There was a time in its history when the Bronx was considered a “good area.” I say this because when I was growing up there,\u00a0the Bronx had a not so great reputation. Recently I saw a news story covering the cost of living in NYC, and they said that the Bronx was still the cheapest place to rent. This has to be due to the infamous reputation.<\/p>\n
From what I have read, back in those so called “good days,” mostly Irish, Russian, Polish, German and Italian immigrants lived in the Bronx. With the passage of time, “we”\u00a0started moving in and “taking over” the neighborhoods. Little by little the white folk\u00a0started to move away due to escalating violence and crime.<\/p>\n
Fast forward and the once prestigious Bronx is now considered “the hood”. A place that cab drivers seek to avoid, a place that simply by name frightens some people. It became so bad during the 70’s, landlords themselves started to burn down their own buildings to collect on insurance! It was only landlords, there were many other cases of\u00a0arson happening back then too!<\/p>\n
When I was growing up, you’d never see\u00a0any white people in my area. That’s just a fact of my neighborhood, and I mean no offense to anyone. I will say that if you did see a white person in any of these neighborhoods, and he\/she was “accepted”, by the non-whites, you’d be well served not to cross that person. You see, in order to be accepted in the hood, as a white person, these guys had to be crazier than any of the Spanish or black guys in the area. Being white is an automatic strike or two in the hood, and to make up for that these guys had to significantly outdo their peers in toughness. I was often a victim of violence, because I looked too white! I often heard these words before a gang beating “Get that white boy!”<\/p>\n
Don’t get me wrong, there were areas in the Bronx that had hard core Albanians, and other white folks. However, these were only “pockets,” where they had “The Albanian Building.” The same could be said with the West Indians, in my old block we had “The Indian Building.” Nearly everyone in that building was West Indian! It’s bizarre how any one group can take over an entire building! In any case, whites were the minority in our neighborhood of minorities.<\/p>\n
Lately I have noticed a new trend, I’m starting to see more white people in the Bronx. Granted, I’ve noticed this mostly in the Yankee stadium, or the Bronx Museum of Art vicinity. All the same, you now see white people\u00a0in the mix. Not the crazy tough white person I mentioned from before, but just a regular white, white person. Again, I don’t mean to sound ignorant, but this has been my perception over the years. I know that my eyes have not seen it all, but I can only write about what I perceive.<\/p>\n
I see the government has invested a significant amount of money in rebuilding Yankee Stadium. However, not just the stadium itself, but neighboring areas as well. Joyce Kilmer park, right there on the Grand Concourse looks amazing compared to what I remember. The Grand Concourse streets are tree lined, and the space overall looks much nicer than I remember it being!<\/p>\n