The 1979 designation report noted “Prospect-Lefferts
Gardens always has been a well cared for and stable community...
Today the district is one of the few successfully
integrated middle-class communities in New York City.
The rowhouses of the neighborhood did not see the postwar
decline of many of Brooklyn's brownstone areas.”
It’s a great source of neighborhood pride that residents intentionally
fought for integration and it has lasted, Bob recently
noted in the neighborhood journal “Voices of Lefferts.”
“Racism is detrimental to everyone, including white
people,” says Bob. “Most white people who have racist
attitudes do so out of ignorance and fear and I think the
only way to counter that is to live with other people who
are different than you.”
He rues the high prices and displacement that what he
terms “corporate hyper gentrification” has brought in
recent years and says he hopes the neighborhood will be
able to stay racially and economically diverse.
They both enjoy collecting antiques, and traveled widely
before they had their son. Skiing, camping, visiting
Vermont and trying new restaurants are some of their
interests. Bob, a passionate preservationist, belonged to
a Prospect Park running group until recently, and is a
photographer.
The house has a ghost story. “I don’t believe in ghosts,”
says Bob. The neighborhood had been “ultra safe” but
after the 1977 blackout, “there was a big increase in
crime citywide. So we got an alarm. It was a real pain
to use,” and lightning storms would set it off. One
night the alarm sounded, and when Bob and Elaine
went downstairs to investigate, they discovered their
beer steins on the rear parlor mantel were not in their
usual places. The family that had lived there before
was German, so “we figured it was one of the sisters
moving the steins around,” says Bob.
When muggings increased in the area in the late ‘70s
and early ‘80s, one of the neighborhood associations
formed a private security patrol funded by subscriptions
to drive people to and from the subway. It was
effective and disbanded in the early ‘90s when it was
no longer needed.
They’ve been slowly renovating over almost 50 years.
Recent projects include skim coating plaster, updating
the kitchen with a new floor and stove hood and,
lately, decorative painting.