Reclaiming the BronxRandy Shawbyline‚ Oct. 01‚ 2009Since World War II, urban America has been shaped by two thirty- year trends. The years 1945-75 saw the middle-class relocate to the suburbs, and the decline of the nation’s once thriving urban residential neighborhoods and business districts. From 1975-2005, affluent residents returned to cities, spawning a wave of urban gentrification that has steadily continued, stalled only by the 1987 S&L crash, the late 1990’s dot com bust, and the current nationwide mortgage crisis. The Bronx section of New York City never recovered from the post-war middle-class exodus, missing the massive gentrification that has overtaken neighboring Manhattan during the same period. Unfortunately, instead of producing a solid working or middle-class community, the Bronx was long beset by arson, crime and disinvestment; it is currently the nation’s poorest urban county. Constance Rosenblum uses the 100th anniversary of the Champs Elysees of the Bronx, the Grand Concourse, to explain what has happened to this once beloved neighborhood. While Boulevard of Dreams is a bit overly skewed toward nostalgic recollections, the book provides helpful insight into how a once fabled neighborhood that was the launching point for generations of Jewish immigrants fell into disrepair, and how the past decade has finally seen evidence of revival. |