Down With ‘SoBro’

Originally posted on Welcome2Melrose.com

Realtors…we love and hate you in New York City oh so much however, nothing pisses me off more than your inane, fabricated names for our neighborhoods. 

We have beautiful, historic names such as Port Morris, Melrose, and Mott Haven. Why would you want to erase these names and lump us under the SoBro moniker?

It was cute for SoHo and TriBeCa in Manhattan but not so much for our neighborhoods in the Bronx.  Hunts Point, Longwood and Morrisania —all names which were once attached to the old towns, villages and hamlets that made up the Bronx —that’s where we’re from.

You can change our names but you will never change the past.  Where were the realtors when the Bronx “was burning”? Oh yeah… along with the rest of the government officials, business owners and landlords who chickened out and gave up on us.
Do us a favor and stop with your stupid acronyms, as they are an affront to we the people who stayed here when we were abandoned, and do your JOB.  Research the rich history and tapestry that is the cultural fabric of each neighborhood, good and bad.  Tell the story of the neighborhoods coming out of the ashes and how resilient we are but don’t sell us out by changing our names.

Collectively, our neighborhoods are called the South Bronx and anyone who lives here will proudly exclaim it as the South BRONX but SoBro? That vile name will never roll off the tongues of the natives.

That being said, go back to the drawing board, erase SoBro from your mind and come back to us with the RESPECT we have EARNED.  That bullshit may work in Manhattan but I’ll be damned if it will stick in our borough.  Tell your clients, our prospective neighbors, that they will be living in the SOUTH BRONX.  The changing of the name does not change the past or present.

NYTimes: ‘SoBro’ and ‘ProCro’ NoJoke to Assemblyman http://nyti.ms/eAmMyS