Gentrification

When you go to a orthodontist’s office, hair salon, or basically any place where you will be in  a waiting area, you will see issues of People or Us Weekly. You will pick up said issue of celebrity/entertainment magazine. You will flip through magazine. You will eventually come upon a page of residences sold or bought by celebrities for millions usually located in New York City. This is one of the first things I thought about in terms of the growth machine. Also Sex and the City. Or Friends. Or any really popular TV show that took place in the city. These shows that aired weekly, won awards, and ran for many years were heavily advertised on their own, but what else did they advertise? They advertised New York City. And all of the wonderful things that happen in the city. And all of the stars  on these shows who live in the city (and the usually gentrified characters who they represented).  Not really the regular folk who lived in the city. Not really the moms and pops. Not really the reasons that made the city appealing to the new, gentrified residents.

Sharon Zukin at one point said something along the lines of her husband once being a “furniture maker” but he is now an “interior designer”. I didn’t get the impression that his talents had become so sophisticated as time passed, but more along the line that as the couple became what is now middle class and gentrified, everything about them became middle class and gentrified (a working class title such as “furniture maker” doesn’t really fit in the aforementioned category). Sharon Zukin is a professor at Brooklyn College. She’s written notable papers and said notable things. She lives in the West Village. The New York Times wanted to do a profile on her. She is a sample of the gentrified person who lives in a newly gentrified place that is losing (or lost) that nostalgic appeal. I didn’t necessarily get “hypocrite” from her. I think she is intelligent and self aware. She’s stating facts, and those facts include the contradiction that her life is. But, hey, wouldn’t you rather have a gentrified person who is aware? A gentrified person who is on the inside? Instead of just looking at the nostalgic perspective she says she prefers, I see it as her offering herself as an experiment, a test subject who is on both sides. I thought her basic perspective is interesting.

What I’m saying is, yeah, it sucks (it really sucks) how the fixtures of one place are basically being forced to another place. New people go to the old place and “gentrify” it and if you look at these gentrified places as a whole, they all seem to basically be the same thing over and over (our class talked about Starbucks being everywhere… what about Chipotle? I’m just saying, expensive Taco Bell is also a form of gentrification).  But the old people will go somewhere new, build a neighborhood, a community, and most importantly, bring character. These places don’t interest corporations or celebrities. These places, though, are a place for the old people to not have to deal with people wanting to buy them out. This new place will become the new nostalgic place. And people may find it appealing after a while. And this will keep happening. I think that basically everything is a cycle and you have to accept it. I believe the best thing (ideally) would be for everyone to live where they wanted, with no one being forced out or closed out. But our capitalist society doesn’t allow that. It’s sad. Sorry, I can’t really end on a positive note here.

-Christina John