But a new film shows that it was landlords and the state who were responsible for the famous fires that ravaged the Bronx. DeRienzo and some of his friends who lived on Kelly Street, commonly known as Banana Kelly, decided to do the same, taking over three vacant buildings on the block and re-constructing them. In our school, during assembly, we sang both “La Borinqueña” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Most kids today don’t know either of these. All rights reserved. The three buildings that DeRienzo, his friend Robert Foster, and others from the Banana Kelly Improvement Association took over are now collectively owned through a coop, which includes family members of those who helped rebuild. [20], The phrase "The Bronx is burning," attributed to Howard Cosell during Game 2 of the 1977 World Series featuring the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, refers to the arson epidemic caused by the total economic collapse of the South Bronx during the 1970s. St. Martin's Press, New York: 2005. A South Bronx Greenway[71] currently connects the South Bronx over the Bronx Kill to Randalls Island on a bike and pedestrian pathway known as the Bronx Connector. A group of boys play on the hood of the car in the Bronx. “People are being displaced.”, But Vázquez has hope for the future. Its precincts have recorded high violent crime rates and are all considered to be New York City Police Department "impact zones. Firemen battle smoke and flames in a three-alarm blaze at Grant Ave. and 170th St. A type of sophisticated white collar criminal known as a "fixer" sprung up during this period, specializing in a form of insurance fraud that began with buying out the property of redlined landlords at or below cost, then selling and reselling the buildings multiple times on paper between several different fictitious shell companies under the fixer's control, artificially driving up the value incrementally each time. Services, Resources and Other Information. [69] Among the public schools are charter schools. Oct. 6, 1977. Bronx, New York. There’s a popular narrative that blames the blight and decline of the South Bronx in the 1970s on the working-class people who lived there. One lonely man wanders the burnt-down section of Crimmins Avenue in the Bronx. 1975. The South Bronx is served by the NYPD’s 40th, 41st, 42nd, 44th, and 48th Precincts. We wanted to tell the people’s history, and we wanted to challenge that narrative. There’s a popular narrative that blames the blight and decline of the South Bronx in the 1970s on the working-class people who lived there. According to Patch, New York was left in the dark for two whole days that initially left thousands of people stuck in subway cars underground. Some songs played at these South Bronx house parties included "Give it Up or Turn it Loose" by James Brown and "Get Ready" by Rare Earth. It’s about lifting the stigma that people from the Bronx have lived with and understanding that it has parallels with other cities across the country. “To me, it was home.” Advertisement Government surveyors went into neighborhoods throughout America and drew up these maps which guided insurance companies, mortgage lenders, and all the services that were becoming instrumental in buying any kind of property at this time. "We had him under surveillance for months, watching his car late at night when we didn't have any fires to run off to," said fire marshal Mike DiMarco. In the mid-1970s, fire marshal Mike DiMarco was staking out David Berkowitz’s Bronx home after his yellow Ford Galaxy was spotted fleeing the … The film, told from Vázquez ’s perspective of growing up in the borough, digs into the discriminatory government policies that created conditions of neglect in the South Bronx, and eventually led landlords to abandon (and sometimes burn) their properties. A progressively vicious cycle began where large numbers of tenements and multi-story, multi-family apartment buildings (left vacant by white flight) sat abandoned and unsaleable for long periods of time, which, coupled with a stagnant economy and an extremely high unemployment rate, produced a strong attraction for criminal elements such as street gangs, which were exploding in number and beginning to support themselves with large-scale drug dealing in the area. These Are The Protections New Yorkers Have From Eviction. Yankees manager Billy Martin (right) and the team's strutting superstar, Reggie Jackson (left), nearly come to blows. As The New York Post recalls, the South Bronx was eventually engulfed in flames. During the game, as ABC switched to a generic helicopter shot of the exterior of Yankee Stadium, an uncontrolled fire could clearly be seen burning in the ravaged South Bronx surrounding the park. Al Aaronson/NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagesSeven different census tracts in the Bronx lost over 97 percent of their buildings to fire and abandonment between 1970 and 1980. Circa 1980. We had a general knowledge of the history. Subscribe in print today! In the postwar era, the South Bronx witnessed a demographic shift as African Americans and Puerto Ricans joined foreign-born Irish, Jewish, and Italian immigrants. Now we are a bit ahead of the curve. Thanks to a witness, police were able to tie a yellow Ford Galaxie to the scene of the last murder and traced it to a 24-year-old postal worker living just north of the Bronx, in Yonkers, NY. The film also goes into detail about how landlords refused to stay in a “declining” neighborhood, and sold their buildings to speculators. You can imagine how disruptive that is to a family or to children or to anyone who wants stability in their lives. After learning about the rise of gangs, the birth of hip-hop, and the precarious state of the Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s, take a look at 37 photos of 1980s New York City — when crack was king. Authorities arrested over 3,000 people as a result, with over 1,700 stores having been robbed. African Americans were being exploited and killed so they needed to leave for the North. New York City couldn't get any wilder than it was in 1977. This was no way to live. The recent wins in the NY legislature is indicative that there is power that the state has to contend with. Bronx, New York. Seven different census tracts in the Bronx lost over 97 percent of their buildings to fire and abandonment between 1970 and 1980. Throughout the game, a helicopter over the stadium providing wide shots for the game's broadcast would return no fewer than five times to show an abandoned building in the South Bronx burning into the night; the twin lights of Yankee Stadium and the enormous but anonymous blaze being the only major points of light in the darkness of the beleaguered borough. The expressway is ironically thought to be a factor in the extreme urban decay seen by the borough in the 1970s and 1980s. Catalyst, a new journal published by Jacobin, is out now. In the 1970s significant poverty reached as far north as Fordham Road. Major highways include the Major Deegan Expressway (I-87); Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95); Bruckner Expressway (I-278); Triborough Bridge; Grand Concourse. In the late 1960s, by the time the city decided to consolidate welfare households in the South Bronx, its vacancy rate was already the highest of any place in the city. The Bronx didn’t have to burn, be neglected, or abandoned; and we shouldn’t be the ones to be blamed for it. Bronx, New York. Hip-Hop-obsessive youth at a Rap Flash party at Disco Fever. Jeff Chang quotes Bambaataa in his text Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation in a section where Chang is discussing why the Zulu Nation formed. This led to a 70 percent cut in fire inspections, the fire marshal program being shut down, and the use of archaic equipment by what fire companies remained. I first met Vivian and her co-director Gretchen in 2017 when they came in to present to a summer youth program ran by Take Back the Bronx (TBBX), a group that is organizing against the rezoning of the South Bronx, a more insidious form of gentrification launched as part of De Blasio’s “affordable housing” program. The film argues that the fires could have been stopped. It was done under the guise of making things more efficient and bringing consultants to make things better. "[52] As hip-hop grew from throughout the Bronx, 1520 was a starting point where Clive Campbell, later known as DJ Kool Herc, presided over parties in the community room at a pivotal point in the genre's history. Bronx, New York. Charlotte Street at the time was a three-block devastated area of vacant lots and burned-out and abandoned buildings. The media attention brought the South Bronx into common parlance nationwide. Unable to sell their property at any price and facing default on back property taxes and mortgages, landlords began to burn their buildings for their insurance value. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, "IN BELMONT AREA OF SOUTH BRONX, FEAR AND CRIME ARE REMOTE CONCERNS", "Your neighborhood guide to the Bronx's Castle Hill", "High Bridge Reopens the Bronx to Pedestrian Power", "Hunt's Point: How South Bronx's most-improved neighborhood stays that way", "City Adds About 600 New Pre-K Seats in South Bronx, City Educators Say", "The New Bronx; A Quick History of the Iconic Borough", The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, "Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95, I-295 and US 1)", "The South Bronx: From Urban Planning Victim to Victor", "Left to Die, the South Bronx Rises From Decades of Decay", "A City Gripped by Crisis and Enraptured by the Yankees", "Pulling Out of Fort Apache, the Bronx; New 41st Precinct Station House Leaves Behind Symbol of Community's Past Troubles", "In the Bronx, Blight Gave Way to Renewal", "Urban Mythologies: The Bronx Represented since the 1960s", "As Concourse Regains Luster, City Notices", "NYCEDC has helped to create additional green space and new jobs while spurring private investment to support the new Yankee Stadium", "A Public Park to Rival the Yankees' Playground", "Bronx leaders urge hotel next to Yankee Stadium", "Affordable Apartments For Those Who Want To Enjoy Their Life -", "2007 Fort Greene Park Summer Literary Festival", "Hope Is Artists' Medium In a Bronx Neighborhood; Dancers, Painters and Sculptors Head to Hunts Point", "Hip Hop is born at a birthday party in the Bronx - Aug 11, 1973 - HISTORY.com", "Will Gentrification Spoil the Birthplace of Hip-Hop? The rate of unsolved fatalities due to fire multiplied sevenfold in the South Bronx during the 1970s, with many residents reporting being burnt out of numerous apartment blocks one after the other. As the name implies, the area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Mott Haven, Melrose, and Port Morris. Under the regulations, Section 8 tenants who were burned out of their current housing were granted immediate priority status for another apartment, potentially in a better part of the city. That meant there were fewer firefighters on call when fires were increasingly spreading. [15] Originally denoting only Mott Haven and Melrose, the South Bronx extended up to the Cross Bronx Expressway by the 1960s, encompassing Hunts Point, Morrisania, and Highbridge. The Bronx has a very strong graffiti scene despite the city's crackdown on illegal graffiti. We are talking across from each other, and we need to continue to do that. DeRienzo and his friends who lived on the street are shown in the film organizing and rebuilding, but they weren’t the only ones. This arguably sparked the beginning of gang culture and Hip-Hop becoming enmeshed in the popular consciousness, but Bronx resident Buddy Esquire remembered his borough to be "a lot wilder back then," and that the tables have since turned: today's music is more violent while the Bronx is safer. The film will be available for purchase online, but there will also be screenings in theaters—more details here. More than fifty abandoned apartment buildings on the Major Deegan Expressway and the Cross Bronx Expressway were renovated for residential use. Leader of the Reapers gang discussing inter-gang violence and peace talks. Community School Districts 7, 8, 9, and 12 are located in the South Bronx. The models seemingly indicated that black, fire-prone areas had been over-served. This led to 13 companies being closed — including some of the busiest companies in the Bronx. Former chief Elmer Chapman, who ran the Bureau of Planning and Operations Research, said O'Hagan was undeniably politically motivated in this effort. Bronx, New York. Therefore, desirable housing options were scarce, and vacancies further increased. Oct. 5, 1977. With an equally heated mayoral race on top and the hell of a looming economic downturn, tensions were at an all-time high. Citywide, the percentage is only 55%. Others chose Hip-Hop. In 1977, the unemployment rate in the city was two and a half times what it is today, according to the Department of Labor. Here have a group of boys thoroughly amused by the sight of two dogs being thoroughly enamored. Though this was a terribly dangerous period in the city's history, every yin has its yang. Still, this was New York City; a town that had beat the odds before and that has little patience for slouchers. Additionally, in 1972, in order to save costs during New York City’s fiscal crisis, the New York City-RAND Institute recommended the closure of several fire companies, including some in the South Bronx. “It was a dream come true,” he recalls. [13] Jews in the South Bronx numbered 364,000 or 57.1% of the total population in the area. Thanks to the Bronx, Hip-Hop culture became more than a few house parties — and soon flooded the streets, and the world, with breakdancers and graffiti artists. However, the new park came at a price: a total of 22 acres (89,000 m2) in Macombs Dam and John Mullaly Parks were used to build it. When I was a little girl, I didn’t see that integration as anything but normal. [17] However, New York City Mayor John Lindsay (who served from 1966 to 1973) suggested that socioeconomic factors (including low educational attainment and high unemployment) limited housing options for the remaining low-income tenants, prompting the reduced upkeep by landlords. The arts scene that sprouted at the Fashion Moda Gallery, founded by a Viennese artist, Stefan Eins, helped ignite the careers of artists like Keith Haring and Jenny Holzer, and 1980s break dancers like the Rock Steady Crew. “The people took the power; it was a vacuum of power, and they took it and activated that power for themselves to try to change something.”. In 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the borough’s population on July 1, 2007 was 1,373,659, which ranks fourth of the five boroughs. Serial killer David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz being taken into police custody. Racism played a big role in allowing these policies to take hold. What gives you hope about organizing against gentrification today? There was an excitement to coming to New York and living in the Bronx with people they have never met before. I recently sat down with co-directors Vivian Vázquez and Gretchen Hildebran to discuss their film and the lessons it offers anti-gentrification activists today. Bronx, New York. A variety of New York City Subway services run through the South Bronx. The Ultimate Guide To Dealing With Your NYC Neighbors. Aug. 11, 1977. We lost 80 percent of our housing stock. Reeling from a decade of social turmoil, New York in the 1970s fell into a deep tailspin provoked by the flight of the middle class to the suburbs and a nationwide economic recession that hit New York’s industrial sector especially hard. [35][36][37], The population of the South Bronx is currently increasing. 11 Florida Man Headlines From 2019 That We're Still Trying To Understand, Franz Jägerstätter Chose The Guillotine Over Pledging Loyalty To Hitler, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Young people were behaving irrationally because our environment was irrational. In addition to a high rate of crime and gangs, the borough was plagued by a wave of arson… the burning of buildings mostly in the South Bronx. Bronx, New York. [33], Construction of the new Yankee Stadium has stirred controversy over plans which, along with the new billion-dollar field, include new athletic fields, tennis courts, bicycle and walking paths, stores, restaurants, and a new Metro-North Railroad station at East 153rd Street. It was the private domain of the powerful and aristocratic Morris family, which includes Lewis Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Gouverneur Morris, the penman of the United States Constitution. In response, activists across the city’s five boroughs have put out an alternative: The People’s Housing Plan. Groups like TBBX argue that the rezoning of neighborhoods like the one Vivian grew up in will drive up rents for area residents and open the floodgates for further gentrification. It began in 1971 when mayor John Lindsay asked the FDNY's chief of department, John O'Hagan, for a few million dollars to help close a budget deficit. The South Bronx was populated largely by working-class families. [34], There is hope that these developments also will help to generate residential construction. Gothamist is a website about New York City news, arts and events, and food, brought to you by New York Public Radio. Bronx, New York. Once the borough of choice for the middle class, the Bronx bore the full brunt of 1970s white flight. What gives me hope are the young people fighting. The neighborhood of East Tremont, in particular, was completely destroyed by the Expressway. 1977. [18] In either case, while desirable housing options were scarce, vacancies further increased. He was shocked by the number of families being “burned out” of their homes, and around 1977, he heard about a group of residents on Washington Avenue in the South Bronx who were taking over abandoned buildings and reconstructing them, to later collectively own them. National Archives and Records AdministrationAs the city verged on bankruptcy, crime surged and fires roared. Decade of Fire shows a map of more than 20 organizations that were rebuilding in different sections of the Bronx at the time. People were creating art such as hip-hop music and dances at the block parties within the South Bronx, so the police did not have issues with it.[65]. [30] The Sunnyslope estate, later the Bright Temple A.M.E. Church, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. [20] The 1987 novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, by the American writer Tom Wolfe, presented the South Bronx as a nightmare world, not to be entered by middle or upper-class whites. I want to empower youth to fight injustice. Later, the Bronx was considered the "Jewish Borough," and at its peak in 1930 was 49% Jewish. Their mission is to use education as a means of economic empowerment. A major blaze burning through a building in the South Bronx was repeatedly shown during game 2 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, becoming a metaphor for the plight of the city in the late 1970s. [31] Over $1 billion were spent on rebuilding the area through the 1990s, with 19,000 apartments having been refurbished and more than 4,500 new houses having been built for the working class. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (Manhattan, NY). What we heard from people was it took a while for the impact of the redlining to be felt in a widespread way. In the late 1960s, by the time the city decided to consolidate welfare households in the South Bronx, its vacancy rate was already the highest of any place in the city. It wasn’t us that destroyed the Bronx; we were the ones that saved it. With NPR’s Audie Cornish and WNYC’s Rebeca Ibarra. Its image as a poverty-ridden area developed in the latter part of the 20th century. I can go on and on. Vázquez is glad the movie came out today, after 10 years, because it is deeply relevant. In the meantime, funding reductions for vital fire companies in the Bronx over the decade led to an astonishing amount of devastating blazes. In the rapidly gentrifying city, the Bronx is the last stand and its residents are fighting back. Evictions are on hold in New York at least until October 1. The Bronx's poverty situation was comparable in number of respects to that of Newark, New Jersey's largest city, where 18 of every 100 families were living below the poverty level in 1970… The Dragons, united against anyone who encroaches on their turf, posing on a sidewalk. Bronx, New York. It wasn’t just the buildings. The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. What was the South Bronx like before the fires? It was October, and a building near Yankee Stadium was indeed on fire as the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers duked it in game 2 of the World Series. Zhandarka Kurti is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Discovering what that was like was one of the most profound parts. Jan 10, 2019 - This borough was once desolated by ruins and corruption during the 70's and early 80's. “I grew up in the South Bronx in the 1970s, during the time of the fires,” is the first voice heard as burning buildings fill the screen. Thank you for setting the record straight. Claremont Neighborhood. As I say in the film, a lot of young people I knew growing up ended up dead, on drugs, and in jail. The Bronx was once considered the “Jewish Borough,” and at its peak in 1930 was 49% Jewish. 1970s. The curriculum never got taught but that question about what our young people know about their history in the Bronx — and what they should know — led us to continue have these conversations. Much of this was reportedly done by those who had already worked stripping and burning buildings for pay: the ashes of burned down properties could be sifted for salable scrap metal. After World War II as white flight accelerated and migration of ethnic and racial minorities continued, South Bronx went from being two-thirds non-Hispanic white in 1950 to being two-thirds black or Puerto Rican in 1960. [20][23], As the crisis deepened, the nearly bankrupt city government of Abraham Beame placed most of the blame on unreasonably high rents levied by landlords, and began demanding they convert their rapidly emptying buildings into Section 8 housing, which paid a per capita stipend for low-income or indigent tenants from Federal HUD funds rather than from the cash-strapped city coffers. The result was a disastrous acceleration of both the speed and northward spread of the cycle of decay in the South Bronx as formerly desirable and well-maintained middle-to-upper class apartments in midtown (most notably along the Grand Concourse) were progressively vacated by white flight and either abandoned altogether or converted into federally funded single room occupancy "welfare hotels" run by absentee slumlords to house predominantly single-parent Section 8 families and young, unemployed, recently immigrated Hispanic males. Knowing that there are actual policies and actual people behind those decisions, means that we have the agency to fight injustice. Cutting through the heart of the South Bronx, the highway displaced thousands of residents from their homes, as well as several local businesses. With two turntables and a sound system, he ushered in a music genre globally popular to this day. On July 5, 2007, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue was recognized by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation as the "Birthplace of Hip-Hop."[67][68]. But when it did hit, it happened quickly and in conjunction with white flight. As an educator, what do you hope young people get out of this film? They used a think tank called New York City-RAND to create computer models to cut financial corners. Decade of Fire premieres today at Metrograph in the Lower East Side, and screenings are being held across the country. Those included redlining, a post-Depression-era Home Owners’ Loan Corporation practice to categorize neighborhoods based on the race of their residents. The Museum presents compelling perspectives on the impact of design on daily life through active educational and curatorial programming. Share your email address to get our top stories each day. So how did the fires transform the South Bronx into a national symbol of urban blight? (1995), by, This page was last edited on 12 October 2020, at 01:39. In addition to a high rate of crime and gangs, the borough was plagued by a wave of arson… the burning of buildings mostly in the South Bronx. In the 1970s, fires ravaged much of the Bronx: seven census tracts lost 97 percent of their buildings and 44 tracts lost more than 50 percent. [43] The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance was located in the American Bank Note Company Building in the South Bronx neighborhood of Hunts Point before relocating to St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Westchester Square.[44]. Decade of Fire couldn’t have come at a better time. “There’s been times in history when it’s been difficult for many groups of people, but that never stops them,” she explains. It generated enough enthusiasm in the mainstream media for a short while to draw the art world's attention. The Bronx has a land area of 42 square miles (109 km ) and a population of 1,418,207 in 2019. The combination of increasing vacancy rates and decreased property values caused some neighborhoods to become considered undesirable by homeowners. Thus landlords could allow their buildings to decline and even pay to burn them down without fear of being held accountable. The Morris memorial is at St. Ann's Church of Morrisania. The South Bronx is known for its hip hop culture and graffiti. NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesOfficers take David Berkowitz, a.k.a. We didn’t know about how urban renewal, redlining, and all these policies played out.”.

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