bossa Nova Civic Club in December Photograph: Marissa Alper/The Guardian“There’s a feel here that it’s for the people by the people and less about maximizing returns,” agreed Gareth Solan a popular club on Bushwick’s eastern border that took over a former kitchen cabinet manufacturing shop from the 50s The indoor-outdoor venue often runs all-weekend parties with international DJs the Bushwick party world spans a vast constellation of hotspots is a dancey date spot straight out of a Wong Kar-wai movie Elsewhere is a hyperpop paradise for gen Z ravers while House of Yes is a Burning Man-style den of aerialists and hedonists The 80,000sq ft Avant Gardner brings Ibiza-scale megaclubbing to the masses a new roller rink that regularly hosts headlining funk and disco DJs on the decks the physicality of the dancefloors is palpable – the pent-up energy from bodies grinding through a grueling city finding a release The crackling ferocity of New York’s dancefloors have long earned the city its status as a global nightlife hotspot but unlike previous heydays when Manhattan reigned supreme tourists from China to Europe are now flocking to the Bushwick scene But as the neighborhood’s nightlife continues to explode, the political consciousness at its roots has come into question and many wonder if its progressive ethos will be diluted “There still is a lot of consciousness when it comes to race as Bushwick continues to get more gentrified there is a bit less purity,” said Bowen Goh “We deal with more customers that are discovering Bushwick as a nightlife hub and don’t have any kind of ethos when it comes to nightlife But Nowadays co-owner Justin Carter said he felt optimistic about his club’s future “It’s the story of gentrification,” he said “We are at once victims and a part of it.” Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos: order al pastor and enchilada tacos to eat in the tortilla factory next door (BYO Modelo) L Train Vintage: shop for poorly fitting jeans and busted biker jackets so you too can look the part The Bushwick Starr: home to bold local theater for over two decades – longer than some Bushwick transplants have been alive La Isla: this Puerto Rican cuchifritos (fried snacks) spot Nook: stop by this coffee and beer parlor for chess club on Tuesdays and a Sapphic creative writing group on Fridays Blue Hour: for late-night grub hunt down this new halal fast food joint tucked into a BP gas station A stained sweater that cost $17 in 1995 but was just resold in a dusty thrift store for $65 plus tax The Bushwick look: you know it when you see it And you don’t need to live in the neighborhood to find it anymore looking like a Barbie doll dressed by a depressed child in the style of the anti-hunks Jeremy Allen White or Josh O’Connor They flout gendered styles and fashion rules And though they might look a little chaotic no one can afford to sign a lease in one of the world’s trendiest neighborhoods without cash flow; the Bushwick look is weird everyone’s wearing their club outfits in the daylight,’” said Critter Fink a part-time stylist who lived in the neighborhood for years before recently moving to adjacent Ridgewood “I would definitely define it as somewhat out there eccentric pieces that have been styled thoughtfully to follow the most current micro trends of the internet You might have these more formal items paired with they were wearing boots by Syro (a local and recently shuttered line of heels made for larger feet championed by Bowen Yang on the Emmys red carpet) a vintage mesh dress and layered chain jewelry “That felt very Bushwick – pushing gender norms and wearing a big black boot Other non-residents who remain exponents of the aesthetic include Kamala Harris, whose camo baseball cap merch owed royalties to one first made by the Instagram-famous brand Praying which sells a version with the phrase “God’s Favorite” – you can’t walk a block in the neighborhood without seeing someone wearing one She was probably tipped off to the trend by her 25-year-old stepdaughter Tina Knowles and Beyoncé at the Luar show in February 2024 in Bushwick Photograph: Nina Westervelt/WWD/Getty ImagesWith increased attention on Bushwick style duds and slapdash attempts by fast fashion to imitate followed: peruse Shein and you’ll find riffs on the Bushwick look so much of the Bushwick look comes from riffing on the corny charms of middle America (imagine Julia Fox wearing a $2,000 designer version of a pleather jacket you could find at Walmart for $15) “A lot of my personal style is just sarcastic,” said Cait Poli who lives in Bushwick and is the social media director at Boys Club My family members in Florida wear these camo hats unironically That’s what I love about this style: it’s funny and doesn’t take itself too seriously.” but the commodification of a Bushwick aesthetic brings up issues of gentrification and who gets to define what a neighborhood looks like Dido Varez (left) organizes a rack of vintage clothes by Maria Hernandez park. Photograph: Lanna Apisukh/The GuardianHarry Li a Bushwick resident originally from the west coast poses by a skate ramp at Maria Hernandez park Photograph: Lanna Apisukh/The GuardianThe Bushwick look garners criticism from some who say it glamorizes gentrification while ignoring the neighborhood’s Latino Many of the often-referenced avatars of the look are white transplants to the area – Emhoff serves as the prime example Fink remembers a moment from their first week in Bushwick when they were approached by a local who wasn’t charmed by their eccentric style “He said it was hard because he grew up here and here are all these white kids coming in with their crazy-ass outfits,” Fink recalled ‘Why don’t you go back to your midwestern homes and dress like that there?’ You can’t I think there are a lot of people who move to Bushwick and suddenly feel permission to start having fun with their style.” is confident that elements of the Bushwick look will stay unique to the neighborhood “I’ve gone to an event in Manhattan that’s supposed to be artsy and even that feels really hetero compared to what you see in Bushwick,” they said “Even the hetero Bushwick people seem gayer than the ones in Manhattan.” A group of stylish passersby walk and skate past Maria Hernandez park Photograph: Lanna Apisukh/The GuardianThe memes: ‘Perpetual stew and K-holes’By Rich Juzwiak spreading the word about Bushwick to people who have never set foot in the neighborhood Many memes also satirize the gentrifier’s “up-its-own-ass” attitude towards living in Bushwick. In a TikTok poking fun at the specific alt-ness of Bushwick the actor Anna Rudegeair rattles off fictional bar after fictional bar to check out before landing on the punchline: she suggests finding “a place that has a mirror in the bathroom” – an absurd prospect for its impossibility The implication: we put up with a lot to be in New York it was “hardly a serious culinary exercise” but “a full commitment to the bit” These are fun-size bits of Bushwick that go down easy when digested from afar Even the neighborhood’s most irritating qualities (cooler-than-thou pretense from infesting transplants for example) come off as charming when filtered through this audio-visual lens Yet it is a neighborhood that cannot be condensed into a meme language Maybe that’s why the most truthful Bushwick meme is a simple picture of a string of fast food joints under the Myrtle-Broadway subway stop: a Dunkin’, a Checkers and a Popeyes. The picture uploaded to the @joan.of.arca meme Instagram account in 2023 It looks like no place special in a neighborhood people are crawling over each other to live in 2025 2:56AMCeFaan Kim has more from Bushwick.BUSHWICK Brooklyn (WABC) -- A shaken seven-year-old boy is recovering weeks after he was attacked by a pit bull while practicing on a baseball field at a Brooklyn park Angel Sanchez has always dreamed of stepping onto the diamond one day for the Yankees He lives for the sound of a home run leaving his bat frequently practicing under the rumble of the J and Z trains in Thomas Boyland Park what happened to him last month on the field became his nightmare "I was bleeding and crying," Sanchez said The Bushwick boy is covered in cuts and bruises from his lower back down to his thigh and legs His cuts were so deep it took nine stitches to close them up They're not injuries from rounding the bases or sliding into home plate He remembers it like it was yesterday when the pit bull attacked him I pushed it away but then it got me again and I screamed," Sanchez said The father and son were practicing with Angel in right field and his father behind home plate He sprinted to help his son when the dog approached He says he grabbed the dog as hard as he could then bit the dog in the neck to get him to release his son Surveillance video showed the dog and its owner standing by the fence when the pit bull suddenly made a beeline for Angel throwing punches at his own dog to get it to let go Henry Sanchez says he thought the pit bull was going to kill his son He says that after the owner tried to help he simply left the scene and didn't seem to care Police have been unable to locate that pit bull and its owner since the attack on April 14th and doesn't want this to happen to anyone else * Get Eyewitness News Delivered * Follow us on YouTube * More local news * Send us a news tip * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? 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Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker This modern classic cocktail has Manhattan bones and a Brooklyn swagger The Best New Restaurants in Queens, According to Eater Editors The Best New Restaurants in Manhattan in May, According to Eater Editors The Best Brunch Spots in New York City, According to Eater Editors A new Italian American spot to a relocated Queens stalwart now in Brooklyn focusing on the hottest new openings in Brooklyn this month we narrow the field to those places in Brooklyn that are drawing the most excitement focusing largely on restaurants that have only been open for six months or less When an Eater editor has already been to a place — even if it just opened — we share insider tips on what to expect and what’s worth ordering as well a decades-old space reborn as an Italian American restaurant from Kellogg’s Diner in Williamsburg; Disco Birdies a new fried chicken spot from the For All Things Good team in Clinton Hill; Birdee Kent Hospitality Group’s first Brooklyn opening at the old Domino sugar factory; and a relocation of M After several months of joining the late-night menu at Superiority Burger, Chris Hansell finally has his own headquarters. Unsurprisingly, the fanfare has followed. Chrissy’s Pizza — which got its start a few years back selling on Instagram out of an apartment — is the standard bearer for a great New York-style pizza and there are no seats (be prepared to take your box nearby to the park) The Snail may stick to a pretty straightforward bistro format (steak au poivre, pasta), but it still pleasantly surprises. Just off McCarren Park the Snail comes from chef-owner Austin Baker one of Chicago’s biggest restaurant groups Hogsalt Fish and soy sauce give an unexpected umami boost across the offerings: from the onion rings sauce to its spicy chicken Parm an herbaceous arancini salad also has roots in her experience cooking Thai American food known for that beloved strawberry pretzel dessert at Kellogg’s made a very good cake slice version of the Italian rainbow cookie (it’s vegan but you’d never know it!) Last call on food is 1 a.m. At Crown Shy, pastry chef Renata Ameni served stellar desserts that cemented the restaurant’s success. Now, Kent Hospitality Group (Saga, Time and Tide) has opened their first Brooklyn spot in the old Domino sugar factory: Birdee with a rotating pastry case — but more than that it’s an all-day cafe serving breakfast sandwiches and a tuna melt on a croissant If you’re looking for the kind of cafe where you can have a casual full breakfast or lunch and linger for a while with a laptop, Patio Tropical should be on your radar Tucked behind an artisan shop called This Is Latin America it is a heated atrium that streams with natural light Stephanie Bonnin explores her South American background — she’s from Barranquilla Colombia — as well as wider Caribbean influences alongside dishes like the beef dish sancocho with occasional pop-up dinners by rotating chefs at night At the end of 2024, M. Wells Steakhouse closed in Long Island City after a decade. Now, M. Wells is back, only after years in Queens, they’re onto Brooklyn — taking over the food program at Bushwick’s New York Distilling Company They’re going to be running various pop-up style menus out of their new headquarters with their signature Quebecois flair in warehouse environs Casa Ora a Venezuelan restaurant in East Williamsburg that opened in 2019 has expanded around the corner with a sunny must-try breakfast spot There are cachitos (stuffed with ham and cheese) great for morning meetings in particular (the set-up is ordering at the counter the space will flip to serve wine and bites For fans of the IKEA Swedish meatballs, level up at Hildur in Dumbo. The restaurant, a flip of the Gran Electrica and from the same team, is styled like a bistro and serves Swedish meatballs au poivre. It’s offered alongside a burger with tarragon mustard and the beloved Swedish princess cake for dessert Also on the menu: a falafel smash burger and fried chicken bites Sal Lamboglia has made a name for himself in this part of Brooklyn for his modern spins on Italian American food with Cafe Spaghetti and later, Americana cooking at Swoony’s. Now, he’s made an unlikely left turn, opening a Cantonese American spot in Cobble Hill When news circulated that Ugly Baby was closing in Carroll Gardens, fans — including Eater — rushed for a final taste. But good news followed: the keys were passed onto former employees. They’ve since opened Hungry Thirsty a new restaurant with an entirely distinct menu save for a few homages to Ugly Baby like the beef shank curry While Ugly Baby was known for its extreme spice warnings on the menu Hungry Thirsty is ever so slightly toned down Dishes include items like a shrimp-and-mushroom curry or fried snapper with Thai tea slushies served in cartoon mugs F&F is by far one of the top slices in the city That’s what the Franks — Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo — are betting on The duo have flipped what was their Frank’s Wine Bar and made an expanded dining room where you can enjoy full pies in an environment more suited for a date than their takeout slice shop next door But the dining room offers many more dishes The restaurant — under new owners — is slightly downsized from the capacity in its old spot of more than 2500 now a more manageable 100-plus seat count across from Ikea that you can actually reliably walk into with a large group The menu features items like “the Shore Dinner,” a prix fixe with a choice of seafood starter But you’d be just as welcome going a la carte with shrimp cocktail and linguine with clams at a bar stool like the clam chowder and the complimentary biscuit basket Confidant opened in March in Industry City from Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman It brings way more ambition and creativity than you might expect of a full-service restaurant in the same zone as Costco and an outlet Design Within Reach Confidant is impressive: from its trout mousse toast to prawn pot pie has developed a can’t-miss dessert menu with options like rhubarb upside-down cake and a mille-feuille and rent hikes amid rapid gentrification in Bushwick have catalyzed numerous newly-formed This story was produced as part of a capstone reporting project at NYU’s Arthur L Stories of displacement haunt Bushwick from end to end scores of newly-built high-rises and trendy bars cast a long shadow over the rows of smaller family dwellings and longtime businesses in the east.   a double amputee who relies on an electric wheelchair to get around had to call the fire department and get carried up the stairs by eight firefighters because the elevator in his West Bushwick building was broken for about a week a longtime resident and senior citizen was facing eviction after a stroke left her multiple months behind on rent.  Both people were able to stay in those apartments thanks to the efforts of community tenant organizers says that collective organizing is a necessary tool to push back against the wave of displacement rippling through the neighborhood “Organizing allows people to stay in their home gives them motivation to not only fight to stay “Organizing is the number one way we maintain the cultural significance of a community Over the past two decades, skyrocketing rents have displaced many poorer non-white residents, with the neighborhood’s Hispanic population plummeting Data from the NYU Furman Center shows that Bushwick’s population changed from 67.8 percent Hispanic in 2000 to only 42.6 percent in 2022 with the white population shooting up from 3.1 percent to 26.1 percent over the same time frame Meanwhile, the neighborhood’s median rent increased from $1,720 in 2017 to $2,180 in 2022. This 25.6 percent increase is the third-highest jump of all the city’s community districts behind only nearby Bed-Stuy and Brooklyn Heights/Fort Greene, according to a report from the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD).  tenant organizations hope to fill the gaps director of tenant engagement and special projects at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) said that tenant organizations are uniquely well-positioned to address these issues “We [HPD] just don’t necessarily have the manpower and the connections to the community that these community-based organizations really bring to the table at the end of the day,” Servidio said storied history of organizing by neighborhood residents.  While numerous local and citywide organizations have fought for more affordable housing over the years—including Mi Casa Resiste, El Puente, and Make the Road New York—one group specifically focused on tenant organizing has had a particularly big impact.  Bushwick Housing Independence Project (BHIP) was founded in the early 2000s by Father John Powis of St Under the leadership of Powis and Dominican-American organizer Luz Yolanda Coca it became well-known in the neighborhood for fighting for tenants in housing court.  marked a turning point for the movement as a whole “Because she had been such an integral part of BHIP when she passed away it really took a lot of wind out of the sails of that organizing which was [at] such a critical point as well because that’s when she was probably needed the most,” Tobar said Tobar said that most of the organizing energy in the neighborhood turned away from tenants directly and towards nonprofits with limited scopes and less strategic activities than Coca’s activism Collado got her start as an organizer during this period working for a local nonprofit focused on supporting immigrant tenants she actually considered leaving organizing altogether after seven years due to frustrations with the leadership and bureaucracy at her employer which she said can “really chip away at your spirit.” That changed, however, when a case came to her attention of a longtime Bushwick resident and senior citizen multiple months behind on rent because of a stroke that left her unable to work. The elderly woman didn’t know that she had a marshal’s notice against her meaning her landlord could evict her any day the latest in a long line of residents pushed out of the neighborhood Collado fought to get the woman representation from Adult Protective Services and negotiations for a renewed lease the woman she worked with still lives in the same apartment “How do you give up on someone who’s physically unwell?” Collado said “That was what solidified for me that I need to stay in this radical work.” Successfully keeping this woman housed reinvigorated Collado’s spirit and she jumped ship to take on a new role with what remained of BHIP where she officially took the reins as lead organizer in January 2024 Tenant organizing has changed a lot over BHIP’s eight-year hiatus—Collado said they’re starting from “ground zero.” In particular, she said, many longtime organizers initially had trouble adapting to new online databases, such as JustFix’s “Who Owns What?” website which have become nigh-essential for effective organizing the DAP portal’s manager and a research and data associate at ANHD says that the Portal is game-changing for many organizers because it aggregates information—including HPD violations and more—from many previously disparate sources “Every time we introduce DAP portal to the community you guys just saved us so much time from being able to just get a particular data set from a property,’” Huerta said longtime tenant organizer and former director of policy and research at ANHD said these new tools made his own work much easier; he’d previously spent much of his time manually obtaining all the necessary data on a building “It’s nice to be able to see all this data in one place and visualize it,” Bostick said “Getting that kind of background information on a property is often very difficult.” BHIP’s new leadership agrees that the revived group needs to adapt and grow with the times is moving towards a more decentralized leadership structure—BHIP’s leadership previously tended to circulate around one or two organizers which meant it was hit especially hard by the loss of key figures like Coca Still, the group’s history, and Coca’s legacy in particular, looms large over their present-day organizing efforts. Coca’s memory still holds power among longtime residents—at an organizing meeting last October, held just 10 minutes away from a street corner named in her honor the mere mention of Coca’s name caused one older man’s face to light up with a cheery nostalgia and others around his age shared in the reminiscence Collado said that she does her best to live up to that legacy really important relationships that Yolanda got to foster because of the amount of time that she was doing this work “We really try to live up to that mission statement.” a chef and new father who moved to Bushwick in 2014 joined a WhatsApp chat in 2023 that would later blossom into a tenant association for his building. His neighbor Youssef the man struggling with the broken elevator broken locks—“everything that people experience HPD found 107 violations of the Housing Maintenance Code in the building according to the “Who Owns What?” database The newly-formed tenant association got to work pressuring their landlord for repairs with coordinated 311 and HPD complaint blasts which Keith says quickly got to work addressing the tenant association’s concerns While CCM told City Limits that their departure was unrelated to tenant pressure Keith said he believes it may have had an impact [and] one of our members took them to court,” Keith said He later joined a coalition of other recently-formed tenant unions creating a new organization called Bushwick Tenant Union (BTU), announced in mid-November BTU organizes events, including a street clean-up in collaboration with DSNY and City Councilmember Jeniffer Gutierrez in order to build community and demonstrate the value of collective organizing And it seems to be working—at a clean-up in November multiple neighbors stopped by to help or just offer encouragement and some local coffee shop employees even offered the organizers free coffee for their efforts.  “We wanted to make a distinction about the kind of action that we believe in everybody in the neighborhood coming together,” Keith said The groups have focused on CCM and its co-founder and principal Jacob Sacks who own or manage many of the buildings where their members live.  In email responses to questions from City Limits Sacks and an attorney representing CCM said they’ve resolved and removed more than 1,000 violations at their properties many of which they say predated their management A majority of the violations still “open” with HPD are in a small percentage of units where repairs have already been made but where they’ve been unable to gain access for the city’s inspectors.“If we could get access to get those inspections completed we would be well below city averages,” Sacks wrote.  Attorney David Antwork attributed criticism of the company to “a small percentage of tenants,” including those who “have open rent balances and manipulate the system to log complaints and then prevent access in efforts to avoid or excuse their failure to pay rent.” “CCM strives to maintain the properties in the best possible condition despite the fact that some of the buildings are well over 100 years old,” Antwork added Sacks previously told News 12 Brooklyn that he intended to sue at least one tenant who publicly complained about conditions for defamation ‘It really falls on the tenant‘ data and policy analyst at the Furman Center Limited Liability Company (LLC) ownership can make it difficult to determine who actually owns a building “Most tenants don’t know their landlord’s name,” Bodulovic said “So when it comes to addressing housing code violations or enforcing those kinds of protections it’s often very difficult for the average person to understand who’s responsible.” Good Cause Eviction makes this opacity an even bigger issue which went into effect in April of last year protects eligible tenants in non-regulated units from being evicted or refused a lease renewal without “good cause,” as well as allowing them to challenge large rent hikes Eligibility for protection under the Good Cause law is determined by portfolio size, or the total number of apartments a tenant’s landlord owns across all their holdings.  While the law requires landlords to inform tenants of their eligibility in their lease tenants who don’t understand the requirements or know how to check the size of their landlord’s portfolio likely won’t advocate for their rights.  the responsibility falls on the tenants themselves to seek enforcement This includes filing complaints of housing code violations or requesting rent history to determine if they’re entitled to rent control protections.  Most importantly it requires understanding the laws in the first place “The enforcement process is very tenant-centric,” he said it requires tenants to understand whether their apartment is rent stabilized to begin with and whether they’re being overcharged for their rent.” Bushwick, along with neighboring Ridgewood, have some of the highest concentrations of destabilized units in the city but some landlords overcharge their tenants illegally as Andrew Ramos Choi discovered in 2021.  a local activist and community board member moved into his current apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic at a discounted rent of $1,895 his landlord increased the rent up to $3,000 he reached out to housing justice advocates who advised him to request his rent history from the New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) he discovered that his apartment was rent-stabilized—something his lease did not mention and something he never would’ve found out if he hadn’t checked Feeling indebted to the organizers who helped him Choi got involved with tenant organizing himself which eventually led him to join BHIP through their leadership fellowship “I wanted to find a way to be involved in this to pay forward some of the things that I had learned in the process of negotiating with my own landlord,” Choi said “Rent stabilization has been around since ‘69 and folks still don’t know it exists and it takes many training sessions to understand I would imagine it’s going to be the same for Good Cause,” Collado said “It really falls on the tenant themselves to have to learn it and then have the courage to push back against the landlord who looks like the richer and smarter person in the power dynamic.” BTU has organizing aspirations beyond his immediate neighborhood Keith said they aim to “get every single building in Bushwick organized and then every single building in Brooklyn and then every single building in Manhattan and Queens and the Bronx and everywhere in America until every single person that pays rent is part of a tenants’ association.” is by building coalitions with other groups—including Collado welcomes the desire for partnership and coalition-building though she and others at BHIP noted the potential for organizing efforts from newer arrivals to step on more longtime residents’ toes “I’m glad to hear our work has been inspiring,” Collado said it’s important for those not from Bushwick long-term but who have benefited from gentrification to add to the movement rather than compete with or replicate the work in ways that divide housing efforts in the neighborhood a new tenant organizer who attended a BTU clean-up said he believes newer residents like himself need to factor their role in the neighborhood’s gentrification into their organizing “Folks who come from a similar background to me are coming into neighborhoods where they don’t have community ties—they’re not showing up to church on the weekends they’re not getting involved in the neighborhood softball league they’re not volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters necessarily,” Hendrickson said “This kind of organizing and community-building is something that more people Tobar said that this breakdown of community itself drives displacement sharing a story of an African-American homeowner who left the neighborhood with his family not because he couldn’t afford it but because “there were no more families that resembled them on the street.” They were basically surrounded by gentrifiers And that’s the toll of emotional displacement,” Tobar said It’s not like any organizer comes into this space and has all of this figured out While Collado and BHIP value hopes and goals for the future they clearly also honor their historical roots.  attendees split into two smaller groups to talk about which parts of the history spoke to them One older woman related old fights for cleanliness to her own struggle with a cockroach infestation and a younger person said they felt inspired by the immigrant women who led the earliest rent strikes strongly believes in sharing these stories of past and present both to honor and celebrate prior generations and to learn and galvanize stronger actions in the future.  It’s not enough to preserve them for history’s sake so that people can look back on us and feel bad about how things took a downturn,” Tobar said “We want to use these stories so that we can plug that into a system a strategy to really make those policy initiatives that we need to see happen so that we can have more affordable housing.”  To reach the editor, contact [email protected] Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here Take a short anonymous survey to help us deliver content to empower our community previously serving as youth program manager she covered Astoria and Long Island City for DNAinfo.com and reported for Bronx community papers and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" The Brooklyn neighborhood has garnered global attention largely due to its ‘sarcastic’ fashion trends and all-night parties But as fascination grows outside its borders the forces of gentrification are pushing out its longtime residents two photographers documented its changing dynamics By: 7:00 am on April 23 The affordable housing lottery has launched for Riseboro TPT Ten, a collection of six residential buildings at 135 Menahan Street, 301 Harman Street, 230 Moffat Street, 160 Bleecker Street, 115 Linden Street, and 111 Linden Street in Bushwick Rehabilitated through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and the TPT Program from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development the structures yield 56 residences in total Available on NYC Housing Connect are ten units for residents at 50 to 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) ranging in eligible income from $50,949 to $115,560 there is one one-bedroom with a monthly rent of $1,359 for incomes ranging from $50,949 to $69,900 there are two studios with a monthly rent of $1,547 for incomes ranging from $56,846 to $74,580; three one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,651 for incomes ranging from $60,960 to $83,880; three two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,969 for incomes ranging from $73,338 to $100,620; and one three-bedroom with a monthly rent of $2,264 for incomes ranging from $77,623 to $115,560 Prospective renters must meet income and household size requirements to apply for these apartments Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than May 6 By: 7:30 am on April 21 Exterior work is continuing on 313 Linden Street, a four-story residential building in Bushwick Designed by Baobab Architects for the Dimension Group The development is located on a 2,500-square-foot interior lot between Irving and Knickerbocker Avenues The steel-framed superstructure topped out in 2021 and work has been moving along slowly since then Crews are still in the process of enclosing the exterior with metal studs and insulation boards behind a shroud of scaffolding and construction netting The fourth floor is set back from the sidewalk Balconies will line the front and rear elevations The property was formerly occupied by a two-story residential building as seen in the below Google Street View image from before its demolition It is unclear what has caused the delays in the project The partially built structure was acquired by the current owner for $1.8 million in late September 2024 and it remains to be seen when work will finish The nearest subways from the development are the L and M trains at the Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenue station to the northeast above Myrtle Avenue No renderings or completion timeline have been revealed Imagine having to be the neighbors trying to live adjacent to this unending mess this was not affordable housing but more luxury trash don’t mind the new Lexus they’re driving… By: 7:00 am on March 14 The affordable housing lottery has launched for Cantilever House, an eight-story residential building at 21 Garden Street in Bushwick Designed by DXA Studio and developed by Rivington Company Available on NYC Housing Connect are 15 units for residents at 80 to 130 percent of the area median income (AMI) ranging in eligible income from $64,046 to $181,740 Cantilever House at 21 Garden Street in Bushwick Tenants are responsible for electricity including electric stove there are eight one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,620 for incomes ranging from $64,046 to $111,840 and three two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,881 for incomes ranging from $77,829 to $134,160 there are four one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $3,595 for incomes ranging from $123,258 to $181,740 Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than April 3 I really hope that cantilever has a sprinkler system on the underside Were even doing these ridiculous cantilevers in Bushwick now By: 7:30 am on September 30 Exterior work is progressing on 2 Bushwick Avenue, a three-story commercial building in Williamsburg which purchased the parcel for $2.2 million in 2014 the 12,655-square-foot structure will yield two levels of retail space and one level of office space The property was formerly occupied by a gas station at the corner of Bushwick and Metropolitan Avenues REAL New York is marketing the commercial space Construction broke ground in the summer of 2022 and topped out last October moving at a slower pace than typical for a project of its modest scope Exterior work is now mostly complete above the ground floor and recent photographs show the sweeping lines of the meandering façade of corrugated blue-gray metal paneling and contrasting flat surfaces of the floor-to-ceiling windows Sidewalk scaffolding still obscures the first story Renderings for 2 Bushwick Avenue show the ground floor with a similar design scheme to the stories above with the diagonal cut of the footprint following the outline of the L train tunnel beneath the property The second level has an outdoor terrace beside the expansive ribbon windows and another small terrace is positioned on the cantilevering point of the northwestern corner of the third story The parapet is shown topped with a green roof and walking paths leading out from the egress bulkhead at the southwestern corner A metal mesh appears to cover the underside of the protruding surfaces surrounding the windows The nearest subway from the development is the L train at the Graham Avenue station to the east 2 Bushwick Avenue’s anticipated completion date was originally slated for this fall sometime in the first half of 2025 seems plausible Lightweight materials are increasingly being used in construction Wow talk about gentrification architecture very dark…and somehow very appealing Creates an interesting relationship to the large wavy apartment building next to it By: 6:30 am on April 19 Permits have been filed for a four-story residential building at 32 Schaefer Street in Bushwick Located between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue the interior lot is within walking distance of Chauncey Street subway station Maurice Nassiri is listed as the owner behind the applications The proposed 50-foot-tall development will yield 5,487 square feet designated for residential space The masonry-based structure will also have a cellar Chi Wai Chung of Prime Zone Building Consulting is listed as the architect of record Demolition permits will likely not be needed as the lot is vacant By: 7:30 am on February 28 New York City is set to invest $390 million toward infrastructure upgrades in Bushwick to address chronic flooding and improve water service Announced as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative the project will replace three miles of aging sewer pipes and nearly a mile of water mains modernizing essential infrastructure in the area Spearheaded by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) work will significantly expand sewer capacity while replacing all lead service lines at no cost to property owners The investment targets key areas of Bushwick where aging infrastructure has long struggled to handle stormwater runoff The new sewer system will expand capacity in select areas by more than 850 percent significantly reducing the risk of flooding for residents and businesses and triple-barrel box sewers measuring 10 feet by 9 feet replacing outdated 7.5-foot-diameter pipes nearly a mile of new water mains will be installed the project includes Vision Zero safety enhancements for Knickerbocker Avenue The DOT will redesign the street to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety while maintaining efficient traffic flow Slotted manhole covers and nearly 400 rain gardens will be installed to further reduce street flooding by capturing and filtering stormwater before it reaches the sewer system Newly implemented FloodNet sensors at key intersections will provide real-time flooding data allowing city officials to monitor conditions and respond to potential emergencies marking the largest infrastructure investment in Bushwick in decades The funding aligns with the broader City of Yes initiative which aims to build 80,000 new homes and invest $5 billion in critical infrastructure improvements across New York City “nearly 400 rain gardens” The idea for these is good many aren’t dug deep enough to actually pool any water And then there is all the garbage that New Yorkers love to toss into them A better plan would be to cover them with metal grates as simple tree wells Who are those people willing to stand next to Adams Hope there isn’t another Ida between now and 2029 Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations Slingshotting back into Brooklyn is The Great Trebulation New York City’s only formal catapult-building competition The fourth annual event returns to Bushwick at noon on Sunday and all are invited to compete to see how far they can sling chocolate balls using homemade contraptions Event organizer and Bushwick resident Reid Worroll said in a phone interview Monday that he came up with the concept during the pandemic “when everyone was picking up some new hobby." Worroll had won his school’s trebuchet competition (a trebuchet is a kind of catapult) in South Florida He recalled his youthful victory as a “crowning achievement" in his hometown and decided to rally his friends to participate in a more adult version of the concept the first Great Trebulation — a portmanteau of the Biblical prophecy “The Great Tribulation” and “trebuchet” — was a huge success the event saw its highest competitor turnout so far “ People love some anachronistic medieval fun,” he said of the event’s perhaps surprising popularity “They can cut loose and make a goofy machine and then hang out in a park with a bunch of strangers and throw stuff around." Highlights of past years’ events have included non-engineers creating truly impressive trebuchets teams flinging Lindt chocolate truffles (an ideal payload due to their lightness and unlikeliness to cause injury) across the street and the general commitment and community folks have put into and gotten out of the event This year’s Great Trebulation will take place at Bushwick’s Green Central Knoll and Worroll has secured a permit for the gathering contenders can expect two official rounds of flinging (and one bonus “redemption” round if desired) plus some “fanfare” — last year it was bagpipes There will also be a prize ceremony and a parade back to 101 Wilson Bar where winners and losers alike will make merry Awards will be given in three categories: farthest distance launched This year’s prizes include a handmade trophy and three free sword-fighting lessons at Gotham Sword Academy “Drop Dead City,” a new documentary about New York City teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and ruin in 1975, premieres at the IFC Center on Friday. My Owls Head tour was part of “Water Works,” a yearlong series of tours, lectures and other public programs put on by OHNY in collaboration with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily. Gothamist is a website about New York City news News 12 New YorkDownload the AppWhere to WatchRebuilding BrooklynFDNY crews respond to fire at Bushwick buildingCrews were seen along Bushwick Avenue, near Noll Street.News 12 Staff By: 6:30 am on January 19 Permits have been filed for a four-story residential building at 477 Central Avenue in Bushwick Located between Jefferson Avenue and Cornelia Street the lot is near the Halsey Street subway station Mordechai Kahan is listed as the owner behind the applications The proposed 44-foot-tall development will yield 10,989 square feet designated for residential space most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 686 square feet The concrete-based structure will also have a cellar and eight open parking spaces Yoel Rozenberg is listed as the architect of record Demolition permits have not been filed yet By: 6:30 am on February 16 Permits have been filed to expand a three-story structure into a four-story mixed-use building at 169 Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick Located between Melrose Street and Jefferson Street the lot is near the Jefferson Street subway station Chaim Fuchs of Knickerbocker Estates LLC is listed as the owner behind the applications The proposed 46-foot-tall development will yield 7,025 square feet with 5,466 square feet designated for residential space and 329 square feet for community facility space most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 683 square feet The steel-based structure will also have a cellar but no accessory parking Naresh Mahangu of NY Building Associates is listed as the architect of record Demolition permits will likely not be needed as the project calls for a vertical expansion By: 8:00 am on November 10 Construction has topped out on 25 Stewart Avenue, a nine-story hotel in Bushwick Designed by Bench Architecture for 25c LLC which purchased the property for $12.27 million in October 2021 the 115-foot-tall structure will span 95,000 square feet and yield 160 guest rooms with an average scope of 569 square feet as well as 14,000 square feet of community facility space The property is located on a 40,000-square-foot plot bound by Stewart and Flushing Avenues Recent photographs show the reinforced concrete superstructure fully built and topped with an additional steel framework along the southern edge of the roof parapet Scaffolding and black netting cover much of the building as work progresses on the façade and grid of windows which are visible on floors two through four where the scaffolding has been dismantled These levels feature protruding floor plates which will presumably serve as balconies for the hotel rooms Additional balconies are present on the upper levels of the rear western profile which features a double-height loggia on the top floor supported by narrow concrete columns The below rendering from the construction board previews the building’s light gray façade and grid of windows with minimal mullions A multi-story podium with recessed windows spans the entire footprint followed by three hotel floors with balconies lined with glass railings The final three levels rise uniformly up to the parapet The property was formerly occupied by a one-story building and open-air parking lot as seen in the following Google Street View image Brownfield remediation work was performed on the site prior to the start of excavation The property is expected to become the first geothermal-powered hotel in the city cooling and hot water supplied by a geothermal loop Amenities include a roof deck with an outdoor swimming pool The nearest subway from the development is the L train at the Jefferson Street station 25 Stewart Avenue’s anticipated completion date was slated for June 30 though sometime in the second half of 2025 is possible Whoever is coming to stay probably doesn’t need to open Google Maps so isolated and easy to see: Thanks to Michael Young older maps show Bushwick being southeast of Flushing Ave Now Google maps shows it expanded to Johnson Ave Yeah they recently changed it from CB4 boundaries to include much of the industrial section to its West This is going to be a homeless shelter /Hotel When is the announcement that the City net leased the whole building for migrants/unhoused/”transitional” / homeless / formerly incarcerated By: 6:30 am on January 15 Permits have been filed to expand two three-story structures into four-story mixed-use buildings at 1123-1125 Broadway in Bushwick Located between Dekalb Avenue and Kosciuszko Street the lot is steps from the Kosciuszko Street subway station Kevin Yang is listed as the owner behind the applications The proposed 40-foot-tall development at 1123 Broadway will yield 5,107 square feet with 4,650 square feet designated for residential space and 457 square feet for commercial space most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 664 square feet The steel-based structure will also have a cellar and a 31.5-foot-long rear yard The proposed 40-foot-tall development at 1125 Broadway will yield 5,185 square feet with 4,722 square feet designated for residential space and 463 square feet for commercial space most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 674 square feet The wood-based structure will also have a cellar and a 31.5-foot-long rear yard Lu Ning Architecture is listed as the architect of record Demolition permits will likely not be needed as projects call for a vertical expansion Not a lot of ‘sub’ in that section of the J train. The famed Brooklyn neighborhood’s stunning murals attract people from around the world while residents nurture a sense of community despite rising rents But as the southern borough has continued to reinvent itself there are reminders that the people and rich cultural legacy remain in Bushwick—with street art playing an integral part in preserving the local culture and building community even as gentrification continues this part of Brooklyn contained a diverse mix of immigrant families and Polish communities,” says Celestina León district manager with Brooklyn Community Board 4 She added that Black Americans from the south and families from the Caribbean also came to the neighborhood in search of industrial labor opportunities artists and young professionals began arriving in Bushwick drawn by lower rents and more spacious housing triggered in part by the redevelopment of the Williamsburg waterfront which pushed people there to seek more affordable alternatives (For a taste of the Caribbean just go to Brooklyn.) Today, Bushwick has a much different look and feel. One change is impossible to miss: the eye-catching street art that adorns buildings throughout the neighborhood. Bushwick has developed a reputation as a global hub for street art attracting artists (and fans) from around the world Out-of-town visitors participate in daily street art tours where they take selfies in front of impressive murals that in some cases span half a block David “Chino” Villorente a Brooklyn-born artist with strong Bushwick family ties industrial areas (like the Bushwick of the past) offer expansive exterior spaces that can serve as the perfect blank canvas for street artists He notes that when an area becomes a hotspot for street art that’s often a sign of impending gentrification “Usually most of the murals are going up while the green construction boards are up and there are cranes in the background,” says Villorente “So that seems to be a very calculated way of moving young people in and it does a phenomenal job of drawing in young people with all of these amazing murals for the backdrops in their social media posts and TikTok videos they're in communities that are about to experience gentrification.”  (The best dishes to eat in Brooklyn right now) Maas says the commercial success of Banksy and other high-profile artists led street art to become mainstream––welcomed by businesses and property owners “What was daring and counterculture for a time slowly became an aesthetic sought after and commissioned a visual attraction which elevated the cool factor of neighborhoods and contributed to their increase in popularity the rental price of Bushwick.” Those soaring rents pushed out many longtime residents – including some of the artists whose work made the neighborhood so popular a nonprofit organization and outdoor gallery that coordinates many of the artistic projects in the neighborhood Joseph Ficalora was born in and still lives in Bushwick helping to run the steel manufacturing business his family started there in the 1960s Although new street art pops up throughout the neighborhood constantly the biggest flurry of activity happens when the Bushwick Collective hosts their annual Block Party the event draws thousands of people – including artists and enthusiasts from all over the world 57 new mural installations were created during the three-day Block Party in June “It has brought the community together,” Ficalora says of the Collective and the street art scene noting that people from around the globe now flock to the neighborhood few wanted to visit a few decades ago “Everyone has been grateful and created a culture sense of family and inspiration,” says Ficalora “People want to live in Bushwick because it’s such an inspiring place to live.”  (Here are the 7 cities to see powerful street art.) where knowledgeable guides share stories about the artists and the evolution of the local street art scene The neighborhood’s outdoor art displays provided welcome comfort when COVID caused the city – and country – to shut down, Levy says. “During the pandemic when I couldn’t go to museums and galleries, I would walk outside, and I felt so grateful to be surrounded by art right outside my door.”