Gentrification Dominates Cumbo’s State Of The District Speech
Gentrification and affordable housing dominated the discussion Monday night at Council Member Laurie Cumbo‘s second annual “State of the District” address.
Cumbo updated her constituents in the 35th district with a performance-filled presentation entitled “Vision for the 35th” held at the BRIC Arts Media House (647 Fulton Street) that was highlighted by a poem on displacement by Patrick Dougher but also focused on issues like gun violence and participatory budgeting.
“If I was President Obama, that would be my Rev. Wright moment,” exclaimed Cumbo after Dougher left the stage.
The presentation featured an electric performance by Dougher, who launched a scathing assault on gentrification with a poem that opened with line “first came the hipsters” and included other memorable phrases like “NYCHA housing is the new Indian reservation.”
The audience received the poem very approvingly, hollering with support. Dougher said after the reading that he’d chosen the imagery deliberately.
“I’m sure I’m not the first person to draw the parallel between the displacement of Native Americans and what’s happening now. The idea is that hipsters, artists, and young folks are sort of the modern day pioneers and like those pioneers, they’re just looking for a better life for themselves an their families. When the pioneers came to settle the west, the calvary came to support them and there’s obviously an increased police presence.”
After her speech, Cumbo said she chose Dougher because she wanted to give a platform to his point of view.
“I think he expressed his point of view of experiencing gentrification in Brooklyn, and it’s his point of view and it’s valid. It’s important to hear different perspectives of how gentrification is impacting residents, particularly long-time residents… It’s his poem, and everything here is everybody’s everything. Art is someone’s interpretation,” said Cumbo.
The Council Member, who fought hard for Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing rezoning, continues to view gentrification as an ongoing community concern that is without any one single remedy. She said buttressing the neighborhood against those changes was important to her, not just as an elected official, but as a member of the community.
“I’ve been going to the Academy Diner since I was 15, and that’s the sort of continuity a community needs. When I go in there, the owner knows me. I’m not just a customer,” she said.
The event also focused on gun violence and the need for after-school programs.
It was attended by the widow of Carey Gabay, the Cuomo administration lawyer felled by a stray bullet last summer, who has had a scholarship created in his honor.