Impressions from one day in Redhookauke@aukehoekstra.nl

I loved Redhook.

It was spacious, never really crappy, people where friendly, the vista’s over the water often breathtaking.

This is a neighbourhood where I can imagine living very happily and it is oozing with potential.

A big problem that is mentioned by most residents and visitors is public transportation to and from Redhook. The bike program does not extend this far south and there is only one bus coming here I was told. I think this hampers residents, property values and tourism.

But every problem is a treasure because it tells you what you can improve. And I see sustainable transportation as something that could be part of the integral plan for the neighbourhood.

I brought my city bike and found that Redhook is perfect for biking.

Some potential:a lot of prime locations near the water with property that is looking almost forsaken.

Streets with a lot of underutilized potential.

A bicycle highway.

Parking lots like this seem underutilized by Dutch standards

Social housing like this dominates the center of the Neighbourhood.We where told that there is almost 70% youth unemployment.Still there are long waiting lines to be able to rent here.Life must be pretty hard for many people here.

But it also means that offering these people jobs is a great motivator for them and us.The prize money is meant to promote resilience and we have to respect that, but we can spend it in such a way that it creates eductation, jobs and social cohesion in Redhook itself. What is required is a good integral plan that can create win-win.

And we could dream even bigger. We can use that integral plan to redirect part of the 250 million to 2 billion dollar that is apparently still hanging in the balance as insurance money and Sandy rebuilding funds. That way we can make Redhook into a little sustainable “wirtschaftswunder”.

Actually, foreign players like us are perfectly positioned to do that. We have extensive experience with such plans but even more importantly: we are independent. We do not have the political affiliations that often create gridlock in the USA. We do not have ties to local employers, unions and policy makers that limit our options or give us a bias.

We can be like Feynman in the Rogers Commision Report on the Challenger disaster. The difference being that our job is more fun because we can come up with a solution for a bright future instead of an explanation of past disaster.

Everywhere the walkways are roofed like this and the area around the buildings is closed with gates. Often it became like this right after Sandy, almost two years ago.

Residents tell me it feels like living in a prison. Some hypothesise they stay in place as an easy way to protect equipment.

I guess they where probably put up because of ligitation risks or because someone was working with potentially loose material on the roof at one time or another.

But it seems pretty careless to keep them in place for so long and its hard for me to imagine structures like this staying in place for two years in a rich neighbourhood.

I am curious what the truth is behind these omnipresent structures.

Still a lot of these external units for I presume heating, cooling and maybe emergency power.

For me these signify hope. Apparently the money for the final solution is notspent yet and we can use that money as part of our integral sustainability, resilience and job plan.

This park comes with an interesting story.

Everybody I spoke to loves the park and told me it has an important place in the neighbourhood.

Everybody likes that it is being redone (although most think it could have been done cheaper).

But then everybody is just as unanimous in their rejection of the fact that it has to be completely closed off for so long.

“First we tried to have only the parts closed off where people where actually doing stuff.Then we said: ‘why don’t you first close and do one half and than the other?’ But they would not listen.”

So now the park is closed for the forseeable future, with sometimes no activity for weeks on end and no one understands what is so dangerous anyway.

Says one resident: “The only danger I know comes from the refusal of the contractor to turn on the lights next to the walkway outside the park because it costs money. People have already been mugged because of that.”

Maybe just one side of the story but it intriguesme.

This lady is Brooklyn's first professional dog-walker.She has lived in Redhook since 2001.

The dog was happy to rest for a short while.

In the background we see a closed off park.

Carol and I talked about a wide range of topics.

She explained how things have become much nicer in Redhook, especially in the last 5 years. She also liked the move from Ikea to the neighbourhood, bringing in jobs and people visiting the neighbourhood.

However this also means that Redhook is becoming very expensive. Her rent has gone up spectacularly in the last few years (she now pays $3500 a month for <100m2 plus a roof balcony) so she is forced to move to something smaller and cheaper.

There is a strong police presence around and actually in the social housing.

Most poorer residents don’t like the police very much. One girl put it like this: “There’s more cops bothering people nowadays. That means somewhat less violence but mostly just more cops.” However, there is a grudging appreciation for the fact that they have played an important role in making the neighbourhood safer in the last ten years.

Some of those poorer residents where amused by my appreciation of the neighbourhood. People had already noticed the tall, white, out of place fellow on his rented bike they told me. It seemed they talked to me out of curiosity.

They assured me that there are still drug dealers on every corner and that it is still important to know when to keep your mouth shut if you actually live in “the projects”. One young girl told me she was still living with her mom but that everything was better than the projects and that she was sleeping in a shelter more and more. All where absolutely resolute in not wanting to have their picture taken.

Every one of those poorer residents was also completely untouched by my plea to unite for a future without fossil fuels. I could have been talking about life on Pluto as far as they were concerned. The idea of having power after a storm and giving a finger to the Utilities sparked a modicum of interest.

But what really got them going instantly was jobs. E.g. proposals to let unemployed youth from Redhook install solar panels after a short training. Especially after they saw that this was important to me personally and that I meant it.

Somewhere here I met Buffy and her friends.

She recently moved to Redhook. Her mother in law had heard bad stories about Redhook and said “Good luck moving there” but Buffy really liked it.

However, it turns out Buffy came from a rough part of the Bronx.

This lady has an artistic background and makes decent money working in an art store but it’s hard to save because “this is New York”. She told me that 12 years ago this was a very different neighbourhood with wild dogs terrorizing the streets and the fire department refusing to come here.

She alerted me to the role of the artisan community in improving that. We often see that in Holland: when a neighbourhood becomes more popular, it’s the artists that move in first. They are not afraid of the unconventional and they like cheap. She is already mentally preparing for the next step when the artists will be replaced by the more affluent yuppies and dinky’s. She recommends that we talk to Florence Niel (an artist on Bruntstreet with the Kentler Drawing Center) if we want to know what’s what in Redhook.

She also told me that solar panels have gotten bad press recently because of a Redhook project that wanted to increase the rent after they would have placed them. “So that is not happening.” But she liked them herself. That is why she insisted she pose in front of the community farm and not in front of Ikea (which you see if you point the camera the other way).

This proud lady is a clerk at the mayors office.

She is one of the people emphasising that the fences are giving the neighbourhood a prison like atmosphere. Although it is not as bad as it used to be. She can tell stories about the 70s when things where “really bad”.

She thinks the community will love sustainability if it comes with jobs.

She is retiring soon and will be moving to Carolina.

Later I bump into her again after she comes out of Church. She wants to introduce me to the minister and some people of the congregation. Unfortunately my time is up and I have to hurry home to catch my flight. Maybe next time…