In “The Right to Stay Put, Revisited: Gentrification and Resistance to Displacement in New York City,” Kathe Newman and Elvin K. Wyly discuss displacement within New York City. This paper provides a detailed look at the following question. Does gentrification lead to displacement of low-income families or is that due to “the result of long-term industrial and occupational change” (Hamnett, 2003, p. 182). The paper highlights the multiple factors aside from gentrification that leads to this displacement of lower-income residents within New York. The nature of displacement within New York City is a multi-faceted issue that always comes back to one central theme, corruption.
In New York City, we start with Robert Moses. Moses was a man that was clearly hungry for power, basically monopolizing New York City’s planning department. He shaped New York City into the urban center it is now known as today. But, he did not do this alone. With the help of money-hungry real estate corporations, he built up areas that were “in need” of change. Moses’ plans both benefitted the city, and negatively affected people on an individual level. However, the driving force was always corruption. Moses took advantage of the system and made it so he was of such power that most of his ideas went largely unopposed. The corrupt big real estate players had no intention in mind other than taking advantage of people to make a larger profit.
So to examine the true reason for displacement we need to understand that corruption is inherently part of human nature, whether this has to do with power, money, or any other aspect of life. Based on a purely systematical view of this “problem” using basic principles of logical reasoning, the following could be inferred. Since human nature allows for corruption, and corruption is what caused gentrification of New York City and displacement of lower income families, it can be viewed that human nature is the cause for this displacement. The nature of humans to strive for bettering themselves is what detriments those worse-off. So, while the “quantitative” and “qualitative analysis” that Newman and Wyly reference in their paper does adequately suggest that there are more factors than gentrification that lead to displacement, the one factor that may explain it all goes unmentioned.
