Valuing Bodegas
New Yorkers depend on bodegas.
They are existing social infrastructures that cultivate cultural memory through practices of care.
But they also need to be tended to. Police have been expected to address the safety of the community, but they don't address the immediate violence the community faces.
Bodegas and their communities are subject to the "regime of imperceptibility" of Department of Buildings violations—and the violence they represent.
Communities can begin to articulate and support their own values through participatory budgeting.
DOB violations (like $700k+ in unpaid fines), waste, and flood risk on the waterfront are potential sources of budegtary funding...
...that could fund investments in food, education, and other forms of bodega maintenance.
We propose to create a bodega maintenance manual which will synthesize and strategize the potential uses of these resources.