While I do not have much personal experience with gentrification, I can understand Sharon Zunkin’s theory that the “soul” of a neighborhood comes from the people who have lived there for a long time and its unique businesses. After all those are the people who have seen the neighborhood through many different times and the business that make the neighborhoods stand out from the rest. They made the neighborhood what it is and deserve credit for that. On the other hand, I do not think longstanding residents have more of a claim to a neighborhood than newcomers. Maybe I would feel differently if a bunch of people came into my neighborhood and made changes that I do not appreciate, but since that has not happened I think newcomers have just as much of a claim on a neighborhood as longstanding residents. I do not think it would be fair of the newcomers to come in and change the neighborhood completely, but sometimes small changes can be good. For example, in Greenpoint, the small changes brought about by newcomers made the neighborhood a safer place to live. Again, it could just be my lack of personal experience with gentrification, but I think I would rather feel safe in my neighborhood and deal with a few changes than have it be exactly the way it always was but not be able to go to the park. I understand that longstanding residents do not want their neighborhoods to become unrecognizable, and they have a point there, but there had to be a time when they were the newcomers and they made changes to their neighborhoods that the previous longstanding residents did not want. Change is going to happen whether we like it or not. I think we should just try to make the best of it by getting along with both the longstanding residents and the newcomers so that each neighborhood can be as safe and as comfortable as possible.

Patricia Ruiz