The corner perpetually active. The sort of healthy community that NY urban genius Jane Jacobs experienced and worked for. In her now famous descriptions of the everyday life as witnessed from her home above a candy store at 555 Hudson Street, she summed: “Whether neighbors or strangers, people are safer because they are almost never alone.”

When are prople gonna realize you can’t mix a socialist collective with capitism, idiots….

Sorry that you gentrifying the hood got yall kicked out. Finaly the rents are becoming more affordable and the natives can finally move back. It will be fun watch all these non native destroy the fabric of KENSINGTON and turn it into some fake hood called ditmas park, never was that before Guliani Time…

Ask Tom Martinez why members of the old Bethleham United Church of Christ dont go to all souls…selling out for clergy aint cool, and when even he started to embrace the wanna be brooklynites, well soon all souls will go the way of Vox Pop..

The hard times are coming people and the way Vox Pop drove up housing in the last ten years will haunt yall more then it will the native born brooklnite, we’ll just get that building at the auction…

Get out…ya just aint wanted and here come the 80′s again, hope yall is down with all those “people” who had the hood before you did…good luck with that….

Sorry Dude…

my point was that you CAN NOT mix a socialist collective with capitalism….

As for the personal stuff….ya could meet me @ PS 139 school yard, but you would have to climb the fence like I did b4 the library was there…

If ya had a thought about me frontin’….

here is my pedigree…
Assasins, Lords, PSB, WTB, UNI, Decepticons, Soldier’s tavern, DPP, GHS and known as that guy who puts those fake mofo’s @ john’s coffee in their place…..by the way I was baptized at E7 & Cortelyou, when it was BUCC before I went to PS 139, b4 I went to PS 179, which elementary school did you go to i the hood? or was that Jersey?

hey ya never know what could happen if you put deed to word, besides…your only a few stops away from methodist if your feeling froggy…….

Foursquare? Tetherball?

Just 7 miles away

When I moved to NY 16 years ago it took me quite some time to adapt to the constant energy, movement and change of the city that never sleeps. First I lived in Park Slope, but I wasn’t a yuppie with a stroller so I felt like a misfit. Eager to feel like a part of the city I moved to Manhattan where I most certainly sowed my oats. After many years of said sewing, and 9/11, I felt I’d had enough of the excitement, the constant buzz, being awoken in the middle of the night by garbage trucks, stumbling drunks breaking bottles and arguing or drive by shootings…. in Chelsea! (i.e. the Chelsea projects across the street) So craving being awakened by the sound of birds chirping in the morning, I packed up and moved back to Brooklyn. I immediately felt a sense of peace the moment I’d emerge from the subway in Brooklyn. Life felt just a tad bit slower which at this point had become a welcomed feeling. I was content for a number of years in a not yet trendy section of Williamsburg. But as the scene grew and the prices rose I moved out to Bushwick to catch a financial break after quitting a job. It was never a fit, just what I could afford at the time. So in looking for a place where I could settle and call home I remembered a place where a friend lived many years ago Ditmas Park. So, I found a place and moved to Prospect Park South 3 years ago. Whew!

From the day I set foot in this neighborhood I’ve felt very much at home. I’ve loved the people, the homes and the vibe. I love that the people are mixed and kind and not in such a rush. I feel like every race, religion, political persuasion and socio-economic group is harmoniously represented here (at least in my view). I love being exposed to the traditions of different countries and celebrations of various religious holidays through my neighbors to name just a few I love seeing groups of pretty girls in elaborate Indian sari’s, the Christmas decorations, the Passover feasts under chuppah’s and hearing gypsy bands playing at BBQ’s in neighboring yards and buying Mexican grilled corn and lemonade from the sweet ladies down the street. And then there’s Vox Pop where, as they said on Cheers, everybody knows your name.

It amazes me that, just 7 miles away from one of the most transient places on earth, a neighborhood like this exists with a community of people who have come together as we have. We don’t look alike, we don’t sound alike, we don’t even believe alike and yet it’s there. It’s undeniable and it’s tangible, you can feel it everywhere and it gives me great hope. And whoever you want to credit for it and whether or not you like the way Vox Pop looks or not or whether you like Sander or Debi, both or neither… Vox Pop was the place and encouragement for us to come together. It provided a place for artists to express their vision, for musicians and poets to be heard and ideas to be discussed, it encouraged us to become a community of people who supported each other in spite of (or was it because of) our differences. And this exists… just 7 miles away from the kill or be killed, buy or be bought, dog eat dog world.

Now, it is up to us to carry the torch, to water the seeds that have been planted and continue what has been started. We need to support each other, encourage each other, in whatever way we can, from providing spaces for displaced groups to baby/ cat/ dog sitting for each other and of course supporting our local artists, artisans and musicians and find them new homes and provide them new opportunities because each and every one of us benefit from what that brings, from the sharing of ideas, visions, flavors and sounds. We each benefit from the celebration and warmth of community.

So I moved here from Washington Heights about a year ago after dealing with an especially difficult and painful divorce. I moved to Ditmas Park in part because of Vox Pop and honestly it was the only reason I would consider staying in this neighborhood. I suffered for months with clinical depression due to my divorce. Vox Pop was a haven to just sit and talk to my fellow neighbors. There isn’t another place like it in the area and I am greatly saddened by its loss. I even performed at Vox Pop and met many friends too many to list here.

It was obvious that Debi worked tremendously long hours and made Vox Pop her life. I think the real tragedy is that she inherited a mountain of fines, mess and back taxes that no one could surmount! Debi is like a mother to us all, even those of us who aren’t that much younger than her! My love to Debi and her family!

Holland and Barrett food stores sell the best and most natural hand gel. ALOE VERA (it litterally just aloe gel!) i in past have had severe dermatisus on my hands and forearms,

me and shusha, the very good looking pitbull who does her upside downward dog original yoga outside vox pop while i look for work on my computer, moved to this neighborhood in very large part because of vox pop.

vox pop is a great place, and we’d like to do what we can to keep it here and have it continue to bloom.

if money is the only issue, then there’s likely an angel among us who who wants and is able to get more return on investment in real community giving by relieving vox pop’s pre-Debi debt.

a wild kindness…

I am sad, but also optimistic that vp will come back in some form, same or similar.