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Meet Your Neighbors: Episode 4
By Inquisigal | May 13, 2008
Welcome back to “Meet Your Neighbors,” a weekly feature on the Bed Stuy blog that serves to make the introductions between you, our readers, and other people who live or work in Bedford Stuyvesant.
To build upon last week’s episode, as well as offer all of ya’ll another warm, local place to step into and get out of this unseasonably cold weather we’re having, this week’s neighbor has also set out to bring steaming cups of coffee to Bed Stuy’s previously caffeine-deprived denizens. In a cozy space on Malcolm X Blvd. that features exposed brick walls, Wifi, and a seating area with colorful pillows and cushions, our next neighbor can often be found chatting with customers about politics (she and her business partner are Barack Obama supporters), planting new flowers in the giant wooden barrels on the sidewalk in front of her business, and serving up a myriad of breakfast pastries, bagels, fruit smoothies, and lunch. Ready to meet a new neighbor?
Name: Francine Dixon
Works at and co-owns: Twofiftyeight Café, located on Malcolm X Blvd.
Age: 50 years old
Born: Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY
Cultural or ethnic heritage: African American
How much do you feel like your cultural or ethnic background defines or influences your identity?: A lot.
Lives with: My family.
Renter or home owner: I own.
Important aspects of your home and the community: Everything.
Do you participate in community events?: Yes, I am civic-minded.
What do you do for a living?: Formerly, I was a certified Caseworker for N.Y.C., currently I’m a café owner.
Do you enjoy your work?: Yes.
What are some of your favorite hobbies?: Writing, fashion, making collages.
What is your most dreaded household chore?: Cleaning the bathroom.
What is your favorite household chore?: Cleaning my kitchen.
What is one of your favorite books?: Journey to the Well by Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie (a female bishop).
On average, how much time do you spend in Manhattan?: Not as much as I would like.
What do you like best about living or working in Brooklyn and Bed Stuy?: I grew up in Bed-Stuy, and during that time there was a strong sense of community.
What do you like least?: The dirty streets.
What would you change about the neighborhood if you could?: Cleaner streets!
Are there any businesses or services that your part of the neighborhood is lacking?: Banks, good cleaners, clean grocery stores, basic services.
Do you feel like Bedford Stuyvesant is experiencing “gentrification”?: Of course.
Based on your own definition of gentrification, what are the positive and negative benefits of gentrification?: We might get those clean streets, but then long time residents might get displaced. I don’t want that to happen. There has to be a way to keep the neighborhood diverse with long time residents and newer ones.
Other than your own ethnic or cultural background, what other cultures, or countries, do you have an affinity for and why?: I enjoy all ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Are you religious, and if yes, do you attend local worship services?: Yes and Yes.
Does your religion affect your life or your identity?: Completely. My religion affects my morality.
Is there anything in particular that you would like to say to the neighbors who will be reading about you?: Let’s find a way to work with what we have here, rather than forcing higher prices to displace people. Bed-Stuy has always been spirited, Let’s keep that spirit alive.
Photography by Bed Stuy resident and photographer Rosie McCobb. To see more of Rosie’s work, click here:www.pbase.com/mccobb1969
May 13th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Damn, she looks good for 50.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
rh, I was thinking the same thing! First thought was “She is NOT 50.”
Doesn’t her daughter work with her?
The shope is small, but a great addition to this part of the neighborhood. Go pay her a visit. (No, I have no stake in her business other than to see it grow and thrive.)
May 14th, 2008 at 4:38 am
Great place for that quick bite in the morning and they are always friendly and yes we should support stop by the best hot cocoa
May 14th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I agree with her. The real estate porn of high priced condos that we see on all of the blogs contributes to the displacement of people, because it makes it look like that kind of development is the most desirable and accessible, when those assumptions really should be getting more critique.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
First thing that popped in my head as well….no way this lady is 50. Good lord….share the secret please.If she has good hot cocoa I will trek over from Clinton Hill.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I think the term “real estate porn” should be critiqued. It’s gross.