Spring 2018: Shaping the Future of New York City

When thinking of gentrification, we tend to think of the consequences it has on the residents of a particular neighborhood, but we forget about the businesses equally affected by it, specifically manufacturing businesses. Just like people, large manufacturing businesses get displaced too as discussed by Winferd Curren in her article “‘From the Frying Pan to the Oven’: Gentrification and the Experience of Industrial Displacement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn”. Williamsburg, a once industrial neighborhood, is now being gentrified into a residential neighborhood, leaving manufacturers to be displaced. The issue at hand is that is this transition from industrial to residential harmful for the economy of the neighborhood, or even the city. Curren states that the displacement of manufacturers is “endangering the diversity of the economy and the employment outcomes of unskilled and immigrant workers” (1427). Such effect would not only increase the unemployment rate, but it will also “intensify mounting social ills such as poverty, racism, poor health care and inadequate education, which are still in the process of healing” as stated on Brooklyn Public Library’s history of Williamsburg.

Continue reading “Displacement of Manufactories”

Often times when we think about gentrification, we immediately jump to the displacement of people and minorities by higher class individuals.  However, the gentrification of industrial areas exists as well, and the effect on them needs to be addressed. Continue reading “Industrial Gentrification: Businesses are Human too!”

As of recent news, the dramatic increase in the closing of ‘mom and pop’ shops have been brought to the public. Among the people looking for a solution to this “new” problem are City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Speaker Christine Quinn, Eco-Justice Candidate Marni Halasa, Councilmember Corey Johnson and NYC’s mayor Bill de Blasio. All individuals are interested in the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) which allows for a 10-year lease for small businesses at a fair rent, the right to renew the lease and the right to negotiate on rent increases¹².

Continue reading “Small Businesses: The New Old Problem”

It takes a simple stroll through NYC to notice the frequency of empty store fronts and realize the emergent crisis. Long-established small businesses are being forced out of neighborhoods by crazy rent increases when their leases expire. This has been an ongoing issue that has been getting progressively worse. Since Mayor de Blasio and our City Council-member Corey Johnson have been in office, more than 1,000 small businesses have closed every month, and up to 8,000 jobs have been lost. This is obviously bad for small business owners, but importantly local neighborhood residents are also complaining, indicating how essential mom and pop shops are to the character and livelihood of a neighborhood. To use Jane Jacob’s language, they make up the beautiful “sidewalk ballet”, and this ballet is evidently shrinking and turning vibrant neighborhoods bland. An introduced solution is the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA). This bill would give small businesses a 10 year lease with a right to renew that lease. If an agreement would not be reach, a third party mediator would then determine a fair rent. Although this bill sounds great in theory, it has been met with a lot of opposition and red tape. The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) has been working to block this vote because such a bill is against their interests. To further understand how to solve this crisis, my post will address two case studies of what measures other cities took.

Continue reading “Saving Mom & Pop Shops – What is everyone else doing? Case Studies:”

Winifred Curran develops a holistic argument on the increasing effects of gentrification within manufacturing districts such as Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In her pieces, “From the Frying Pan to the Oven’: Gentrification and the Experience of Industrial Displacement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and In Defense of Old Industrial Spaces: Manufacturing, Creativity and Innovation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Curran identifies the problem with gentrification and specifically residential speculation in terms of the ability for small manufacturers to remain in these areas. The deindustrialization that took place after the 1970s caused for “restructuring, and industrial displacement” that allowed the real estate market to impose itself on these neighborhoods (Curran 1483). She argues that these small manufacturers depend on the urban environment for their success because they are creative-based sectors that attempt to establish authenticity and flexibility within their work. 

Continue reading “‘Avocado Toast with A Side of Gentrification’”

New York City is considered one of the top retail capitals of the world. With designer stores and famous spots littered around the city, it is no wonder that the city’s retail industry is flourishing. On one end of these retail stores are the chains (ex: drug stores and banks) and designer stores (like Marc Jacobs) that are the big businesses that dominate the market. On the other end are small mom-and-pop businesses—the ones that define the culture of the community and neighborhood they are located in. While many of these small businesses are places that are treasured by New York City residents, the majority of them are being wiped out by the effects of gentrification and the rapidly changing real-estate market. About 1000 small businesses close each month in NYC (Theodos), and the future for the rest of the small businesses in the city is questionable. Jeremiah Moss’ blog, Vanishing New York, is an extensive documentation on valued small businesses and how they are driven out by the forces of gentrification. The posts on his blog cover all the neighborhoods across the 5 boroughs, and dates back to 2007. It provides as a record for all the mom-and-pops, clubs, and little stores whose disappearances usually raise a small outcry from the neighborhood they’re from, and then gradually fade from everyone’s memories.

Continue reading “Jeremiah Moss’ Vanishing New York”

In Winfred Curran’s article ‘From the Frying Pan to the Oven’: Gentrification and the Experience of Industrial Displacement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he discusses the effects of gentrification in Williamsburg on the industry in the neighborhood. Curran explains that gentrification is the migration of upper-income people, that are often professionals, managers and technicians, into neighborhoods that drive out lower-income residents. However, gentrification also displaces industry as lofts become attractive to developers who can turn them into residencies and make large profits. Although manufacturing does not play a large role in the urban economy, it still provides job opportunities for many low-income and uneducated immigrants and the industrial displacement deprives them of this livelihood. Curran argues that the industrial displacement is not an unfortunate result of gentrification, but is a consequence from the changing real-estate market that can be prevented.

Continue reading “Gentrification and Industry Displacement”