By the mid 60s and 70s the famous Robert Moses’ created Expressway’s that influenced the Bronx in nothing positive. His imagination to obtain his projects done perfectly is truly fascinating but New Yorkers weren’t thrilled with his plans. It destroyed plenty of neighborhoods with roads that created urban sprawl, (large stores, houses, apartments, etc.). Banks and insurance companies were letting know landowners about mortgage services that were going to be raised which was known for redlining in past decades. In the Southern half of the Bronx there were tons of working class and poor neighborhoods that made this mess a huge impact on them. It even states, “for years, the city’s banks have been categorically refusing to refinance properties
The Crossroads development has dominated the local conversation in Mahwah for the past 9 months. Over the past few years, the Crossroads Developers had put forth various proposals for development of the site, only to have them rejected by the Mahwah Township Council. This past March, the Developer once again came to the Council in order to ask that their property be rezoned from office use to mixed-use/retail to allow for the construction of a complex of retail stores, restaurants, a movie theater, hotel and office space. Over 400 residents attended the March 31 meeting to express their opposition to the development. This unprecedented turnout by Mahwah residents, unlike any the Council had seen before, should have been enough for the Council to realize that a decision to rezone the property may not be in the best interests of Mahwah residents. Instead, the Council voted 4-2 to allow for the property to be rezoned.
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
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
In the middle of the nineteenth century, several factors contributed to the growth and expansion of cities in the United States. The 1850s saw a fantastic peak in the immigration of Europeans to America, and they quickly flocked to cities where they could form communities and hopefully find work1. The rushing industrialization of the entire country also helped to rapidly convert America from a primarily agrarian nation to an urban society.
Richard Rodriguez in “The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, displayed his early thoughts on education, how he learned from them as he grew older and how he ultimately alienated his parents do-to the way he went about getting his education. Malcolm X’s path toward education is explained in “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X. His influences, his beliefs and the actual process of what it actually took for X to become educated is explained in great detail. Malcolm X’s reasoning for wanting to be educated was to be able to reach out to Elijah Muhammad, -leader of The Nation of Islam and present himself as an educated person so Muhammad would be able to take notice. Moreover, Richard Rodríguez wanted to become more educated was due to his parent’s lack of education. In addition, education was Rodriguez’s way of distancing himself from his parents and isolating himself into the world of books.
Years ago, there was once a small town called Chaves Ravine within Los Angeles, California and this town was a poor rural community that was always full of life. Two hundred families, mostly Chicano families, were living here quite peacefully until the Housing Act of 1949 was passed. The Federal Housing Act of 1949 granted money to cities from the federal government to build public housing projects for the low income. Los Angeles was one of the first cities to receive the funds for project. Unfortunately, Chavez Ravine was one of the sites chosen for the housing project, so, to prepare for the construction work of the low-income apartments, the Housing Authority of Los Angeles had to convince the people of the ravine to leave, or forcibly oust them from their property. Since Chavez Ravine was to be used for public use, the Housing Authority of Los Angeles was able seize and buy Chavez Ravine from the property owners and evict whoever stayed behind with the help of Eminent Domain. The LA Housing Authority had told the inhabitants that low-income housing was to be built on the land, but, because of a sequence of events, the public housing project was never built there and instead Dodgers Stadium was built on Chavez Ravine. Although Chavez Ravine public housing project was the result of the goodwill and intent of the government, rather than helping the people Chavez Ravine with their promise of low-income housing, the project ended up destroying many of their lives because of those in opposition of the public housing project and government mismanagement.
There have been many changes that have been made in response to what has happened in reference to American Cities. First, there was the Fair housing act. This act helped to stop discrimination against African Americans and other minorities. The purpose of the law is to defend every American’s essential right to fair housing—the choices of where to live and whether to own a home, for instance, it did not take account based on race, disability, and the numerous other threatened
The last big effect that comes from the urban housing reform is that it makes it difficult for people to get out of those areas. Living in urban projects is not a place where many people wish to be but they have no choice if they can’t afford to get out of the area. Some people re only able to afford living in those areas or cannot get a job that pays high enough to move to someplace else. This has created a vicious circle of the areas becoming more run down and more
On 7 June 1969, hundreds of Puerto Ricans gathered in Spanish Harlem, New York City to protest the arrest of Juan" Fi" Ortiz for a series of falsified crimes.[2] As a crowd gathered outside the People's Church in El Barrio, Felipe Luciano addressed those assembled asserting that, " We will not allow the brutalization of our community to go on without a response. For every Puerto Rican that is brutalized, there will be retaliation."[3]Luciano's statements were not ignored, and as the crowd filtered into the streets their shouts of Despierta, Boricua. Defiende lo tuyo filled the air.
The changes that the area has been through have all been made to maximize the economic prosperity in the fields that are needed for given period of time. Meaning that; for example, in the period in history when we were involved in World War II, we needed to use our ports for ship repairs and constructions. We polluted our waters for the sake of economic gain and now we haven't cleaned up the uranium incident and are still trying to make profit out while making the lives of others difficult and trashing the environment more. The environmental changes also impact the social organization, it just so happens that the area that is neglected and profited more, is the area where the working class lives. The low-income working class. The areas where people of the upper-class live there are no problems of this sort. The local government does not try to extract profit from the South Shore without giving them something in
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
Over the next 160 years Central Park has seen many transformations. An early decline in the 1900’’s followed by a revitalization by Robert Moses
“Science is key to our future, and if you don’t believe in science, then you’re holding everybody back.” ~Bill Nye. Science is all around us and is essential for existence, so who better to tell us about it than Bill Nye the Science Guy. You all know the song that nevers gets out of your head, “Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Science Rules!” and on it goes. He has encouraged not only kids, but also adults to be more interested in science and its properties. He has aided teachers by engaging kids into the video with his comical incidents and puns. Even though his first episode aired 20 years ago, Bill is still affecting our everyday lives. Bill Nye is the most influential person of all time.
Gentrification is described as the renovation of certain neighborhoods in order to accommodate to young workers and the middle-class. For an area to be considered gentrified, a neighborhood must meet a certain median home value and hold a percentage of adults earning Bachelor’s degree. Philadelphia’s gentrification rate is among the top in the nation; different neighborhoods have pushed for gentrification and have seen immense changes as a result. However, deciding on whether or not gentrification is a beneficial process can become complicated. Various groups of people believe that cities should implementing policy on advancing gentrification, and others believe that this process shouldn’t executed. Both sides are impacted by the decision to progress gentrification; it is unclear of the true implications of completely renovating impoverished urban areas; gentrification surely doesn’t solve all of a community’s issues. I personally believe that gentrification is not necessarily a good or bad process; gentrification should occur as a natural progression of innovative economies and novel lifestyles collide within certain areas. Policy involving gentrification should not support the removal of people out of their neighborhood for the sake of advancement.
The term "urban sprawl" seems to have several different meanings depending on the context, but it is very loosely defined as the movement of a human population from high-density communities towards lower-density communities. While this phenomenon is often cited as a manifestation of modern life, and occasionally an exclusively American problem, it actually has been a part of city life around the globe for longer than one would expect. In Robert Bruegmann's book, Sprawl: A Compact History, he notes that the wealthier residents of a city have always had a tendency to migrate towards the low-density outskirts of urban areas. For example, members of the Chinese nobility and upper-class during the Ming Dynasty would speak fondly of the benefits of living away from the cities. The idea of suburban areas goes back even farther, extending as far back as ancient Rome, where rulers and the wealthy lived in highly fashionable "villa suburbanas." This kind of evidence alone strongly suggests that urban sprawl is neither a recent phenomenon nor simply a product of American culture. Despite modern efforts to combat urban sprawl, its historical prevalence suggests that it may be unavoidable and may be a manifestation of the tendencies of human nature. However, the modern iteration of urban sprawl and its subsequent problems appear to be strongly correlated with the use of gasoline-powered personal automobiles. Three of these problems are increased air pollution, increased health problems, and increased incidence of severe injuries and fatalities.