American Gentrifier
image from from the Box Tank
I missed this, but apparently Queens is right for gentrification:
"It seems to be the next big thing,'' says Pamela Liebman, the president and chief executive of the Corcoran Group. "Queens has this gritty feel to it in parts, which makes it feel cool. When I go to speaking engagements and people ask what is the next big thing, a lot of speakers are starting to say, 'Queens, Queens, Queens.' "
"there is sort of constellation, almost a critical mass, of visual art in Long Island City," Mr. McMillan said.
"You get the artists and sculptors hanging around, opening up studios and living in that area," he said. "That is exactly the kind of thing you want for the development and creation of a new neighborhood."
Sounds about right: figure out which neighborhoods have large artist populations, talk up the neighborhood as the "next big thing," allow large developments, raise rents, displace the poor and artists leaving the Upper East Side-like neighborhoods where a thriving, ethnically-diverse neighborhood was.
How to fight it? I don't know - but I think there may be no way to fight gentrification.
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This is the permanent home of American Gentrifier. I wrote this post at 13:06 on December 16, 2004. This post is part of grubbykid.com, a weblog. If you liked this entry, why don't you read some other posts such as Jargon and Rail or Misspelling "Challenges" - Unpossible!? Or you could go to the site archives or return home. All are good choices.
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Some descriptive tags for this entry are: nyc architecture urban humor commerce.
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Some descriptive tags for this entry are: architecture, commerce, humor, NYC, urban.
Mommy... what's a tag?
