SOS: Can Harlem be saved from gentrification?

[Ridgewoodallday]

I think you confused yourself trying to convince me of whatever you were trying to convince me of... read over what you wrote and try to make sense out of it... when you become bombastic and use words that you don't understand what they mean... you're paragraph is what happens... please... just stop

[m015094]

I live on 135th street and I LOVE gentrification because it gets rid of the scumbags who just hang out on their stoops every day and it reduces crime and drug use.

Argue against that.

[keinaan12345]

@m015094 it will get rid of you. those guys make thousands a week off of drug money. how much do you make?

[m015094]

@keinaan12345

If they made "thousands of dollars a week" they wouldn't be complaining about increased rent because they can afford it. They should take pride in their neighborhood. Keep trash off the ground, fix abandoned building/lots, build parks for their kids, give money to the school, so their kids don't have to be drug dealers. Don't worry about me, I'm not going anywhere.

[keinaan12345]

@m015094 your average drug dealer makes a few hundred a week while a kingpin makes millions. your average working class family will not be able to live in new york. Once the gentrification is done there will be 1 bed apts going for +$1500. can you afford that? what if you have kids? Can you pay +$3000 for a 3 bed apt?

the harlem of the future will have the elite rich only. you will not be a part of it unless you have a rent-controlled apt.

[m015094]

@keinaan12345

New York is a huge city. I can find you a 3 bed apt for $1000. It's not going to be nice, but you get what you pay for. As far as kids go - if you are "working class" and can't afford the 3 bed apt, then maybe you shouldn't be having kids. It's called living within your means. I do it and so should everybody. I don't live in a $5000/month studio on the UWS because that would be financially irresponsible of me. I could bitch and moan about it, but what good will that do?

[m015094]

@keinaan12345

Look at the lot at 2:07 in the video. Would you want to live next to that or have kids playing there. Gentrification will increase rent, no doubt, but isn't it worth it to get rid of the slums. Harlem used to be nice back in the 40's and 50's. I wish it was the way it was back then.

[keinaan12345]

@m015094 Gentrification will triple the rent.

can you pay triple what you pay now?

[m015094]

@keinaan12345

Now you're just making up number. Why don't you just say it will make rent a billion time more? I guess you're happy living in a slum as long as the rent is nice and low. Go ahead be my guest. But, the tenants here have no real say in the matter because they do not own the property.

[keinaan12345]

@m015094 At the end of gentrification rent will be triple.

The city is planning on making uptown a comercial district like downtown and midtown. Those areas are very expensive and rent uptown will be a lot of money.

[Ridgewoodallday]

@m015094 the crime rates were lowering in NYC years before the word gentrification came around... if anything (and again we don't know this, but it could happen) the resentment towards gentrification will spark a rise in the crime rates by ignorant folk who want to keep the neighborhood the way it is at any costs... look nobody wants to live in crime and violence but don't make it seem like whitey came to save the neighborhood from destruction cause all whitey did was raise rents...

[m015094]

@Ridgewoodallday When whites moved out, they were blamed for "white flight" and thus created the ghettos. Now that whites want to move back in, the term "gentrification" is being used by minorities as a bad thing. Why didn't minorities purchase the properties (as opposed to renting) when the prices were low? If they had, they would be rejoicing the price increase.

[Ridgewoodallday]

@m015094 what other term besides "white flight" can be used to describe whites moving out on their own will at the same time that minorities were moving in... please educate me so I can use the proper term... thanks... Otherwise, this is how it went down... Whites moved not when prices rose, but when blacks and hispanics moved in... most got bored with suburban lifestyle and fled to Manhattan... now that Manhattan prices rose they bunched themselves in the closest locations to Manhattan...

[Ridgewoodallday]

@m015094 typically these places were low-income minorities who live in these areas because they can't afford anything else and now due to gentrification can't even the afford the hood that they live in... this all happening where there are dozens of other Queens and Bronx areas that are safer and cheaper than the areas they were moving into and displacing the locals... and don't even get me started on the number of ways that they displace the original population...

[m015094]

@Ridgewoodallday and by "original population" you mean the Dutch of Harlem, right?

[Ridgewoodallday]

@m015094 Read your history book a little further and see if prices skyrocketed when black folks move in therefore making it impossible for the dutch to stay there... also read up if it says that the blacks that moved into harlem paid the dutch thousands of dollars or if not hundreds of dollars to leave their neighborhood since blacks were the more desirable race... when you find that then you're statement can have worth... if not then don't waste my time...

[Ridgewoodallday]

@m015094 do you have evidence that proves that Harlem was nice back in the days or is that just your imagination of how you think Harlem was... Because if you actually do some research on Harlem before making bold statements like that, you'll realize that Harlem even back then was very poor and was one of the higher crime areas of NYC... Not to say that all of it was bad but it was very similar to today's times in terms of crime...

[Ridgewoodallday]

@m015094 and with all that being said about Harlem, it still didn't take away from what Harlem was, which was the epitome of Black culture and thanks to these transplants that complain about why theres not enough cafes or art spots or whatever else they deem important... schools are closed down, businesses, and other institutions that have been there for years and Harlem is losing it's identity...

[Ridgewoodallday]

@m015094 Again I have nothing wrong with people moving into these areas but my issue is that these newcomers shouldn't expect the world to change for them just because they move into these areas... there are literally hundreds of different cafe scenes and art scenes across the city... leave the culture of these neighborhoods that are currently being gentrified alone is my only issue...

[knight91105]

Ppl want more money n safety. Gentrification as it is called bring that.

[haitianzoezoe]

everything has its goods and bads , you say safety and money , but what about culture?? how would you like it if your grandma and grandpa had a shop serving the community for generations, and some rich wealthy ppl came to your neighborhood , and shut them down and closed their busnesses and replaces them with multi million dollar condos?? unless your selfish , i really dont think you would like that at all

[Skinnyjoeymerlino]

@haitianzoezoe When Jewish and Italian neighborhoods were ruined by public housing the old residents were forced to move. What goes around comes around.

[Ridgewoodallday]

@Skinnyjoeymerlino really black and hispanic people raised the rents... and bought the jews and italians out of their apartments... cause last time I checked they left on their own free will because they didn't want to live with blacks and hispanics... this is worlds different from what is going on now where poor minorities are being priced out and bought out at whatever cost in order for a new whiter breed of people to come in...

[Skinnyjoeymerlino]

@Ridgewoodallday So it's racist for white people to move OUT of neighborhoods when Blacks move in, and it's racist for white people to move IN to Black neighborhoods. I get it.

[Ridgewoodallday]

@Skinnyjoeymerlino how does one even correlate to the other... you my good sir are a moron that doesn't have a point so you try to compare two completely unrelated topics and make me sound like i'm contradicting myself... give you props for the attempt... still an epic fail...

[Skinnyjoeymerlino]

@Ridgewoodallday So what do you propose be done--keep Harlem and North Philly and D.C. drug-infested ghettos of crime and poverty completely supported on the taxpayer's dime? God forbid white people come in and rehab buildings, open up businesses, and pick up the trash. Can't have that, I guess.

[Ridgewoodallday]

@Skinnyjoeymerlino I guess you haven't actually read up on the history of these neighborhoods... neighborhoods like Bushwick, Harlem, Bed-stuy in NYC made giant improvements crime wise even before the word gentrification took off... Bushwick for example in 1990 had 77 murders... in 1998 12 murders... guess how much it had last year when gentrification supposedly took off in the area 13 murders... These areas don't need white people to teach us minorities how to live properly... just investment

[Skinnyjoeymerlino]

@Ridgewoodallday Who committed those 12 murders? Yuppies? A community can be self-sustaining and live apart from mainstream society. The Amish do it. But I've never heard that advanced as a goal of fighting gentrification. Instead the goal is to preserve an ethnically homogeneous enclave of grinding poverty and crime that is paid for by taxpayer dollars. It's not sustainable.

[heldenman]

What the fuck, man!! What you filmed in the end of the clip is the movie set for a Law&Order-episode they shot here one week ago! Are you local? I don't think so...