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[Fuchsdh]

Gentrification is not caused by 'a few hipsters'. They're just an easy target. When you get areas 'improve' through an influx of more wealthy people, it's not just baristas with sleeve tattoos. But general professional staff of all races, young families, etc..

If you live in a city with high house prices, new home buyers will look to move to affordable areas. Which in time, will improves the standing of the area.

Gentrification is an inevitable aspect of population growth and housing markets.

Basically this is what it boils down to. There are hipsters, rich people and professionals trying to find housing, but what Spike Lee might see as some cultural invasion is really coming down to population growth at its most fundamental level.

This happens in many poorer neighborhoods. Artsie people move in due to low rent, then demand of the area increases due to it being hip. Then the artsie people leave the area because they can't afford living there anymore, and you are left with rich people living in a neighborhood that lost its coolness factor. At some point I assume the rich people will leave the neighborhood, demand will decrease, and the cycle will continue.

To a degree, but remember that there aren't constants in that equation. At least in the US, we're going to have a robustly booming population for the foreseeable future. So it's more likely things are going to get pricier rather than crash, absent some drastic stuff that decimates neighborhoods for decades (and I don't think we want or need more race riots.)

 

[Anticitizen One]

I love gentrification

 

[andymcc]

(probably created by a hipster)

i'm sure some Tumblr activist had fun drawing that up.

 

[kick51]

that his point A few hipsters show up and suddenly there are resources for that area , resources that would have improved the area with the current population. But they were not seen as deserving it.

the first wave are usually legit poor artist types, then somehow, it attracts more and more until you get the kids whose parents are paying for art school. those people live and work in the area for a while, partying, sprouting up galleries, music venues, restaurants, and other things like this. Then eventually you get something like Wicker Park in Chicago, which used to be a pit, but gotten majorly gentrified in the past 15 years. It has some remnants of the old hipster-ish culture but now resembles Wrigleyville more than anything--it has more yuppy stuff than hipster stuff and the rent has skyrocketed.

But that process has taken quite a while. if straight up rich people move in, it happens in a fraction of the time.

I still see the "Gringos out of Pilsen" signs everywhere.

I try to explain that I'm czech to both the hispanics and the hipsters and they just don't seem to get it! *shrug*

 

[Aksala]

Some of you people are misunderstanding what he is saying or misconstruing it deliberately.

He's not complaining that the neighborhoods are getting cleaner or that there is better police presence.

He's complaining that those improvements only seemed to occur around the time that other people (read: white people) started moving into those areas. Furthermore, he is complaining that the rising costs of living due to this influx is forcing families who have lived there for generations to move away to someplace cheaper.

The culture is collapsing as a result of this.

He brought up a personal anecdote regarding his father being told to keep his guitar playing down by the new neighbors (read: white people).

I understand where he is coming from.

The culture that he grew up in and the practices that he grew up with are being destroyed by gentrification (read: influx of white people).

At its core, Lee is saying that racism is the cause of this issue.

He may sound like a racist, but he's really complaining about racism.

 

[Yaboosh]

. If property taxes are at a capped rate for existing owners then they aren't gong to get run out overnight. Their kids are going to benefit from the increased tax base moving in with the schools, again dependent on how things are run locally.

But tenants will.

 

[Fenderputty]

Feel free to call me ignorant from the comfort of your middle class neighborhood. I'm not gonna cry when my neighborhood gets better. I don't look at the heroin needles on the ground and say "Wow, such rich culture! This is worth protecting!

Being against gentrification is being against capitalism itself.

The same capitalist system that creates the wealth disparity in this complex issue. You act like capitalism is above fault or criticism.

 

[Heshinsi]

I'll admit, I'm so confused about what he's saying.

 

[Isak_Borg]

Once way for them to gain more wealth is to sell up their now desirable properties and downscale to a cheaper suburb.

As someone who grew up in Williamsburg Brooklyn I find your lack of fucking understanding amazing.

The main problem is minorities for various reasons didn't have the economic capital to purchase and live in a rental culture. There is no selling and moving somewhere because we didn't have those opportunities.

But whatever privileged fucks not knowing jack shit about BK moving in and thinking they fucking run shit.

Its awesome when I walk around the neighborhood I grew up in and feel uncomfortable because white people cross the street when they see me. Shouldn't feel unwelcome in my own hood.

 

[Yaboosh]

Feel free to call me ignorant from the comfort of your middle class neighborhood. I'm not gonna cry when my neighborhood gets better. I don't look at the heroin needles on the ground and say "Wow, such rich culture! This is worth protecting!

Being against gentrification is being against capitalism itself.

The problem is that it isn't your neighborhood anymore. Because you can't afford to live there.

 

[Aksala]

Feel free to call me ignorant from the comfort of your middle class neighborhood. I'm not gonna cry when my neighborhood gets better. I don't look at the heroin needles on the ground and say "Wow, such rich culture! This is worth protecting!

Being against gentrification is being against capitalism itself.

Dumb post.

The last sentence is really dumb.

Gentrification in theory should be about the economic improvement of a neighborhood for the benefit of the people who live there.

In practice, it is as Lee described: a Christopher Columbus scenario.

 

[water_wendi]

I'll admit, I'm so confused about what he's saying.

Hes saying a bunch of poor penniless crackers moved in the neighborhood and all of a sudden the city is doing its job just because there are white people there.

Dude is a monster bigot.

 

[SRG01]

I don't think this is a strictly color, hipster, or what-have-you issue. Vancouver downtown east-side has been going through the same gentification debates because of businesses trying to make a traditionally run-down and dangerous neighbourhood better. My city has gone through the same thing: there's an avenue that's known for stabbings -- my ER friends always ask "is he/she from X avenue?" -- and they are doing a great job at gentrifying the area. And they only accomplished that local businesses and communities started investing in the area.

I don't think Spike Lee has it right. Like he said, there was a reverse black migration into other cities. What followed was new money and new people, and that will always change communities in order to meet the new needs of the community.

Change is hard and change is scary. But change, for the most part, is a good thing.

 

[pj]

Some of you people are misunderstanding what he is saying or misconstruing it deliberately.

He's not complaining that the neighborhoods are getting cleaner or that there is better police presence.

He's complaining that those improvements only seemed to occur around the time that other people (read: white people) started moving into those areas. Furthermore, he is complaining that the rising costs of living due to this influx is forcing families who have lived there for generations to move away to someplace cheaper.

The culture is collapsing as a result of this.

He brought up a personal anecdote regarding his father being told to keep his guitar playing down by the new neighbors (read: white people).

I understand where he is coming from.

The culture that he grew up in and the practices that he grew up with are being destroyed by gentrification (read: influx of white people).

At its core, Lee is saying that racism is the cause of this issue.

He may sound like a racist, but he's really complaining about racism.

Replace "read: white people" with "read: affluent people" and I'd agree with you. This is much more about class than race. The policies that made these black neighborhoods poor in the first place were racist, but I don't think anyone involved in gentrification at any level gives a shit about race.

 

[braves01]

This is basically what's happening in San Francisco, too, right? Except with hipsters, not techies.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

Feel free to call me ignorant from the comfort of your middle class neighborhood. I'm not gonna cry when my neighborhood gets better. I don't look at the heroin needles on the ground and say "Wow, such rich culture! This is worth protecting!

Being against gentrification is being against capitalism itself.

That wasn't the point. The point was why did it take a few white people to move into the neighborhood for these things to finally happen? Also, now property taxes are going up so these benefits will not be felt by the people who lives there because they will have to leave.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Some of you people are misunderstanding what he is saying or misconstruing it deliberately.

He's not complaining that the neighborhoods are getting cleaner or that there is better police presence.

He's complaining that those improvements only seemed to occur around the time that other people (read: white people) started moving into those areas. Furthermore, he is complaining that the rising costs of living due to this influx is forcing families who have lived there for generations to move away to someplace cheaper.

The culture is collapsing as a result of this.

He brought up a personal anecdote regarding his father being told to keep his guitar playing down by the new neighbors (read: white people).

I understand where he is coming from.

The culture that he grew up in and the practices that he grew up with are being destroyed by gentrification (read: influx of white people).

At its core, Lee is saying that racism is the cause of this issue.

He may sound like a racist, but he's really complaining about racism.

I don't think everyone here is misconstruing his content. I think the downsides of gentrification are pretty inarguable, it's just whether you think the benefits outweigh those downsides, or if you think it's even possible to stop gentrification.

Racism is in no way, shape or form the sole or main cause of gentrification, though. By Lee's logic, if we lived in an egalitarian society those people living for decades in those parts of town would still be getting pushed out by higher prices at some point. People want to live places that are cheap, or trendy. Population movements will naturally beget change.

 

[WedgeX]

Changing neighborhoods are tricky things. People don't like people not of their background moving in and changing the make up of the neighborhood and decrying the loss of "culture" or "ruining the neighborhood" is nothing new. White people say it all around Detroit, whether it was in the city during the Great Migration or in the suburbs post-White Flight when minorities began to move to suburbs. Its stupid not to welcome neighbors who don't hate you, and who willingly want to become a part of a neighborhood and community. Things change, such is the nature of living in a fluid community. Arguing otherwise is to argue for segregation and stagnant communities. Sure as fuck isn't working for the Detroit metro area.

Rich people pushing out poor people, however, is a problem. Subsidized housing and rent control help...but what city has figured those out perfectly?

You don't hear anyone in Detroit bitching about it.

Oddly enough I've heard plenty of complaining. Which makes no got dang sense since the city shed over half its population and can stand to gain a million or so people.

 

[Jangocube]

Dude is a monster bigot.

Always has been, always will be. It helps keep his name in the press as well.

 

[Yaboosh]

This is basically what's happening in San Francisco, too, right? Except with hipsters, not techies.

Yep, no hipsters in SF. No sirree.

It is happening pretty hardcore in Oakland too.

 

[jerry1594]

(probably created by a hipster)

Nope I used to live there as a little kid it was probably made by a high schooler.
That's just how demographic shifts work I guess. It's a damn shame, and I can't say I'm not a bit resentful about it.

 

[Village]

This is confusing.

 

[Epsilon-delta]

Replace "read: white people" with "read: affluent people" and I'd agree with you. This is much more about class than race. The policies that made these black neighborhoods poor in the first place were racist, but I don't think anyone involved in gentrification at any level gives a shit about race.

This right here.

 

[Sheroking]

Some of you people are misunderstanding what he is saying or misconstruing it deliberately.

He's not complaining that the neighborhoods are getting cleaner or that there is better police presence.

He's complaining that those improvements only seemed to occur around the time that other people (read: white people) started moving into those areas. Furthermore, he is complaining that the rising costs of living due to this influx is forcing families who have lived there for generations to move away to someplace cheaper.

The culture is collapsing as a result of this.

He brought up a personal anecdote regarding his father being told to keep his guitar playing down by the new neighbors (read: white people).

I understand where he is coming from.

The culture that he grew up in and the practices that he grew up with are being destroyed by gentrification (read: influx of white people).

At its core, Lee is saying that racism is the cause of this issue.

He may sound like a racist, but he's really complaining about racism.

It's complicated because Lee is a racist, he's just not necessary motivated entirely by his racism here. He's got good points: It shouldn't take gentrification for cleaner streets and better police protection.

The "destruction of culture" issue, though, I couldn't give less of a shit about. Protecting your cultural identity does not take priority over a class of person's right to move and live wherever they want. These "anti hipster", "anti gringo" and "anti white" attitudes and posters are functionally no different than if there were "anti black" signage in Beverly Hills.

 

[CLEEK]

Some of you people are misunderstanding what he is saying or misconstruing it deliberately.

The culture is collapsing as a result of this.

He brought up a personal anecdote regarding his father being told to keep his guitar playing down by the new neighbors (read: white people).

I understand where he is coming from.

The culture that he grew up in and the practices that he grew up with are being destroyed by gentrification (read: influx of white people).

At its core, Lee is saying that racism is the cause of this issue.

He may sound like a racist, but he's really complaining about racism.

Spike Lee is a massive, constant racist. I can't believe people can think otherwise about him.

As for the anecdote about being asked to keep the noise levels down! FFS. He is championing a culture of anti-social behaviour as something to be cherished!

"Oh, our beloved culture that's based on socio-economic deprivation, and all the social issues that go hand-in-hand with that! Noise pollution! Crime! Substance abuse! Mental heath epidemic! How dare outsiders come along and want these things to be reduced! They're just racist white devils!"

 

[Fenderputty]

That wasn't the point. The point was why did it take a few white people to move into the neighborhood for these things to finally happen? Also, now property taxes are going up so these benefits will not be felt by the people who lives there because they will have to leave.

It's a stupid point though. It's not because they're white. It's because they're wealthy. The fact that minorities are affected more than whites with regard to gentrification highlights our other systematic flaws that help cause these disparities.

 

[Dead Man]

Dude should have only railed against cities only providing resources when white people move in if he didn't want to look like a bit of a fool.

Complaining about new money moving into an area is not going to do shit. It has always happened, it will always happen.

 

[Village]

It's a stupid point though. It's not because they're white. It's because they're wealthy. The fact that minorities are affected more than whites with regard to gentrification highlights our other systematic flaws that help cause these disparities.

Isn't that what the guy just said?

 

[water_wendi]

How is that bigotry?

All he sees is skin color and nothing else. From what ive seen and read his mind cannot go beyond skin color for any opinion he formulates. The people that moved in happened to be white but the determining characteristic is that they had money. If the rich move into an area the area improves.. it does not matter what race they are. Only if they have the money to make things happen. Spike Lee makes it sound like homeless white people moved in a the white masters in city hall got things moving to accommodate their white brethren living in cardboard boxes on the street.

Hes a bigot and a racist.

edit: how many stealth edits are you going to make btw? Thats what? Three? lol

 

[AstroLad]

Maybe Spike can use some of that Nike, Jaguar, and Taco Bell money to buy out a part of the city and turn it into a historic preserve where white women with strollers can still live in fear as nature intended.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

Lance Freeman, an assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University, found that uneducated minorities in gentrifying neighborhoods were less likely to move than uneducated minorities in non-gentrifying neighborhoods.

Here's the thing: I grew up here in Fort Greene. I grew up here in New York. It's changed. And why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better? The garbage wasn't picked up every motherfuckin' day when I was living in 165 Washington Park. P.S 20 was not good. P.S 11. Rothschild 294. The police weren't around. When you see white mothers pushing their babies in strollers, three o'clock in the morning on 125th Street, that must tell you something.

I'm just going to throw something out there, but I dunno, maybe a higher tax base equates to more city services? Maybe the reduced amount of poverty and increased eyes on the street caused reductions in crime that made the police's job easier, and the safety is a result of gentrification, not a result of government purposefully ignoring minority neighborhoods? I'm not saying the government was a saint here, but there are two sides to that story.

Anyway, there are a few things that anti-gentrification types largely miss. Often in gentrifying neighborhoods the gentrification starts first by filling in vacant plots and abandoned buildings. This occurrence actually has the effect of reducing rents and maintaining home values at the same level in the short term, because the increased availability of apartments, as well as reducing crime, litter, and improving schools. The problem comes later when available plots are filled and rents increase drastically and that forces people out. There are ways to alleviate this, such as disallowing upzoning--something that can change neighborhoods from quiet, unexciting residential zones with a close culture to neighborhoods that are destinations for entertainment and shopping. Zoning for increased density in areas with increasing rents can also go a ways to reducing rents, as long as it is done in a way that encourages mixed-income development rather than luxury development.

In NYC you have rent control and huge investments from HPD and HDC that allow people to stay in neighborhood that are gentrifying around them and benefit from the improved conditions. Additionally, home owners aren't forced out, renters are. The majority of the population in the US, something like 70%, are home owners, rather than renters, and I would imagine that situation exists in gentrifying neighborhoods. Those people can't be forced out by increased rents, only by increased property taxes. However, property tax issues can be resolved with homestead exemptions or low-income property tax relief. Gentrification can cause more vacant or abandoned land to get back on tax rolls which can increase revenue for the city allowing them to use some of that to absorb lower taxes on long term homeowners.

Generally speaking, the most egregious thing about his rant is that he seems to paint it along racial lines when in reality it is a class based difference. There are non-white gentrifiers in those neighborhoods along with white ones. He generally pinned everything on whites, ignoring the fact that white or asian (see the decline of Chinatowns) residents of neighborhoods would be displaced just as well as black residents. Race has nothing (directly) to do with this discussion.

 

[Village]

All he sees is skin color and nothing else. From what ive seen and read his mind cannot go beyond skin color for any opinion he formulates. The people that moved in happened to be white but the determining characteristic is that they had money. If the rich move into an area the area improves.. it does not matter what race they are. Only if they have the money to make things happen. Spike Lee makes it sound like homeless white people moved in a the white masters in city hall got things moving to accommodate their white brethren living in cardboard boxes on the street.

Hes a bigot and a racist.

Did he say homless white people or hipsters? All I saw was hipsters , i am actually curious.

also race is factor, because systematic racism, distribution of wealth ect. But thats a longer conversation

 

[victreeb3l]

I was ready to hate on Spike but after reading through all of it he makes some great points.

These neighborhoods deserve to be safer but its not surprising that when white people move in, only then do these hoods get the resources they deserve. Better schools, better services. Disrupting decades of established culture is also a big deal. Their anger and frustrations are justified.

Plus yeah these fuckers are driving a lot of people out. Its not just Brooklyn. Parts of Queens are very expensive now and its only getting more and more expensive even when you start getting further away from Manhattan.

I dont really know the solution. In an ideal world every neighborhood would have the proper resources and affordable rent.

 

[Gattsu25]

Dude should have railed against cities only providing resources when white people move in if he didn't want to look like a bit of a fool.

Am I reading this right?

"He should have complained about the thing that he did complain about." Is that what you are saying here?

 

[Fenderputty]

Isn't that what the guy just said?

No.

The other person isn't acknowledging the systems in place that help minorities down. I'm acknowledging institutional racism is part of why these class disparities exist.

Gentrification is a class thing. Institutional racism is a reason why minorities aren't represented in all the classes evenly.

 

[Dead Man]

Am I reading this right?

"He should have complained about the thing that he did complain about." Is that what you are saying here?

He should only have complained about that, yes. The rest is yelling at clouds.

Edit: I missed a word in my initial post, apologies.

 

[Aksala]

Spike Lee is a massive, constant racist. I can't believe people can think otherwise about him.

As for the anecdote about being asked to keep the noise levels down! FFS. He is championing a culture of anti-social behaviour as something to be cherished!

"Oh, our beloved culture that's based on socio-economic deprivation, and all the social issues that go hand-in-hand with that! Noise pollution! Crime! Substance abuse! Mental heath epidemic! How dare outsiders come along and want these things to be reduced! They're just racist white devils!"

No.

He didn't say that.

And it was my mistake to say that he was complaining about the influx of white people. He was complaining about affluence.

And if you read the transcript again, you will see that he is giving good examples of how the city planners or whoever are transforming the neighborhoods to appeal to the affluent by changing the names to something more trendy and redolent of wealthy places like SoHo.

I don't know if Spike Lee is racist in general, but this particular series of statements he made was valid.

It's easy for people to think that he's just complaining that the neighborhoods are improving and thus destroying culture.

He's saying that the neighborhoods are just getting more costly to live in and the only people benefiting are the new people who can afford it.

It really isn't fair.

I feel the same where I live.

Whenever I see them putting up a brand new building with an arty theme, I get nervous because I know that the rent in my place is about to go up.

I get nervous when I see a new gourmet restaurant opening up around the block. It's not good news for me.

I don't really know who it's good news for (probably the people who haven't moved in yet).

 

[water_wendi]

Did he say homless white people or hipsters.

My point is that if homeless, penniless white people moved in not one god damned thing would have changed.

 

[Village]

He should be talking about DC.

Them dudes just said, we knockin down your homes, you got like 2 years to get the fuck out, also maryland dc and VA don't take well fare no more so get your asses to west Virginia or philly


Also everything costs a bajllion dollars to live in.


Edit:Sorry i can spell

 

[Fuchsdh]

Lance Freeman, an assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University, found that uneducated minorities in gentrifying neighborhoods were less likely to move than uneducated minorities in non-gentrifying neighborhoods.



I'm just going to throw something out there, but I dunno, maybe a higher tax base equates to more city services? Maybe the reduced amount of poverty and increased eyes on the street caused reductions in crime that made the police's job easier, and the safety is a result of gentrification, not a result of government purposefully ignoring minority neighborhoods? I'm not saying the government was a saint here, but there are two sides to that story.

Anyway, there are a few things that anti-gentrification types largely miss. Often in gentrifying neighborhoods the gentrification starts first by filling in vacant plots and abandoned buildings. This occurrence actually has the effect of reducing rents and maintaining home values at the same level in the short term, because the increased availability of apartments, as well as reducing crime, litter, and improving schools. The problem comes later when available plots are filled and rents increase drastically and that forces people out. There are ways to alleviate this, such as disallowing upzoning--something that can change neighborhoods from quiet, unexciting residential zones with a close culture to neighborhoods that are destinations for entertainment and shopping. Zoning for increased density in areas with increasing rents can also go a ways to reducing rents, as long as it is done in a way that encourages mixed-income development rather than luxury development.

In NYC you have rent control and huge investments from HPD and HDC that allow people to stay in neighborhood that are gentrifying around them and benefit from the improved conditions. Additionally, home owners aren't forced out, renters are. The majority of the population in the US, something like 70%, are home owners, rather than renters, and I would imagine that situation exists in gentrifying neighborhoods. Those people can't be forced out by increased rents, only by increased property taxes. However, property tax issues can be resolved with homestead exemptions or low-income property tax relief. Gentrification can cause more vacant or abandoned land to get back on tax rolls which can increase revenue for the city allowing them to use some of that to absorb lower taxes on long term homeowners.

Generally speaking, the most egregious thing about his rant is that he seems to paint it along racial lines when in reality it is a class based difference. There are non-white gentrifiers in those neighborhoods along with white ones. He generally pinned everything on whites, ignoring the fact that white or asian (see the decline of Chinatowns) residents of neighborhoods would be displaced just as well as black residents. Race has nothing (directly) to do with this discussion.

Everything you write is true, but I'm going to point out the obvious: for gentrification to have few pitfalls requires *every* step you outlined to occur. In reality? Local politicians upzone at will and pave the way for luxury apartments that exceed zoning restrictions (they get around those restrictions by adding affordable housing units that disappear within five or ten years.) The local government goes along with this because it's more tax revenue for them to spend and line their pockets with. To top it off, they will actively try and destroy local amenities like libraries in order to make way for commercial development.

 

[Sheroking]

He should be talking about DC.

Them dudes just said, we knockin down your homes, you got like 2 years to get the fuck out, also maryland dc and VA don't take well fare no more so get your asses to west vagina or philly

Also everything costs a bajllion dollars to live in.

Of course DC was, at one time, the crack cocaine and murder capital of the free world and the crime rate went down by 50% in the time this was all happening.

Obviously it created a lot of other problems for low-income families, but it just wasn't working for anyone in the 80's and early 90's.

 

[Aksala]

(they get around those restrictions by adding affordable housing units that disappear within five or ten years.)

If that's true, then I am screwed.

 

[vas_a_morir]

I was in Covington KY (basically Cincinnati's East Sr Louis) and it's also getting gentrified. It's happening everywhere. Whole blocks of old houses are getting razed and new development is popping up.

I don't want to offend, but I don't see a good argument for why renewed urban development is a bad thing for a city's health, at least for the time being. I acknowledge it sucks to feel forced out of your home and neighborhood, though.

However, I don't like tearing down old buildings for cheap-looking modern buildings, though.

 

[kick51]

Nope I used to live there as a little kid it was probably made by a high schooler.
That's just how demographic shifts work I guess. It's a damn shame, and I can't say I'm not a bit resentful about it.

I see that side of it, but I don't really know what to say. Can't fault the artists who originally moved there for cheap rent because they needed to, but they obviously started the process of gentrification, though unintentionally. it's about money, that's what beefs up facilities and such. it's also about race giving white people advantages, which enables them to make more money and faster. it just brings inequality into sharp focus, but is also kind of this unstoppable process.

(as for spike lee, i have no idea what it's like in new york...)

 

[DieAntwoord]

God damn, it.

Let met tell you. Having lived in the Houston Heights for a while I can tell you there is a reason why we protested Wal-Mart & Whole Foods, everyone here knew they were the beginning of the end. 3 years later and I'm watching town homes being built near my apartment complex. The park I ride my bike is now surrounded by condos and people with cars are worth what I'd make in 3 years and it's continually getting worse.

Not only that, but the heights DIDN'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS! The very people who allowed this to happen are the same people in this thread screaming "BUT IT ONLY HELPS MAKE THESE PLACES BETTER!" I mean holy crap,

 

[DoktorEvil]

All he sees is skin color and nothing else. From what ive seen and read his mind cannot go beyond skin color for any opinion he formulates. The people that moved in happened to be white but the determining characteristic is that they had money. If the rich move into an area the area improves.. it does not matter what race they are. Only if they have the money to make things happen. Spike Lee makes it sound like homeless white people moved in a the white masters in city hall got things moving to accommodate their white brethren living in cardboard boxes on the street.

Hes a bigot and a racist.

Agreed, he's a well known black bigot and a closet racist.

However, what he said remains true. I grew up in Williamsburg circa 1990s and I can tell you gentrification was a very valid thing then as it is now.

Case in point, the McCarren Pool. The pool originally had to close in 1984 because of "budget issues", at least that's what the local municipality claimed.
In 2005, a private company, Clear Channel, gave 250,000 to the City Parks Foundation in order to renovate the pool and begin using it to host events.

The early 2000s were around the same point when gentrification began to be a thing. Suddenly, private business wanted to throw money into the area. Small business zoning became better, and the real estate began going into conversion mode to entice developers to buy, demolish old warehousing and industrial, and build up or build out.

Now, I was robbed a couple times in the area when I grew up there and went to middle school, but the area really wasn't any more dangerous than most predominant Hispanic areas in Manhattan and the Bronx, but the Bronx isn't trendy, not yet at least.

Edit: In my experience, gentrification is still up in the air whether it's good or bad. Just because some sleazy agent says a property is worth X dollars at market doesn't mean that's what people will pay. Remember, there have to be a healthy supply of buyers and sellers in order to create and fulfill demand.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

Everything you write is true, but I'm going to point out the obvious: for gentrification to have few pitfalls requires *every* step you outlined to occur. In reality? Local politicians upzone at will and pave the way for luxury apartments that exceed zoning restrictions (they get around those restrictions by adding affordable housing units that disappear within five or ten years.) The local government goes along with this because it's more tax revenue for them to spend and line their pockets with. To top it off, they will actively try and destroy local amenities like libraries in order to make way for commercial development.

I don't know that that is true really. A lot of that stuff is already happening. In NYC rent control and public housing are effective enough that the actual poor are nearly immune to gentrification--it's the middle class that faces a larger issue. I agree that in some cases political power can kill things but registered community associations can actually have a lot of power in their own right.

 

[Wickerman]

Spike talked about this on CNN tonight
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/...yorkers-for-the-services-to-go-up/?hpt=ac_bn5

The reporter that asked him the question at Pratt was also interviewed on CNN and provided great points about wealth creation.
http://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/26/spike-lee-unleashes-rant-over-gentrification/

 

[yencid]

Washington heights and inwood are perfect examples of this.

 

[Aksala]

I was in Covington KY (basically Cincinnati's East Sr Louis) and it's also getting gentrified. It's happening everywhere. Whole blocks of old houses are getting razed and new development is popping up.

I don't want to offend, but I don't see a good argument for why renewed urban development is a bad thing, at least for the time being.

Short answer: They're not doing it for you.

The place you made your home is no longer for you because some monolithic real estate development firm based in Dallas Texas chose your modest neighborhood as the site for their new, trendy apartment buildings with floor to ceiling windows, attractive lobby employees, covered parking, downstairs gym, computer room, recording studio (mine has one), heated pool and Jacuzzi, and colorful decor. All at the reasonable price of $1799 a month for a 300 sq. ft. "Deluxe studio" apartment or $2199 a month for a 700 sq. ft. 1 bdrm "loft".

Aimed at hip, young straight-out-of college graphic designers and yoga instructors who are just looking to find themselves in life.

AKA NOT FOR YOU.

Trust me, I live in one of these neighborhoods. It is shit. It is a thin varnish painted over a decaying turd.

All it does, is drive poor people further away from their low-paying jobs, while bilking money from trust-fund kids.

Edit:

This shit right here.

The building is called MUSE.

MUSE. Like it's a band name. What the fuck!?

And this shit. Oh, my god. I hate this shit. You think it looks good? Guess what? After a month, you will hate this place. It is not worth the price. Trust me.