This street in the Upper East Side represents a concerning phenomenon. South of 97th, the streets are littered with expensive Upper East Side condominiums. The North, however, is a different story; public housing buildings are much more common. The contrast between neighborhoods is astonishing, and there hasn’t been much being done to help those living in public housing. Between a broken schooling system and the threat of gentrification, citizens living in these buildings often times struggle to pay their bills and live their lives. On the other hand, citizens living in the Upper East Side condominiums—living just blocks away in some cases—can sometimes be oblivious to the problems at hand. My roommate, a licensed real estate agent specializing in the Upper East Side, has told me that rising housing costs have been pushing development further and further uptown. This becomes a problem because then housing prices increase uptown, pushing those who already had been living there out of the city. Gentrification is a problem throughout our city as well as cities around the country and there needs to be something done to combat it.
I don’t believe that gentrification is necessarily a bad trend that is developing. While there is a stark difference between close areas, that doesn’t count out the fact that entire neighborhoods can be further developed as time progresses. In terms of economics, gentrification, further development, and overall, it helps business services. During seminar 2 I remember discussing how culture is fading in traditionally “cultured” areas. Such as Astoria, Chinatown, Harlem, and more. Therefore, overall I don’t believe we should combat it, rather figure out of to improve the trend to result with more pros than cons and create a better future for our country.
I agree with you, Justin. Although gentrification can have its upsides in that it’s safer and cleaner (more recycling, less waste, greener practices), it removes the cultural aspects that make neighborhoods one of a kind and replaces it with a general standard. The appearance of Starbucks (we never had one before but two magically showed up) has attracted more people, and new businesses are competing with and defeating unique mom and pop shops. My family has lived in Jamaica, Queens for over 20 years but because of a rising mortgage due to the area becoming more gentrified and “developed”, we are in the process of selling our house. Gentrification seems like it just facilitates a relocation of people in the city to other boroughs or neighborhoods. As the cycle continues, it should find a way to be more inclusive by not leaving others off this new direction of development.
I totally agree with Kay’s stance on gentrification. One of the main issues with gentrification is the social and economic divide that it drives. Rent prices are skyrocketing in almost every neighborhood. However, it was originally a process to improve our quality of life while further developing our economy. It’s not a process that we should thwart, but rather a continual system that we should improve upon. In the recent years, we have seen organizations like the NYC Housing Authority make significant efforts to mitigate the impacts of gentrification. They promise lower tax rates to real estate developers in exchange for providing housing spots for low-income and disabled tenants. That way, newer architecture are developed while more people live in better conditions. In addition, the economic gap between the upper and lower classes merges as they all live under the same roof. Of course, a majority of the newer houses are still populated by the upper class. But this is a huge step forward to embracing and remodeling gentrification.
This photo and discussion a visual representation of NYC as “two cities”. Good commentary. Gentrification appears to be a key issue confronting New York.