Artwork by KayLove

This isn’t your next destination hotspot. This a real community. With real stories. With a rich history. And a rich culture. With real struggles. And real entrepreneurs. And a vibrant art scene. With real creative people who have influenced the world for generations. You can’t discover us.

With the 51st spot on the New York Times places to visit, the South Bronx is now “on everyone’s radar.”  As Curbed, and Welcome2TheBronx have already pointed out, most of the businesses included in the New York Times blurb can be linked to Somerset Partners. I’m gonna call foul play, or rather, pay for play. The New York Times didn’t come to the Bronx to check out these businesses. These businesses are all located in Port Morris, an up and coming but very isolated part of the borough.  In fact, these businesses are all within a 5 block radius, which doesn’t cover all of Port Morris.  To say that the South Bronx (which includes Port Morris, Mott Haven, and Melrose) is the new place to “check out” while only focusing on 5 blocks of one neighborhood is suspect at best.  The blurb feels more like a travel ad for developers than an informed survey of the area.  With construction and low foot traffic, the area feels more like a work in progress than a real destination. This is not to takeaway from the local businesses that have real Bronx roots in the area. But to be included on such a list from such a prestigious newspaper, is almost laughable and gut wrenching. 

It’s the guideline for gentrification – an erasing of the cultural and community identity of a neighborhood with wealth. Zoning laws are a hassle? Throw money at the problem and get the area rezoned. Need people to look at your proposed development in a positive light? Hire a PR firm, have videos and stories written up about the changes in the area. Need to be included on the New York Times destinations list? You get the idea here…

As we’ve said in a previous post, it’s an isolated area with many NYCHA housing lining the other side of the highway, but what happens in Port Morris can trickle into the surrounding area and upward.  Tourists are more than welcome to visit, but they should take a look at the businesses and entrepreneurs that have been here; those that have been part of the fabric of the neighborhood.  The New York Times post isn’t highlighting “an industrial neighborhood’s revival”, instead they’re a pawn playing into the tactics developers have used to rebrand other neighborhoods in the City.  As Eric Conde of Welcome2TheBronx has said before, “Why now?”  The South Bronx needed to be revitalized decades ago but the City and those with money, power, and influence didn’t see the area or the people worth the investment.  As new projects and businesses are propped up for a community that doesn’t exist (yet) in Port Morris, the rest of us in the Bronx are beginning to realize why it’s all happening now.  Our lives, culture, and stories don’t matter (unless it can be used to profit others).  The rest of the City is too expensive so the Bronx is an “emerging market.”  It’s safe to visit and soon it will be safe enough to stay because these developers will have kicked out enough people to make it so.  Why now?  Because the wealthy are looking for bigger and better accommodations, and we just happen to be living in them already.