Has Bushwick changed for good? I am a Bushwick resident for many years now and have seen the changes that have happened. Yes, I agree some things are in the best interest of all who live in this area however after listening to many long-time residents, my opinion has changed. Over the past several years, Bushwick, a neighborhood spanning 1.3 square miles with a population of over 85,000 residents is the next new spot for white residents. Property owners began renovating old buildings and offering them as "lofts" to white residents who want more space, cheap rent and easy access to Manhattan. Transportations to the city is a must to almost all white residents, because of this the MTA began making improvements on the L train. The reputation of Bushwick was notably “ghetto”, this changed once listings began to pop up for …show more content…
The reason she moved like many others was that the landlord wanted to raise the rent, her family couldn't afford it anymore. Before interviewing residents I thought Bushwick had changed for good but many long-time residents like Ashley argued that the new changes being made only helps the new people that are moving in. Due to all of the renovations and openings of businesses like Maite, Little Skips, and Urban Jungle, property taxes have increased. Business owners were influenced to change their businesses to appeal their desire, now I knew why the “Texas Fried Chicken” spot turned into the “Texas Chicken and Grill”, probably to sound healthier and more appealing to the white residents. “How can a middle-class family afford a rent of $2,000 or even $2,800 when the family consists of four children and a single working parent. when food needs to be on the table every night and bills need to be paid. I find this ridiculous, no one ever wanted to live in Bushwick and now all of a sudden these people want to live here.” -
Prior to this, I had never heard of any benefit of gentrification; rather, I had the typical preconceived notion that Freeman discusses: gentrification is a demonic force that inflicts suffering in all poor people in a gentrified neighborhood. However, reading excerpts from “There Goes the ‘Hood” encourages me to rethink my position. One of my questions from the reading pertains to the “race” part of the author’s argument. Although Clinton Hill and Harlem are both predominantly comprised of African Americans, I wonder how low-income white residents feel about gentrification. I am curious about this because a friend of mine, a white Irish, was displaced from her home in Sunnyside, Queens last summer because of increasing rent. From this experience, I think that seeing low-income whites’ outlooks on white gentry would be interesting. Furthermore, I question the validity of the author’s selection on some of the participants for his interview, particularly those whom he recruited in a conference on gentrification (page 12). One could imagine that community members who attend such a conference would hold strong opinions about gentrification. However, would not this contradict his earlier point that “the most active and vocal residents are not necessarily representative of the entire neighborhood and are likely different” (page 7) and thus undermining the integrity of some of his
Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints.
In chapter one of "Nickel and Dimed", Barbara stated that she is renting a room for $500 and having a waitress job which is paying her $2.43 plus tips "from 2:00 till 10:00p.m". After a month, she would get $311.04 without tips and tax. Assume Barbara get $20 tips every day, she would get $711.04 without tax per month. After paying off the rent, she would left with about only $150. This is not enough for food and gas for a month. Which is why Barbara had to get another job where she works at Jerry 's. Meanwhile in the current time, according to an article by Kwelia, it says that "The cost of Bay Area living continues to be a hot topic of discussion in the region. The average asking price for a one-bedroom in San Francisco is now $2,673 a month, up more than 10 percent from last year." Imagine working as a minimum wage worker full time, getting paid 9 dollars per hour for 8 hours a day. The person would earn $1440 without tax. It is almost half of the rent fee. The person is then forced to have two jobs, the only other option is to live with another person to share the renting fee. As a result a person who is unable to get two jobs working at the minimum wage or finding a roommate would likely to be homeless. The person is then forced to move out from the city to find a cheaper place to
“Gentrification is a general term for the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban district, a related increase in rents and property values, and changes in the district's character and culture.” (Grant) In layman’s terms, gentrification is when white people move to a black neighborhood for the sake of cheaper living, and in turn, raise up property values and force black neighbors to leave because of a higher price of living. Commonly, the government supports gentrification with the demolition of public housing in areas that are developing with more white neighbors. This is causing a decreasing amount of African Americans to be able to afford to live in the neighborhood as their homes are taken away from them, forcing them to relocate. Whilst gentrification normally has negative connotations, there are several people who believe gentrification brings about “an upward trend in property values in previously neglected neighborhoods.” (Jerzyk) On the other hand, this new trend in property value and business causes those...
Another noteworthy urban sociologist that’s invested significant research and time into gentrification is Saskia Sassen, among other topical analysis including globalization. “Gentrification was initially understood as the rehabilitation of decaying and low-income housing by middle-class outsiders in central cities. In the late 1970s a broader conceptualization of the process began to emerge, and by the early 1980s new scholarship had developed a far broader meaning of gentrification, linking it with processes of spatial, economic and social restructuring.” (Sassen 1991: 255). This account is an extract from an influential book that extended beyond the field of gentrification and summarizes its basis proficiently. In more recent and localized media, the release the documentary-film ‘In Jackson Heights’ portrayed the devastation that gentrification is causing as it plagues through Jackson Heights, Queens. One of the local businessmen interviewed is shop owner Don Tobon, stating "We live in a
Although every one are employed, at least some of the time, any one may often find it difficult to save enough money for a deposit on a rental property. As a consequence, some minimum-wage workers end up in living situations that are actually more pricey than a month-to-month rental. For instance, some minimum-wage workers rent rooms in week-to-week motels. According to Ehrenreich, “Given a few days or weeks more to look, maybe I could have done better. But the meter is running at the rate of $59 a day for my digs at the 6, which are resembling a Ballard creation more every day.” (Ehrenreich, 57) In other words, Ehrenreich knows these motel rooms tend to cost a much more than a traditional rental, but are accessible to the minimum-wage workers since a large deposit is not a requirement. If a person is unable or unwilling to pay for a room in a motel, some might live in his or her car, in a homeless shelter, or even on the street. Or as Morgan and his fiancee Alex, who settled on a $325 dollars a month in a renovated crack den (literally) that allowed them to pay the deposit over a few months, only with $300 dollars in savings, this was their best option. Minimum-wage workers who cannot afford a stable home, but might be able to afford a car, or vise versa, cannot afford a car, but be able to afford a house, adopt
... motivation for wealthy individuals to return to the inner-city core but it also provides impetus for commercial and retail mixed-use to follow, increasing local revenue for cities (Duany, 2001). Proponents of gentrification profess that this increase in municipal revenue from sales and property taxes allows for the funding of city improvements, in the form of job opportunities, improved schools and parks, retail markets and increased sense of security and safety ((Davidson (2009), Ellen & O’Reagan (2007), Formoso et. al (2010)). Due to the increase in housing and private rental prices and the general decrease of the affordable housing stock in gentrifying areas, financially-precarious communities such as the elderly, female-headed households, and blue-collar workers can no longer afford to live in newly developed spaces ((Schill & Nathan (1983), Atkinson, (2000)).
Today Washington Heights is one of the safest, hottest and trendiest neighborhood in the city. From a str...
The downgrading of African Americans to certain neighborhoods continues today. The phrase of a not interested neighborhood followed by a shift in the urban community and disturbance of the minority has made it hard for African Americans to launch themselves, have fairness, and try to break out into a housing neighborhood. If they have a reason to relocate, Caucasians who support open housing laws, but become uncomfortable and relocate if they are contact with a rise of the African American population in their own neighborhood most likely, settle the neighborhoods they have transfer. This motion creates a tremendously increase of an African American neighborhood, and then shift in the urban community begins an alternative. All of these slight prejudiced procedures leave a metropolitan African American population with few options. It forces them to remain in non-advanced neighborhoods with rising crime, gang activity, and...
As stated by Richard F. Burns and Thomas G. Vaccaro in Unaffordable Housing: A Root Cause of Social Inequality, 80% to 120% of area median income—also struggle to find affordable rental units in all 50 states. This lack of “workforce housing” results in their inability to live in or near the places where they work. Not being able to live near work if results in higher cost of living because you end up having to pay for either a car or, you could rely on public transportation or even have to pay forward gas money to another person. Housing also ties(“is also tied to”) to cost of living which turns out is very expensive. According to DePersio, Greg in "How Much Money Do You Need to Live in Los Angeles?, As of August 2015, the average rent in Los Angeles is $2,296 per month. Even if someone is only looking for a one-bedroom apartment, the average cost sits at approximately$1,950 per month. A two-bedroom apartment averages slightly over $2,500. So as one can see that they have to make at the very least $13 an hour just to pay rent, this does not even include food or utilities let alone if they have kids forget it. Because of unaffordable housing has left millions without homes making them fall under the category of
Flushing has and will be changing for many years to come just like any other neighborhood but at a higher and faster rate. This will squeeze out the lower to middle income families further away from downtown Flushing. Most of these families will be the Chinese families that are changing the landscape right now in Flushing. The landscape and the demographic will continue to change in Flushing.
Gentrification is designed to improve the quality of life for the residents, but the fact is that it pushes out old residents to welcome in young and wealthy citizens. To analyze the demographic even further, gentrified neighborhoods in New York City have seen an increase in white population despite a city wide decrease. As Kate Abbey-Lamertz of the Huffington Post states, “The report notes that change is driven by educated people moving in, rather than by existing residents becoming more educated.” These changes are being driven by a millennial demographic who can afford the changed aesthetic. The influx of millennials are pushing out families whose lifestyle can’t keep up with the changing demographic. Even though these changes have been occurring for almost thirty years, and the city hasn’t made the changes needed for people who need low income housing. New York City’s gentrification must be slowed in order for people in low income housing to catch
There are many examples of cities reforming itself over time, one significant example is Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. More than a hundred years after the discovery of gold that drew thousands of migrants to Vancouver, the city has changed a lot, and so does one of its oldest community: Downtown Eastside. Began as a small town for workers that migrants frequently, after these workers moved away with all the money they have made, Downtown Eastside faced many hardships and changes. As a city, Vancouver gave much support to improve the area’s living quality and economics, known as a process called gentrification. But is this process really benefiting everyone living in Downtown Eastside? The answer is no. Gentrification towards DTES(Downtown Eastside) did not benefit the all the inhabitants of the area. Reasons are the new rent price of the area is much higher than before the gentrification, new businesses are not community-minded, and the old culture and lifestyle of the DTES is getting erased by the new residents.
Furthermore, he attempts to dispel the negative aspects of gentrification by pointing out how some of them are nonexistent. To accomplish this, Turman exemplifies how gentrification could positively impact neighborhoods like Third Ward (a ‘dangerous’ neighborhood in Houston, Texas). Throughout the article, Turman provides copious examples of how gentrification can positively change urban communities, expressing that “gentrification can produce desirable effects upon a community such as a reduced crime rate, investment in the infrastructure of an area and increased economic activity in neighborhoods which gentrify”. Furthermore, he opportunistically uses the Third Ward as an example, which he describes as “the 15th most dangerous neighborhood in the country” and “synonymous with crime”, as an example of an area that could “need the change that gentrification provides”.
The American dream was owning a house with a white picket fence. Now this dream is impossible. Individuals and families find it more difficult to find a decent home to rent in a suitable living area. According to Huffington Post, the hourly wage needed to afford a two bedroom apartment in California is at least $26 an hour. This is more than triple the minimum wage. Eviction, relocation, and inflation are the common keywords that associate with affordable housing. I 'm hoping to persuade you to support affordable housing for all. Today, I will be discussing, one, inflation of the housing market that needs to decrease, two, eviction from homes, three having to move to communities far from their work site.