Four corners of life
Hospital admissions caused by the drug decreased by 85% in the five boroughs, officials said in May. Still, Bed-Stuy residents say abuse of the drug continues.
Cops assigned to the 81st and 83rd Precincts have stepped up enforcement near Myrtle Ave. and Broadway, targeting its use and sale, according to Lt. John Grimpel, anNYPDspokesman.
On most evenings, Lua Koenig, 23, originally from France, can be found perusing the goods below Mr. Kiwi’s green awning — home to delicacies like organic lemon mayo and elderflower-infused water.
Koenig moved to Brooklyn in 2015 after completing her neuroscience degree in Ireland.
“I always loved New York and the idea of New York, and also, most of the exciting research in my field of neuroscience is coming from the U.S.,” she said.
Unable to afford Manhattan, or even neighboring Williamsburg, Koenig found a house-share on Myrtle Ave. through Craigslist.
“I appreciate the opportunity for multidisciplinarity in New York, and that I can pursue all my different interests in the same place,” she said.
The building at 927 Broadway that used to house John and Al’s Sporting Goods is now one of the brightest spots near the intersection of Myrtle and Broadway.
Romanesque statues draped with tinsel decorate the window display of the current business, En- rique’s Unisex Salon. The decor inside the building where radicals once waged a deadly war now features giant golden mirrors and collages of puppies dyed all colors of the rainbow.
Enrique Quezada, 46, an Ecuadoran immigrant, is the beloved proprietor of the business just 22 years after he arrived in New York with only $100 in his pocket.
“I didn’t have a place to go,” he recalled. “I was here alone.”
Everything changed when a longl lost cousin, who owned a barberb shop near Myrtle and Broadway,w offered him a job cutting hair.
Within a few years, Quezada was managing the business. In 2002, he opened his own hair salon across the street — and emerged as a n neighborhood focal point.
“Now it’s very, very different. The prices (are) going too high,” he said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, but the prices in my salon are staying the same.”
As droves of ambitious college g grads flock to Bed-Stuy from all corners of the world, elementary school kids in the same neighborhood are missing school at the sixth highest rate in the city, according to a 2015 Health Department commun nity profile report.
“What a lot of people were telli ing us in these neighborhoods, a lot of them being hit hard by gentrification, was that they felt young people were the biggest vulnerability — low-income black and Latino y youth were becoming increasingly marginalized to gentrification,” Clarke said.
“But they were also the largest asset, because if they were presented with opportunities and given opportunities, they would be more likely to be a source of strength and stability in that neighborhood.”
Aliko Eze, 26, grew up in a three-bedroom apartment with his mother in Bed-Stuy.
“My father was not around, my mother had a lot of issues from him not being around,” Eze said.
Eze landed in group housing at 13. Two years later he was convicted of attempted murder, drug dealing and theft.
“Being in jail was like the closest thing to being buried alive. I was tired and I was suicidal,” he said.
A despondent Eze latched onto reading in a bid to stay sane. By the end of his time in prison, he was 23 and had read hundreds of books.
“When you’re passionate about something, you’re always gonna find the right direction,” he said.
An aspiring rap artist, he devotes his time to speaking to youths in detention centers around the city, selling his mix tapes on Myrtle Ave. and Broadway, and raising his formerly estranged little brother, Spencer Booker, 18.
“It’s like a double-edged sword,” Evans says. “You win because you can come off the train at two, three o’clock in the morning and don’t have to worry about getting mugged or getting shot, but then, at the same time — you gotta work two, three jobs to be able to afford to live here,” he said.
The four corners of Myrtle and Broadway bear witness to the changing times. Each pedestrian comes from a different background, and tells a different story. For the time being, they find a way to co-exist.
“It’s mixed. It’s energy,” Evans said. “It’s a good vibe because it’s unique. You got so many people of so many different nationalities that’s living amongst each other.
“It’s not a color of black and white now — the color’s green. We’ve come a long way. I’m fighting just to stay here.”