The Gentrification of the Lower East Side

[soulscan1]

Gentrification is happenning everywhere!Block by block sweeping the "dirt poor" to make commodity for the filty rich.and @devmonbar if poor people had the jobs,money,good education then perhaps a tentative aggreement for equal housing would help the community out.The plan to slowly make a two class society 1st class last class high class low class in this country on the rise and guess what were are not part of it.

[eaguir3]

Why cant they just move to a cheaper place? I dont understand : /

[HuaYifu]

burn down the condos, it's getting obvious that peaceful protest doesn't work. It's likely that a lot of the developers won't be able to afford rebuilding

[ArchNME]

@HuaYifu There is this stuff called insurance. Google it.

[HuaYifu]

@ArchNME oh shit, what is that? i've never heard of it. you know, this kind of tactic has worked for the environmentalist groups. for instance, they petitioned a city to close down a lumber mill for months. of course the city just went "fuck you." so, they just sneaked into the place at night and burnt it down. the company never managed to rebuild. insurance isn't that simple.

[ArchNME]

@HuaYifu Okay, arson it is then. Wait, why would you want to do this again? To keep your rent from going up because cus you don't feel like moving? Aren't you kinda overreacting?

[HuaYifu]

@ArchNME it isn't just about rent. they're whitewashing one of the greatest places in the world, a prime example of america's strange culture, home to its counterculture, etc. it's really aggravating to see them tear it all down and replace it with some wine bars and glass buildings

[AlizeCiz]

gentrification might change the neighborhood for the better, but it damn sure doesn't benefit the residents

[devmonbar]

So what! I like the "change." Better than some poor people all over the place not taking care of their community. However I do agree with the outrageous rent prices in the area. There need to be some middle ground regarding that. I cannot imagine paying $4000 a month in rent for a Pre War Studio in LES in 2020.

[lunhil12]

They're turning it into another Yuppiestan, soon it will look like 42nd st. A yuppie disneyland version of what they think loisada is.

[Nappitude21]

brooklyn is soooo friendly...soo nice..people was great...now these yuppies moving in...not friendly at all..i hate this country

[6FURI6S6]

I grew up in the L.E.S. when needled in my playground and gun shots were a part of everyday life. I am an adult now and it is almost impossible to get an apartment(IN MY OWN NEIGHBORHOOD) FvCK all the rich PvSSYs who are moving in. We being kicked out any way you put it.

[teak43]

3:16. That Danielle Linzer chick is not an activist. She's a trust-funder with a cushy job at the Whitney museum! Danielle, YOU ARE THE YUPPIE and you are the one doing the gentrifying.

[teak43]

Dollars to donuts the wiggas who made this aren't from the LES.

[june47able]

I was born on the LES in 1947 and grew up there. It was a great neighborhood during the 1950's and early 1960's. I moved away not because of the rent, but because of all the weirdos that started to move in. I have no interest in seeing what has become of my old neighborhood (Avenue A & East 2nd street). Lower East Side is doomed!

[epiksonik]

@june47able

I get it, you were the last "great" LES resident, huh.

[CoolWhippedNegro]

whithout white people moving into NY.

every neighbrohood with the exeption of the upper west side (jew Ville) whould be a filth ridden ghetto.

you spics and niggers should thank whitey every chance you get .

[0211jessyf]

@CoolWhippedNegro

you're a sick bastard!

[Nappitude21]

@CoolWhippedNegro hahah i cant wait for the white race to be extinct ...that would be the happiest time period of my life

[CoolWhippedNegro]

NYC would be a complete shithole if it wasnt for smart white kids who moved their and cleaned the shit hole up.

[IsItOnTab]

KICK THE NIGGERS OUT iiighhttttttt

[supertrouper]

to continue my comment, probably they won't have to wait until all the poor people are gone for the property values to drop. with things getting so expensive and jobs/wages being cut, there is going to be an increase in people committing crimes to get what they need and then it will become bad to live in the City and then the rich will leave.

[supertrouper]

Eventually the gentrification is going stop or go in reversed. The City needs poor people to fill in jobs in businesses and if they are gone, the businesses will suffer and disappear. then the rich will move out and then the property values will drop and they will have to give it to people lower income to fill the properties or worse the properties will become abandoned and get filled with criminals doing drugs and other crimes and it will be like 1970s NYC again.

[roge69charger]

Someone tell "Charles Greenthal" who now manages Seward Park, To get the "Bed Bugs" out of the bldgs. Zakk from Guns & Roses has 2 apts there. I can't fathom why anyone would live there that is that rich.

LES today S*cks!

[philthetremoloking]

my man enrique...one of the old 13th street squatters

[FightMang36]

AND i like where im at i just dont like the people in charge..

[hop208]

Hmm... Looks like the grandchildren of those poor immigrants from decades ago are moving back into their grandparents old neighborhood.

[FightMang36]

@hop208 your an immigrant too stupid so white people weren't from america either stupid! so if you dnt like it you can eat it and choke on it while your at it...

[hop208]

@FightMang36 No shit. Like the video illustrates. The neighborhood has changed hands several times over the years and it looks like its changing hands again. The descendants of the people who lived in that neighborhood decades ago are moving back into their grandparents and great-grandparents old neighborhood.  The poor people who live there now feel like they are being forced out when they forced people out with their violence and gangs as presented here. Don't like it? I don't care.

[FightMang36]

@hop208 poor people as you say shine as a reminder of how america treated minority for 400 plus years... i dnt know why your saying poor people are evil they just learned it off america..they are the hate n the evil that america gave them ...you say minority is violent..america killed raped and stole everything jus to get what they wanted and they still do it to this day..they just know how to disguise everything they do with lies...and tricking people but a wise man dosent fall for that....

[FightMang36]

@hop208 made people slaves too might i add...they wanna make it seem like we're the bad ones but their the worst...all they do is hide and brainwash people..into thinking that they are good but their just snakes in the grass...

[hop208]

@FightMang36 WTF are you talking about? So poor steerage class European immigrants from the late 1800's living 6 to 8 people in a 3 room apartment (like my family did) are now the rich evil elite white slave owners of the South? My family may have been the "right" color to pull itself into the middle class, but that doesn't mean we owe you anything. Your argument is too broadly reaching about your grievances with whites overall and no offense, but you've run the neighborhood into the ground.

[FightMang36]

@hop208 you from the lower east side?

[hop208]

@FightMang36 Part of my family lived there when they first immigrated and were dirt poor. Most of my family immigrated directly to Philadelphia and that's where I'm from.

[FightMang36]

@hop208 one day all lies will be uncovered and shit will really get serious and money aint gonna mean shit!! your gonna be runnin scared boy!

[FightMang36]

@FightMang36 rich people in the l.e.s now are no diffrent all they do is build bars get high off crack n coke n whatever else they use. i seen alot of them hippies in the l.e.s straight junkies thel kill themselfs eventually. they bring in drugs what will that do? run a neigborhood to the ground your just mad because we takin over...we jus gonna keep it comin power in numbers and theres nothing you can fuckin do!! your type think you can make us feel inferior but we are superior...get over it..

[hop208]

@FightMang36 "Power in numbers"? Way to embolden the people you claim to be against. Statements like that made it possible for the Arizona immigration law to be passed. If they win their court case, you can kiss that dream goodbye because every state will pass a similar law. My type is nothing like you. You are a hateful vengeful person whose angry you can't get back at the wrong doers because they're 6 feet underground already. I like most people remember the past, but forgive and moving on.

[FightMang36]

@hop208 and too bad now if they dont like immigrants america made them come here.going to every country telling people that this the land where dreams are made of..when its all fake hype thats what america is...

[hop208]

@FightMang36 "Boy"? You sound kind of worked up. Did you just come home from a Black Liberation Army meeting or something? If the shit were to get serious you'd get your wish, white people would leave with their money and turn NYC into Detroit. The hollowed out shell of a once great city; and guess what, all the decent people no matter what color would leave with us. It seems funny the angriest, hateful, grudge holders never move ahead in life. Forgiving is not forgetting.

[FightMang36]

listen boy everything i said is the truth to bad if you dont like it...but thats what it is theres facts to everything that i say...and im not black yuppie...you talk pretty freely here i kno thats not the case on the outside world...its pointless talkin to and uptight person like you...and america can make all the laws they want you can make stupid laws dosent mean people gonna follow them..the goverment is all about hypocrisy...they just scared wel out do em..

[DIJV79]

At least people want to live in your neighborhoods and make productive changes that make the place look better. Unlike So.Cal we don't get white yuppies with money, we get poor Mexicans who bring gangs and ignorance and destroy the place, you guys are lucky you get progressive people all we get is poor broke Mexicans and their 10 kids so stop complaining.

[FightMang36]

@DIJV79 changing it how? by putting bars in every corner putting up art galleries for only rich people to benefit off of you racist fuck! america forced everyone from other countrys to come here by giving them a false illusion of wealth..and now their mad cause immigrants come here. and if you knew anything this is stolen land..so white people dnt belong here either..who the fuck is your dumb ass to judge anyone you stupid fuck! go read abook and educate your mind!

[DIJV79]

@FightMang36 Shut up you fucking idiot, that's life buddy the rich make the rules and there is nothing you can do about it, now kick rocks dip shit and education doesn't mean shit the majority of the people moving into that neighborhood are entrpreneurs the new rich.

[FightMang36]

@DIJV79 man shut up you punk ass bitch are you even from nyc you fag? how come you only talk like that on the comp and not in real life?

[DIJV79]

@FightMang36 Doesn't matter where I'm from and I would never live in that shit called NYC, So.Cal suits me just fine another winter of sunshine and hot women, now go fuck your mother.

[FightMang36]

@DIJV79 nahh il stick to your mom i like mouth fucking your mom too mucch n making her gag she a freak all the women in your family are ;)..and nyc the best!! so eat shit then die....

[FightMang36]

AND thats funny you dnt get any girls stop lieing to ur dick.. you jerk off to porn all day..gay porn lmao!!! AND YOU KNOW ITT!!

[krazy1luv]

Sad that Nyc will soon lose that edge that unique look that separated it from every city in the world. You go to real Nyc it had that different look, music, salsa, hip hop, rock,pop everything. It was diverse. You go to the suburbs it doesnt have that, everything looks the same. No creativity. That's how the new NYc is gonna look like the comment below its gonna look like a shopping center.

[krazy1luv]

Its not only L.E.S that gentrification is taking place, it's all over nyc and it's been happening for a couple decades now. Its just now that we are starting to see the effects. I live in the mid section of Queens by jackson heights. Towards the west of Queens which is long island city and astoria, is where the yuppies are. Soon it will spread out further my way where I will see the effect. Nyc will most likely lose that cultural vibe that everyone in the world knows NYc by.

[keinaan12345]

We need to riot and burn the fuck out of these yuppie condos.

Grow a pair and do something. Look at those necomers in the video and what they said-"I bet you could have sex in any bathroom"(NIGGA YOU STILL A VIRGIN!).

This is my city.Ours and yours. I will not sit around waiting for some fucked up bitch artist to pay $5,500 for my apartment.

[themelshow]

i got a great solution for Gentrification, Do what i did... if you don't like whats going on in your neighborhood, then MOVE OUT!!!!!!!! I'm a Puerto Rican from NYC and now I'm very happy here in California. i understand that we would like to keep the integrity of our hoods, but if you think about it, its not really our hood after all. the world is our hood.

[tzutzutzu]

I used to think that's the place I wanna be and stay forever, but it seems it's not what it used to be. Where's the stinking dump with the cheap rents where u get mugged every day? Bad neighborhoods are better than a yuppie NH, I presume.

Is Nys best days over?

[MrGustavogallegos]

Its a done DEAL!!!!!!!!....SEE U LATER CROCADILE

[unfluster]

When the minorities were being pushed out of the Lower East Side in the early 80's Mayor Giuliani- (he was a City prosecutor at the time of the interview and I wish I could find) he said- "when the Puerto Ricans turned the entire lower east side into a drug super market (he was referring to the L.E.S. in the late 70's & early '80), they were making $100,000. a week. At the time the building were going for $4000. to $8000. They had the opportunity to buy the entire neighborhood.(Continues below)

[unfluster]

(continues from above)

With all the millions they made, all that drug money, they could have purchased every building on every block in the Lower East Side, but they didn't buy a single building. They treated the neighborhood like a toilet and are now being pushed out, and frankly it's hard to feel sorry for them.

(This is a paraphrase from an interview by Mr. Giulliani before he was mayor)

[roughcoat09]

I used to walk through the lower east side in the early 80s. It was a real shithole then. Long live Gentrification!!!

[nycrtst33]

2:37 Be more humble about your proffesion.People got to get together and fight for whats theirs instead of complaining and calling them yuppies.

[GuerrillaJoints]

2:49 dumb yuppy fuck

[djhivesdotcom]

I want to 666! and 322! this yuppie fake faggot!!!

[MisterBarryButters]

Isn't it the poor who we should be rebuilding housing for?

[Suzannahartist]

My maternal grandfather was born on Ludlow Street in early 1900's in a tenement house.

[Suzannahartist]

heartbreaking

[ProgressiveAction10]

gentrifiers = people with jobs who raise their children and make positive contributions to society.

[JONFROMDA6th]

gentrification= kicking out the poor and displacing them because you think coffee shops and overpaying for clothes is cool

[sharingon13]

in the 2010s gentrification will reverse as there will be mass outward migration of professional young people from america

[AptivaXL]

What children and which jobs? Half these idiots live of their parents and won't have children until they're well into their 40s then trust me ...they will move to the suburbs. Also, coffee shops, drunken escapades and shit bands aren't much of a contribution.

[vinceDatpapi]

damn i kant even visit my fam in the les cuz white ppl wanna move there & they prolly gonna kick all the pj ppl out...fuckin yuppies they everywhere in ny. i aint gotta problem with the white ppl...but its like ppl from other cities tryna take over..fuckin up my city

[haitianzoezoe]

i kno right , same here i dont got a problem with them whites moving in , but when they move in to kick the poor out , and ruin the neighborhoods culture, shit pisses me off , i hope l.e.s continues to keep the rest of the hispanic culture it has for the future

[vinceDatpapi]

harlem...white ppl tryna take over

far rock..white ppl build condos right across the pjs

bushwick..seen alot of yuppies there

leave the hood alone cuz at the end where they gonna go???

[haitianzoezoe]

far rock?? yuppies cant go their isnt far rock like the farthest hood from the city , shit i heard u can get to manhattan faster in new jersey then far rock

[vinceDatpapi]

yea but i seen ppl build beach front condos right across the street from pjs...go to edgemere...o.v..& hammels

[haitianzoezoe]

wild , i though thtey would all be low income housing

[vinceDatpapi]

there is but they got nice waterfront apartments right next to them

[paolosilv]

True

[haitianzoezoe]

lmao i aint no zoe i coincidently made up the name lol , and i live in nyc to

[gametight79]

If a yuppie gives you a hard time..Punch em in the fuckin mouth..Bomb 1st son.

[f0x8somenuts]

lowa east side f0r life u aint wit it get the fuck out

[megasum]

fuck all the out of town carpetbaggin assholes who contribute nothing to this city and just leech off the myth of what NYC used to be. go back to ohio!

[MrGustavogallegos]

what part of da midwest??

[paolosilv]

Why the hell do the people from the Midwest want to live in the East Village/Lower East Side? Not only have they destroyed the quality of the neighb, they have brought with them their insane obsession with cleanliness. The whole charm of the East village is its grubbiness.

[MsFaffinette89]

Why are you insulting the Midwest... thats very ignorant of you.

[paolosilv]

No it isn't.

[paolosilv]

Is it? Tell me, why is the Midwest something no one can say anything about?

[MsFaffinette89]

NO! Wrong duche bag. Only people who are NOT from the midwest can say nothing about it, because they dont know anything about it. Detroit and Chicago are two of the best cities in America, but most people dont know that because they actually believe what they see on TV and read in the papers. As you probably DONT know... TV and Newspapers only sell when they show the negative parts of these cities... now can you tell me why your city is so much better? Asshole?

[paolosilv]

Fuck yourself dicksucker.

[paolosilv]

By your language you show yourself to be the scum that you are.

[haitianzoezoe]

well the whole world knows nyc is better then chicago n detroit...now i beleive chicago is a good city, but detroit??? dont flatter yourself

[MsFaffinette89]

I'll forgive you for such ignorance.... I am sure you know that people shouldn't believe everything they see on television. and I'll leave it at that....

[haitianzoezoe]

ignorence??? what ignorence? thats the problem in this world with people like you , like i said despite chicago,s high crime , its overall a good city , but you just said deotroit is one of the best cities??? last time i checked detroit looks like the bronx in the 80,s , the city is very poor and bankrupt , and its crime rate is super high making chicago looks safe..so thats one of the best cities in america??? o yeaaaa i gotta love that one

[Ytaittdsas]

@haitianzoezoe Chicago has SURVEILLENCE cameras all over the place. Sorry, but I like my privacy. Chicago, in that sense, is just as bad as Detroit.

[LazlosPlane]

No. That grubbiness was just a recent development and was considered "cool" by airheads like you.

Lower East Side was always, REPEAT always a family working class neighborhood, safe and clean -- pre-1960 or so.

Then the drugs and human feces came in and took over.

[Ytaittdsas]

@LazlosPlane Amen.

[triggasquezze12]

People who are born and raised in New York need to grow some fuckin balls and stop letting yuppies from the midwest take over their neighborhoods.

[Nappitude21]

@triggasquezze12 kinda hard to do that when u have racist forces attacking you

[johnbourbon]

you show that gentrification in the lower east side has been a normal process with historical foundations for generations and generations.

so why is the current gentrification so problematic? isn't it just the latest wave, participating in an historically normal, healthy process?

[ed60000]

It's problematic because the working class in NYC can no longer afford to pay the inflated rent.

So instead you only have the rich transplants that can afford to live here because they were too scared to come pre-giuliani.

NYC will never be the same. What made the city great was it's Native New Yorkers, Immigrants with a dream, and the starving artist. New York will just be a shopping center for the rich as it will no longer have the variety of tastes these people have brought to the city.

[johnbourbon]

ive been the starving artist for years in NYC, and traveled exclusively in that circle and i know no one who had to leave because they couldn't afford it. we just had to get creative at times. it wasn't always easy.

...so there's a reason why sinatra sang "if i can make it there..."

[ed60000]

The problem though is these transplants are not making it here, they're just fortunate to have daddy's fat wallet.

What I miss most about NYC is the people and the energy which is disintegrating.

These pretentious spoiled brats need to go. I will welcome these troubled economic times as it will revert New York back to it's grimy era and give these yuppie transplant f*cks a dose of reality.

[johnbourbon]

based on the content of your response (daddy's wallet, spoiled brats, yuppie f*cks etc), i think i know what's going on here.

and maybe why i disagree is simply because i don't get into class wars...because i really don't believe in "classes". to me, it's all fleeting and temporary. i'm not scared of other people's money, and i don't think anyone is doomed to be poor forever.

[XxUltraViolencexX]

Gentrification has destroyed NYC.

[davidbraae]

shut up bro you dont know shit

[CoolWhippedNegro]

@XxUltraViolencexX

you cant destroy NYC son.

It has always been a city in flux.

[CoolWhippedNegro]

@XxUltraViolencexX

you cant destroy NYC son.

It has always been a city in flux.

Perhaps you wouldnt have been so cool if you lived their in the 70s-80s.

youd probably be more concerned with surviving

[epiksonik]

@CoolWhippedNegro

well, it is different now in that the rich are moving into poor neighborhoods and by virtue of conde nast hipsterism, have made it a cesspool of corporate domination.

[epiksonik]

@CoolWhippedNegro

wow, reading your other comments, i wanna curbstomp your ass.

[klasomentas]

this so reminds me eksarhia,a municipality down-town Athens,greece, where famous artists and academics used to live along with self destructing personalities.

[JoshDone]

You're at least 20 years too late. As someone born and raised on Avenue C from 1970 on, I appreciate the sentiment, but the gentrification fight has long been lost.

[AkshenJackson]

Don't get the wrong idea. The video was for an editing class and, as I was born and raised here, I noticed NYU buying real estate on 8th between B and C in the mid 80s. That was probably the time to have committees combating the process. This last decade as been simply the return on their investments.

[Izakokomarixyz]

PROBLEM: GENTRIFICATION

SOLUTION: CRIME

It should work... since they want to get the "true" feel of the neighborhood...

[Addison5000]

Yeah, and now all the same crappy people are infesting Greenpoint, Astoria, 33st, 40st Lowery, etc.. I feel it already. If I stand in front MSG or Grand Central or where CBGB's was, I detect mostly non-native New Yorkers. There are soooooo many random outsiders strutting their lousy shit down the street. The developers who target market them are usually not from New York now either. Successful people from all over the world now flock to NYC to outbuy and replace the NYers from the 20's. ;(

[AkshenJackson]

New York is becoming an entertainment venue by now. People with less that 100K incomes have been pushed out of the city & Mhtn's apartments are similar to a hotel; an expensive way the live above a themepark. This recession could cause a white flight but, even if less wealthy come back to the neighborhoods, the previous communities and styles have been destroyed and the new residents would resurrect the hoods' cultures but build new ones.

Its one of the less tragic problems 4 our generation.

[CoolWhippedNegro]

@AkshenJackson

I make less than 100K and have lived in this city for 20 years.

However I know how to survive and dont depoend on govt to take care of me like some spic or nigger bitch

[CoolWhippedNegro]

@Addison5000

Ill bet you would have pissed your pants to walk passed CBGB in 1985.

lol

[AkshenJackson]

And, the opening montage depicts the developers contribution towards fuckin up our homes. That's not something to establish by talkin to ignorant consumers during a 5 hour session.

[AkshenJackson]

Translation:

-The LES is now the eastern branch of the NYU campus.

-With 1 night to film, people who are actually "from" the LES were virtually impossible to find, so we asked open ended questions to the yuppies to get their stupid answers. Not just defensive ones.

-You seemed disgusted with what you saw, hence these yuppies in the LES were displeasing.

-This guy at the end is my boy so, his mentality is mine so you don't have to remind me bout the NY state of mind.

Is that clear enough for ya.

[SanJoseMA]

L.E.S. -- why dont you fucking interview TRUE new yorkers, the people who were born and raised there...not these fucking wannabe tree huggin pussy liberals who come here to live a life they see on TV. "It's grimmy, its awesome" shut the fuck up....keep throwing out the hard working people so you can move in with your lawyer money trying to be a struggling poet you fake motherfucker. It's like the last guy said, THIS IS STILL LES AND IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT THE REAL RESIDENTS WILL LET YOUR ASS KNOW

[AkshenJackson]

We had 1 night and, on a Thurs. on the NYU campus, it was nice to know that no one from the LES was about to talk to 2 white guys with a camera & a mic. The point was to capture a vicious sample of just how vile these yuppie bitches can be. A "true" audience hasn't seen anything new until they see a mouth pouring shit onto the sidewalk. People who recognize the problems usually keep their distance from the cocksuckers at the source.

The "last guy" is my boy, so don't talk shit about our work.

[SanJoseMA]

What? Bro, you make no sense. I don't see any point to what you wrote. I don't mean to be funny or offensive, I just seriously do not understand the point of what you wrote....say what you gotta say and thats it. And since when did I talk shit about your boy, I AGREED WITH HIM...can't you read? How are you showing how vile these yuppie bitches can be anyway? You should go around and ask them how it feels to kick out hard working families and be posing ass motherfuckers who need to get out!

[SanJoseMA]

And again, I was talking about the people in the video, not your boy or your work...although when you want to know what LES is really about, you should interview its 15+ (minimum) year residents. Not go on an NYU campus.

[Izakokomarixyz]

yea we should all unite!