Logan Frazier- Issues in the Community Board 1 Area

As of 2010, 60.8% of the Community Board 1 area is made up of white non hispanics, 27.2% are hispanic, and 5.2% are black/African American non hispanic (New York City Community Districts, 1990 to 2010). The main issues faced by the people who live in this area were caused by the 2009 tsunami. These include construction and safety issues, transportation and environmental concerns. There is also a surprisingly large section about the difficulties in obtaining liquor licenses for businesses and also a section on the lack of affordable housing. These issues are obviously diverse and conflict may arise. The generally white “bohemian” population has different interests than the lower income working class residents (Naked City). This is reflected in the extensive section on liquor licenses for businesses contrasting with the sections about affordable housing. Business may argue that their concerns are important because they have a right to make a living while lower income residents may not be concerned with the development of chic bars and instead would like funds to be channeled into the building and repairing of housing projects.

I believe that this is the pressure “from above” is businesses owners arguing for their right to make a living. These owners are not particularly concerned with the gentrification that follows when new nightclubs and cafés are formed. This will help their businesses. However, the interests “from below”, namely the working class community, are very concerned with gentrification as they are being pushed out of their community by a new, wealthier population. For this reason they place more weight on housing and their right to remain in their community. This also ties into the conflict between apartment owners and renters. Owners are raising their monthly costs as they see that the new population that will pay these exorbitant prices. Old renters can no longer afford to live in their homes and are being driven out of the community.