Author Archives: Lynette Grodskiy

About Lynette Grodskiy

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NEIGHBORHOOD PITCH: BRIGHTON BEACH

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Brighton Beach is home to hundreds of small shops, 50 plus origins, one famous boardwalk, and New York’s best piroski. Located in the southern part of Brooklyn, Brighton Beach has always been known for having one of the highest Russian –Jewish populations within not only Brooklyn but New York State. Commonly referred to as “Little Odessa”or “Little Russia by the Sea” Brighton Beach, as of 2014 has a population of 75,829 citizens, more than half of which are Russian speaking immigrants and descendants from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan etc.

During the 1970’s Brighton Beach was not the lively, culture oriented neighborhood that it is today. Due to the sudden economic crisis it became a hotspot for crime and poverty. Around the same time, there was a sudden burst of immigrants from the Soviet Union, who spent decades transforming Brighton Beach into a safe refuge by providing low cost housing facilities, healthcare, and community and religious programs.

Nowadays, Brighton is still known for providing a comfortable atmosphere for immigrants and residents. But with that said, Brighton is also experiencing some setbacks, specifically increases in rent and overall living cost. The median cost for houses in Brighton has increased by $200,000, or 44.4% when compared with the previous quarter, and 15.1% when compared to the past year. The increase in construction of condominiums has pushed out local businesses, as well as many residents who can no longer afford the rent.

I would like to propose writing a profile on one of Brighton Beach’s long time residents, interviewing a local dry cleaner business, contacting Shorefront, a popular community center, and finally writing a conflict piece relating to one of Brighton Beach’s recent setbacks, as mentioned above.

As a lifelong citizen of Brighton Beach, I have grown up in the midst of all the well known changes and events that my neighborhood has gone through.  I have seen Brighton’s best superstores open and close, witnessed many front page news stories, and sat from my third floor building as Sandy ripped through the streets. For the past 2 decades, I have been apart of Brighton and Brighton has been apart of me. Now, I’d like to share the stories of my neighborhood with everyone.

E.B White, Here Is New York

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E.B White gives us a first class tour of New York City at its earliest peak by personifying the streets, depicting daily scenarios and going into the minds of the typical 20th Century New Yorker. If we fast forward 65 years, modern day New York has definitely seen some changes, mainly a spike in prices and people and a drop in slums and over all living space. E.B White mentions that it only cost a quarter to ride public transportation, and only $8 to rent a room in one of the newly developed housing projects. Nowadays, regular transportation costs 1000% more standing at $2.50 per ride, while the cheapest housing arrangement is unlikely to fall below the thousand dollar mark.  One reason why the prices are sky rocketing is that more and more people are flowing into the city. In 1949 E.B. White estimates that there were approximately 8 million recorded citizens inhabiting the state, today there are only 8 million recorded citizens living in New York City alone. Many of which are willing to pay for any housing facility that they can find, even ones where the kitchen and bathroom share the same sink.  And we thought our subway rides were cramped.  With the high increase in population, space is becoming more and more limited, resulting in star bound sky scrapers, instead of the mansions that once were. The new “mansions” have been renamed penthouses and stand several floors above ground, occupying land that was long ago filled with slums. Now the only people wealthy enough to live on that land are the ones who basically own it.