...Steven Cardenas SSN 187 Professor Walker Gentrification Response Paper Sharon Zukin is a well known sociologist at Brooklyn College who is well known for her views on gentrification of the lower east side of Manhattan. Her views on gentrification is that she is against it and believes unless the government creates more regulations on rent and zoning, then many neighborhoods will continue to become more stratified. I agree with her because I believe it is a constant cycle of immigrants building houses and culture with in a neighborhood, just so high-class people can visit and then eventually take over the neighborhood has to stop. Many times high class people come to visit these high cultured neighborhoods and are attracted by the artist, restaurants, art galleries, and bars. They then tend to move in these neighborhoods and become residents and eventually when more and more high class residents move in, then that drives the rent of the building so high that it forces the current residents to look for a new home. Zukin believes that it is not the people that give the neighborhood its culture and make it unique, but the buildings itself is what makes it unique. For example, Soho used to be an immigrant’s traditional settlement that was filled with socialist politics and labor movement. The buildings and roads of Soho were hand made from stones and immigrants were known for creating this unique neighborhood and this is what first attracted higher-class people to first start...
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...1 of 5 ! GENTRIFICATION (What is it ? How does it affect my neighborhood?) 2 of 5 Gentrification is a process associated with the economic and cultural improvement to a formerly distressed and disinvested neighborhood, through the migration of middle and upper class households. This process is not modern but continual. In 1962, gentrification began in Brooklyn Heights, a historical neighborhood located a quick ride across the Brooklyn or Manhattan Bridge with an abundance of rental units housing immigrant families. Aesthetically not a desirable neighborhood but for a young professional working in lower Manhattan, the reasonable real estate prices left something to be desired. Welcoming the middle - class for working - class displacement , as writing in (Lees, L. (2003). Super-gentrification: the case of Brooklyn Heights, New York City. Urban Studies (Routledge), 40(12), 2487-2509.) an interview with an anonymous Gentrifier “D” a young lawyer who purchased a small four story brownstone in Brooklyn Heights for 28,000 dollars. The house was divided into 3 apartments consisting of the Basement Level, Parlor Floor and Second Floor. When the house was purchased there were 2 families renting in the building, one family left voluntarily, while the other family was a working class Irish family, who was later evicted by” Gen D” due to his expanding family, this is an example of the working class displacement, unable to purchase due to lack of sufficient income. Gen D, later in the...
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...How do residents from the Brooklyn area survive gentrification? Introduction Neighborhoods can change in many different forms by social polarization, political factors, and integration of new neighbors or departure of long-time folks. These changes around a specific area are sum up as gentrification. The renewal of neighborhood environments that transform and attract middle and upper-class households and investors, creating problems for those who cannot afford rises of rents. However, what cause some dwellers to remain in their homes despite the rise of property values? Or how lower-class populations persist in gentrified zones? With the aid of federal and government institutions, low-income characters would not be able to continue living in their homes. Even though the process of restoration can result in the increase of the cost of life, some dwellers opt to remain in Green Point, Brooklyn because they enforce a number of methods, such as Section 8, Low Interest Rate programs and rent regulation, to fight displacement. Definition Generally speaking, gentrification is a two-edge process that usually pushes long-time dwellers from a neighborhood as the upgrading or improvement of the urban environment takes place around this specific neighborhood. In other words, residents opt to move out of the neighborhood because of the rise of rents, property value, and the renovation of the stock housing, which usually ends up with the replacement of the lower class with the middle to...
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...Christopher Cordon Sociology 142 Friday 4- 4:50 P.M. 04-12-16 USC Village: What’s the Cost? Jack hammers, dump trucks, construction cranes and safety cones; all in a days work at USC’s new university village. We’ve all been somewhat affected by the recent demolition and construction in and around USC. Along with all the construction going on, traffic jams, detours as well as some of the noise going on, students such as myself aren’t the only ones affected. As beautiful and appealing as these renovations might seem, the price of a new beautiful new village does come at a cost to the residents, businesses and employees of the surrounding community. I was a member of this community as a young kid. I went to Vermont Ave. elementary just down the street form USC, and growing up, I did see a few changes here and there. Back in the early 90’s, the neighborhood had a completely different feel to it. There were gangs, drugs, and violence; typical for a South Los Angeles neighborhood. Over the years, USC’s presence started to change a few things. As students began to trickle over to the northwest neighborhoods, the tone of the neighborhood slowly changed. I was in elementary, so I didn’t really make much of it, only that a few of my friends from my block began moving away. As an 8 year old, you don’t really put two and two together until I started noticing the same thing in my new neighborhood in East Hollywood. Since it wasn’t a college neighborhood, there wasn’t a diverse group...
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...today, gentrification is becoming a solution or problem to many cities and neighborhoods that are changing. Many people might not know what gentrification is or even have heard of it before, but it is happening in their neighborhoods right in front of their eyes. Gentrification is the process where an influx of middle-class and upper-class people cause a revitalization and rebuilding of deteriorating areas because of the money they bring to the local economy. This often results in the displacement of impoverished residents in the area. This is happening in many countries and in many populated cities in America like San Francisco, Boston, and Philadelphia. Some people’s opinions on gentrification is that it is beneficial, while others view gentrification harmful. While both sides feel that they are correct, people that favor gentrification seek the benefits that it can produce while the people against gentrification worry about losing their neighborhood and eventually being forced to move out. When viewing both sides of the argument, it is clear that the benefits of gentrification...
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...Gentrification is a process of renovation and revival of deteriorated urban neighbourhoods which results from an influx of more affluent residents, a related increase in rents and property values, changes in the districts character and culture. Gentrification is generally seen by some as a negative and controversial topic, suggesting the displacement of low- income families and small businesses. Others see it as an increase in an area’s economy and a revitalisation of the built environment. In this essay I will be addressing whether gentrification does help or hinder low income, urban communities using references from contemporary examples such as New York City and London, I will outline both positive and negative impacts of gentrification...
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...As plans for gentrification continue throughout urban areas civilians are questioning the benefits that arrive with the addition of new, more expensive housing in cities as well as the affects of the displacement of millions of low-income Americans. There have been many solutions, yes, but mine, one of much thought and dedication, is one that truly examines every aspect of this increasing issue. It is imperative that we continue to improve the overall aesthetic of certain areas within the city, but it is possible to do so without pushing so many innocent, paying renters to the street. After all, how does pushing people to the street improve its appearance? After much research, I have discovered that the majority of the people who are...
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...Gentrification and Personhood The gentrification of the Tenderloin District of San Francisco epitomizes how those “entitled” possess space which displaces the mostly minority, original inhabitants of the community. I will be analyzing gentrification through a wider processes of inequalities in personhood, where the possessive individualism of some is defined by the denial of personhood to others. I will be in dialogue with “Feral Theory: Editors’ Introduction,” by Kelly Struthers Montford and Chloë Taylor, to construct who is viewed as “unruly” subjects, who don’t “own” or “regulate” themselves. In addition, I will also use Aimee Meredith Cox’s Shapeshifters: Black Girls and the Choreography of Citizenship, chapter titled “Narratives of...
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...Definition of Gentrification: Gentrification is just one of the nebulous social issues taking place within modern Brixton, as London becomes more globalized and newer forms of ‘urban renewal’ are put into place. This particular urban phenomenon is best characterized as gentrification, which is defined for the purposes of this argument as a middle-class effort to undermine the local populace’s business, structure, and daily life by asserting their own values (Merriam-Webster). Expressed in expansive economic terms by Eric Clark, gentrification is noted as: “a process involving a change in the population of land-users such that the new users are of a higher socio-economic status than the previous users, together with an associated change in...
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...Gentrification is the process of where lower-income families and small businesses are pushed out of homes for a higher class to renovate in the area. The process has played a large role in Washington, DC for the past couple of years. Washington, DC is the nation's capital. It is home to the White House, the monument, the capital and etc. You will only see the bright, shiny wrapping paper the District. Other may see DC as a place of government offices and politics. Yet, this is only what tourist see. No one else sees what goes on in the background which are the people who reside in DC, especially the black community. The culture of has made a large jump since certification. Communities known to have historical value or places that have a reputation...
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...out of your own neighborhood after living there for all your life? Gentrification is fixing up fixing up poor neighborhoods for the rich to live in. It is a huge issue that is affecting communities negatively rather than the positives that everyone hoped for because people are being forced out of homes that they lived in for decades. New York City is one of the places where we are seeing a lot of gentrification happening. East Harlem and Part of Brooklyn are suffering culturally and socially because of the sudden rise in the cost of housing. Strolling down from 96th to 125th streets one can easily feel that they have been to several different continents just by listening to the surrounding music and by looking at the murals on side of buildings. This is East Harlem, more commonly known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio. This neighborhood is alive with history and culture because of the diversity of Puerto Rican, African American, Mexican, and Italians living there. Unfortunately, the continual displacement of many Harlem residents is forcing the long and rich culture/community to be separated. Increasing housing cost is the reason for this displacement of communities in East Harlem. This is especially affecting older residents (residents who lived there all their life) because...
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...This gentrification is apparent at both the outer edges of the site (fig. 1) and along St. Clair (fig. 2). Hulchanski (2010) argues that “some of the increases in incomes and housing prices occurring in City #1 could very well result in spillover gentrification into adjacent, relatively low-income census tracts that are part of City #2 ”(p. 14). While Hulchanski wrote The Three Cities Within Toronto when this was only a possibility, it is now a strong reality. For example, the intersection of Davenport and Christie shows signs of gentrification as in the last year two new businesses opened there. The corner’s new coffee shop replaced what was once a personal landmark to me: a convenience store which was a constant presence throughout the 8...
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...Poet, Seeing Black, 2001) A first glance at the neighborhood of Gowanus would prove gritty, tarnished, and run down. Located on Southern Brooklyn at the mouth of a historical bay long utilized for merchant activity, Gowanus makes up the neighborhood directly surrounding the famed Gowanus Canal. One of America’s most polluted waterways, the 1.8 mile canal slices through the neighborhood; with industry, craft arts, and commercial development densely lining its banks. In 2010, The EPA placed the site on its Superfund National Priorities List, a major advancement towards a complete cleanup of the heavily polluted canal (Spitzer-Rubenstein, 2012). Currently, as the community of Gowanus eyes future development in the face of environmental gentrification, heightened concern regarding public health and community sustainability is visible a neighborhood whose key feature is an extremely polluted waterway. The Gowanus Canal was first developed for industry in the mid 19th century. The 100 foot wide, 12 foot foot deep canal to nowhere quickly became one of America’s shortest and most productive waterways. Heavy polluters like Manufactured Gas Plants, which gasify coal, soap manufacturers, and tanneries lined its banks, carelessly dumping industrial waste (Prete, 2010). Within a decade of it’s completion, it was fouled by illegal dumping and raw sewage, described as “VERY VILE… a nuisance seriously affecting the health of South Brooklyn people…” in an 1877 issue of the Brooklyn Eagle. When...
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...Gentrification should be illegal unless all parties owning property, not just land, agree with the organization that is attempting to obtain the area. The laws should be that, any resident living there that cannot afford to pay the increased rent be compensated towards other housing and acceptable living situations. Gentrification should benefit everyone involved, not just the wealthy in sacrifice of the less fortunate. Gentrification has good attentions on paper, but people are willing to hurt others for benefit. Gentrification should be considered illegal if all parties involved do not agree to it. Although the definition of gentrification may seem that this act is good for the targeted community by bring more revenue and money into the area and decreasing the crime rate, it does have a negative effect. Not all homeowners and renters are willing to leave the land and area that that they have resided on for many years. In most cases the people’s voices are not really heard if the local government agrees to gentrify the community. People that own property that has been a part of the neighborhood for years should have more say on the decisions in the process. Once you live somewhere for so long it is unethical to force people out for the benefit of money and more attraction. However, if gentrification cannot be stopped then any resident who cannot afford to live in the area after the cost of rent is raised should be compensated to help them find new and acceptable living. More...
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...Nicholas Gibney Hernandez Hum 225 Professor Zupan April 22nd, 2015 Victorion: El Defendor de la Mision I was extremely excited to go visit the Mission Murals mostly because I have never seen them before. I didn’t know what to expect heading down there. When I arrived in Balmy alley I was not disappointed. I was immediately drawn to the very first mural I saw. I knew right then and there I was going to choose this mural. Even though I had yet to see many more murals my mind was set. The mural I chose was “Victorion: El Defendor de la Mision,” by Sirron Norris. I was immediately drawn to Norris’s mural mainly because of his focal point. In the center of his mural is what I believe to be a giant transformer made up of San Francisco Victorian style houses. I was immediately drawn to the transformer or “Victorion” because of its massive size in the mural. Also how the small people are all looking up to it. Norris didn’t use a massive change in value or contrast to draw the viewer’s eyes to Victorion but just its massive scale in the mural. I was also drawn to his cartoon style that he uses in this mural. It was different than all the murals that I saw that day. His style is a little bit surreal but mostly cartoon, which I thought was interesting. The way he created San Francisco in this cartoon style was really cool to look at. He puts recognizable landmarks and elements that are from San Francisco. For example he has Sutro Tower in the back and also has a cable car with...
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