Are Condos And Babies Mutually Exclusive for Williamsburg?
- Photo via Urban 75
By this point, I think we all know that development (particularly in the form of endless new condos) is, to put it mildly, a general hassle for longtime residents of newly-popular neighborhoods. But what about the residents of said new condos, forced to listen to endless construction of even newer condos, the demand for which they’ve tacitly helped create? It still sucks, per a new report from DNAinfo, and it especially sucks if you have a baby that you’re hoping might sleep at some point.
Which is not, in and of itself, super surprising. DNAinfo spoke with both stay-at-home mothers and nannies in the Williamsburg Waterfront area, who all seem to agree that the area’s constant hum of construction is pretty counter-productive to spending a pleasant day with small children. “It’s annoying to be outside with a baby, it’s loud and dusty,” Northside Piers resident Vanessa Vellucci said. “They were power drilling and he’d wake up hearing that dun, dun, dun…the building would almost shake.” Some parents are reportedly moving out of the area entirely.
“I do love the neighborhood, and once it’s done it’ll be amazing,” Vellucci went on. “But I guess if you move here first, you have to go through the changes.” Another parent echoed Vellucci, saying, “I don’t think there’s anything that can be done.” Which, again, not hugely surprising. It is pretty interesting, though, the degree to which construction seems to be encroaching even on residents who it’s ostensibly there to benefit (one of the principal culprits of noise pollution is an incoming branch of SoulCycle, for instance). It’s also kind of notable that even in the Waterfront area — an avatar of Williamsburg’s cartoonishly rapid development, if ever there was — things are still, well, developing. And developing in such a fashion that, while not as egregious as, say, the experience of being brutally priced out of your longtime neighborhood, the process is still a significant (albeit temporary) quality of life issue. If nothing else, this may help explain what’s driving all the local babies to the bar scene.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.