Parks in Bushwick

The parks in Bushwick are a lie.

There are several "parks" near my apartment in East-Williamsburg-Bushwick, none of which, as far as I can tell have more in common with a playground than they do with a parking lot.

In Bushwick, "park" is code for an empty lot paved over with asphalt, demarcated by a chain-link fence, and hung with a sign commemorating some historically important ethnic minority. That, my friends, is not a park. It is a lie.

Living in NY is something of a lesson in socio-economic disparities in America. The parks, in my opinion, are the perfect manifestation of the inexcusable disparity between rich white New Yorkers and poor Black and Latino ones.

There are also several parks by my work in Cobble Hill. Cobble Hill is home to some of the first low income housing in New York. These walk-up Brownstones were built in the mid-nineteenth century, where rooms were let for mere dollars a week. Today, the same Brownstones go for 4 mil. The parks in Cobble Hill, needless to say, are very very nice.

Maybe some day the low income housing that surrounds my Bushwick apartment will be declared historic. Maybe someday the parks board will decide to tear up the asphalt lots and plant grass. Maybe.

But by that time all of the black and latino residents will be long gone and rich white women with 3,000 dollar strollers will be taking their kids to play at Rosa Parks Playground.