ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CITY
Gentrification IN NYC
Gerald Nugent
GENTRIFICATION IS AMONG THE MOST POLARIZING ISSUES THROUGHOUT THE FIVE BOROUGHS OF NEW YORK CITY. IS IT A THREAT TO THE WAY OF LIFE IN NEW YORK CITY? CAN THE CULTURE OF NEIGHBORHOODS SURVIVE?
To define Gentrification in simple terms, it’s when lower income neighborhoods are turned into those that would be more suitable for the middle class and rich. In order to change the financial state of these neighborhoods more mainstream stores are built in the area along with construction of new apartments and homes. Over time, newer and more affluent people become residents of these neighborhoods. Though such improvements can be seen as a positive, gentrification isn't as simple as it seems.
Economic effects
Growth in number of businesses is indeed a factor gentrification is responsible for. According to citylab.com’s reports on how gentrification effects business, the growth in gentrified areas exceed all other parts of New York. The chart below shows just how much the economy has been impacted in the gentrified neighborhoods. Areas like Central Harlem in Manhattan, or Crown Heights in Brooklyn have seen over a 90% increase in business from 2000-2015 (“The Gentrification of Gotham” citylab.com).
As a person who’s been living in New York City all his life, I’ve seen firsthand how much businesses have grown. At a certain point stores like Whole Foods or H&M would require going farther down into Manhattan, now they are in neighborhoods where I thought they would never be in. Big name stores, restaurants, and banks have bought more visitors to these neighborhoods too, as there was a time 125th street in Harlem was empty, now it can become as populated as Times Square.
With all this new infrastructure in a particular neighborhood, it can lead to rapid changes and they’re not all positive. For example, now that these big money businesses are moving in, the small businesses are now being pushed out. The family owned restaurant is now being replaced with an Applebee’s or McDonald’s. The clothing store that has been a staple in the neighborhood for years has to close because it can’t compete with a major corporation. When it comes to black owned businesses in New York City, citylab.com reports that there had been a 31.4% decline from 2007-2012. |
Corner of 125th street & Malcolm X Blvd 2006
Corner of 125th street & Malcolm X Blvd 2016
Source: NY MAg
|
The cost of living
With the cost of living changing drastically in such a short amount of time, it can be shocking to residents who have lived in the area for years. Some people do wind up moving out of the neighborhood. Trey Williams, a resident of Harlem for over 20 years, stated “When this all started, it’s like my rent shot up to the moon. Now I’m working two jobs to make sure I’m good, which I didn’t have to do to live here ten years ago”. A few of my family members moved out of areas in the Bronx and Manhattan due to the rise in the cost of living, opting for suburbs in southern states like Georgia, Florida, or Virginia.
Source: Citylab.com
The loss of culture
Biggie Smalls Mural in Bedford-Stuyvesant (Google Images)
Source: Google Images
|
I feel that the culture of these neighborhoods being stripped away due to gentrification is what upsets me the most. Now that people that originally are from neighborhoods are moving out, it only sets the table for newcomers to make significant changes that can erase all of the history and culture. Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, had a huge mural of rapper Notorious B.I.G painted onto one of the buildings and a landlord wanted to take it down because he felt residents don’t want to see it. That’s basically a historical landmark being threatened because this one landlord didn’t like the look of it. Luckily, enough people protested and the man decided to leave it up.
Generations upon generations of families built what the community is, and outsiders who don’t understand can easily have these staples of the community removed. In Inwood, a predominately Hispanic area in upper Manhattan used to be lively with music or celebration during holidays like Cinco De Mayo, now recently residents call the police. It’s similar to during Spike Lee’s rant on gentrification in 2014, when he stated Then comes the Christopher Columbus Syndrome. You can’t discover this! We been here. You just can’t come and bogart. There were brothers playing African drums in Mount Morris Park for 40 years and now they can’t do it anymore because the new inhabitants said the drums are loud.” (Spike Lee’s Amazing Rant Against Gentrification: ‘We Been Here!’ nymag.com). |
overlooking history
Left: Smalls' Paradise in Harlem. Year 1955. Right: Same location in 2017
Harlem is one particular location I feel is completely underappreciated historically. From the 1920s through the 50s, Black leaders like Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, Ethel Waters and more led a prosperous time in African American history. Jazz clubs, schools, and black-owned businesses were a commonplace. Not many people are even aware of such a thing, the most people know about the history is the Apollo Theatre. The New York Times article “The End Of Black Harlem” only reinforces what I’m saying. The writer, Michael Henry Adams, a resident of Harlem for 30 years explains how historical buildings like the church Malcolm X’s funeral was held are torn down. He claims that historical restaurants have been replaced by new landscaping projects and yoga studios. It’s sad to think about at times, because it’s a certainty that new people moving in could never explain the nuances of the history. Now, generations down the line there’s a threat of it all being erased.
finding a solution
To fully solve this problem, I feel that politicians that back these expensive "urban renewal" programs should meet at a middle ground to help improve the situation. Gentrification just seems to be an eviction of those who already live there, just to bring in the wealth. For some of these low income neighborhoods, it would be great to see improvements but gentrification is a hyper aggressive way of doing it. What's concerning is that there's not much of an effort to improve these neighborhoods until the gentrification process is in effect. Alexis Yaport, a resident of washington heights, echoes my concerns when she says " It was POC, specifically African Americans who built up Harlem but its that same cultural group that can, for the most part, not afford these absurd rent increases. Impoverished immigrants built the Lower East Side but its that exact group who can no longer afford to move in. The work put in which shaped neighborhoods, making them famous for it’s music or food or fashion, is not being valued". There has been efforts to preserve and conserve, with people protesting or voicing their concerns to politicians. It's up to the people to use their voice and hope those with power and influence listen.