It seems that ever since I've returned from my pink-wine-drenched sojourn, I have been feeling the blues. There is something about returning from beautiful European countrysides and cities, where people take pride in their surroundings and things are just so pretty, to the general crustiness of my Brooklyn neighborhood and all its random smells.
Case in point: today I walked down Bedford Avenue, past a place called New York Muffin. They had the sidewalk doors to their basement open and from it emanated a smell worse than death. It was worse because it came from a FOOD ESTABLISHMENT! I mean, if the funeral home above which I live smelled that way, okay, you know, it's a dead body, I get it. But a muffin shop?? The stench permeated the entire stretch from N6th to N7th and back down to N5th Street. And the most disturbing part about this was that everyone just walked through the toxic clouds as if nothing happened and went INTO THE MUFFIN SHOP to buy food... to eat... yes.
Why? Why does living in New York mean having to take it up the ass when it comes to quality of life? Why are places around here allowed to rot and no one cares? Which leads me to the fundamental question: why does no one care? I know some people do. I can see it when I look at the lonely little flower boxes that hang from a window here and there, defying the general attitude, or the occasional owner hosing garbage slime off his sidewalk. Most people, however, seem to prefer to just shit where they eat and get on with it. As a believer in the broken window theory, I think this is a contributing factor why we so relentlessly get dumped upon by demolishers and developers. If the residents don't give a shit, openly and notoriously, why should they?
If my husband and I knew what to do with ourselves in other places, we'd be gone, like, yesterday. The sad thing is: I still really like Williamsburg. It's a fabulously creative place and so many impressively talented people live here. I just wish the attitude in New York City weren't so infuriatingly laissez-faire. But in a city that was ravaged and segregated by the Wall Street $$$ for decades, it seems to be too much to ask for.
For more on stinky Brooklyn, visit this funny blog: New York Shitty.
