Is the “New” Brooklyn Economy For Real?
Lincoln Restler
District Leader and State Committeeman
Every time I enter a coffee shop in North Brooklyn at 11am on a Wednesday, I am taken aback by the packed houses of lit-up laptops. Most of these coffee-shop squatters, doggedly plugging away on their keyboards, are part of a swiftly growing cohort of independent workers that have made Brooklyn the capital of a new creative class. Every couple months, a new co-working space, like Greenpoint Co-Working on North Henry or The Yard on Nassau, pops up, demonstrating the significant demand for workspace. These graphic designers and web designers and writers and editors are successfully hustling to find work and are establishing new career trajectories.
For well over a decade, Brooklyn has been the choice destination for liberal arts graduates from around the country. These new Brooklynites have transformed East Williamsburg into an artists’ colony and DUMBO into the city’s tech epicenter. But to support and grow this creative and collaborative community, we need real commitment from the leadership of our city. The public and nonprofit sectors must proactively implement policies that can help grow and sustain the creative class. Independent workers need access to essential work supports, such as the affordable healthcare offered by the Freelancers Union and the low-cost tax assistance for self-employed workers made available by Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union. With the right technical assistance, we can create sustainable business plans that will transform freelancers into entrepreneurs.
To achieve more supportive policies and expanded services, the creative class needs to get organized politically. The Freelancers Union has been smartly advocating for a 21st-century social safety net, and every creative worker in Brooklyn should join the effort.