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Comments

• [1] sarah from Williamsburg July 18, 2007 - 11:32AM

  I would just like to point out that even though these people who are moving out to Bushwick might be white, it doesn't mean that they have money. Williamsburg is getting too expensive where are these people supposed to go? It's not a bad thing that people are looking for affordable housing it's a bad thing that no one can afford to live in this city anymore.

  
  
• [2] don noname from bushwick rent July 18, 2007 - 11:34AM

  i've invested in this area in a warehouse (as an artist for 10 years), and frankly i think the area still freaks out people; unlike bedford there is a huge hispanic community here... and gunfire, addicts, etc...; what i find sad, is that some people from manhattan pay too high of a rent for a crappy apartment. this area still 'sucks' by most people's standards; i only encounter artist types moving here...; i hope i can stay here, a am not hipster and am a serious artist without a trust fund... we need artists joining together to purchase property to not be displaced (via grants/gov't or private help).

  
  
• [3] Joseph from Williamsburg July 18, 2007 - 11:36AM

  Why hasn't the $2000 ceiling for rent stabilized/controlled apartments been raised ever?

  One would assume that if landlords are able to raise leases by approximately 8% when they come up for renewal that the ceiling for which rent stabilization applies would also raise by 8%...

  
  
• [4] Mike from Jersey City from Hoboken, NJ July 18, 2007 - 11:36AM

  Despite being a landlord for very low income people, I have to ask why all these people -- artists in particular -- feel they are more entitled to live in a certain neighborhood than other people.

  
  
• [5] Jessica from Bushwick, Jefferson L July 18, 2007 - 11:42AM

  My boyfriend and I were just recently priced out of our Boerum Hill apt. (landlord raised rent 25% with ten days notice---entire building was elbowed out). We moved to Bushwick, only place we could afford the rent and find a no fee apartment. I am a special ed teacher, and my boyfriend is a non-trust fund artist. I don't want to displace anyone, seeing as I was just displaced. But where exactly should we go?

  
  
• [6] Sarah from Brooklyn July 18, 2007 - 11:45AM

  People move were they can afford to live. I live in a mostly black area because I can afford to live there and have more space than I would in Manhattan. The problem isn't with the people moving into Bushwick, its the realestate developers and crooked landlords kicking people out. Lets not make this a color issue or artist vs. long time residents issue. Most people in Bushwick all want the same thing: affordable housing for everyone.

  
  
• [7] Gary from Manhattan July 18, 2007 - 02:37PM

  Hey people, which would you rather have:

  1) New York as a burned-out shell with taxpayers (who cover the costs of city services, I might add) running for their lives and moving to the suburbs (like in the '60s and '70s)

  or

  2) New York as an economically vibrant oasis with taxpayers moving in from the suburbs and supporting city services in the process?

  "Gentrification" is used as a pejorative. I call it cleaning up the neighborhood.

  If "gentrification" weren't occurring in Bushwick and elsewhere in the city, the same people complaining about gentrification would be complaining about why the city is deteriorating. Stop the bitchin' and enjoy New York's comeback.

  
  
• [8] hjs from NYC July 18, 2007 - 02:46PM

  this segment was too short

  
  
• [9] Be from Manhattan July 18, 2007 - 04:33PM

  I would much rather have New York as "a burned-out shell with taxpayers (who cover the costs of city services, I might add) running for their lives and moving to the suburbs (like in the '60s and '70s)"

  That was when New York was the most exciting, magical city in the world. As someone who's family lived in the city then, and who lives in the city now, I am extremely disappointed with what New York is turning into. It's getting to be that New York is no different than almost any other bland, cookie cutter, developer-shaped city. We have lost a great deal of the excitement, danger, vibrancy, and diversity that made this city so great. It was also much more affordable in the "bad" years you described. That's the city I want to live in, and so do many other people. Not a disney-fied, sterile, place for foreigners to snatch up living space for pied a terres because they think new york is oh so trendy.

  
  
• [10] Miss or Ms from NYC July 18, 2007 - 08:28PM

  The guest featured in this segment did a great job offering details of some of the reasons a neighborhood turns.

  The issue is more complicated than it is made out to be.

  In NYC, neighborhoods always change, newcomers move in, old timers move away.

  The trend is the newcomers are only transients who have no intention of making NYC their home and who can only afford to pay those kinds of rents

  a.for a couple of years and

  b.if they are splitting the rent with a roommate or SO.

  They move away when they are all partied out and ready to breed and are replaced with younger versions of themselves and the rents stay high and climber higher!

  
  
• [11] Miss or Ms from NYC July 18, 2007 - 08:31PM

  gary, that is not what is happening.

  the guest offered a great explanation in the time alloted in this segment of explaining what the problem is.

  People seem to forget, housing is a necessity of life.

  
  
• [12] Miss or Ms from NYC July 18, 2007 - 08:36PM

  "Despite being a landlord for very low income people, I have to ask why all these people -- artists in particular -- feel they are more entitled to live in a certain neighborhood than other people."

  excuse me, Mike?

  why should you think YOU are entitled to become a multi-millionaire on your investment?

  Did you listen to this segment before commenting?

  the guest spoke of buildings of rent paying tenants who were denied BASIC services ( which is against the law) to encourage them to move and then given the boot when the land speculators decided they NEED a 600% return on their investment.

  
  
• [13] Sunphat Yau from X-BKN, now LA July 19, 2007 - 02:59AM

  Hey "BE" if you yearn for those seedy days you can always move to Detroit! I do agree though, having lived in the city for over 20 years from the mid 1980's, and watching places like "Billy s topless" and Times Square becoming part of "The Magic Kingdom" and the South side of Williamsburg becoming Hipster-SuperFabo-Japanese-shopping-spree-land, the guts have been torn out and are gone. But on the flip side, if you were lucky enough to buy property then I guess you're "stoked" (one of the many least favorable California-isms).

  We need more eminent domain for private business! Watching my old Fort Greene fall to the like of sellouts like Jay Z and RATner, is sickening.

  .

  
  
• [14] Maria from Brooklyn July 19, 2007 - 12:27PM

  Having watched my vibrant communities in the East Village (from 25 yrs ago), then Prospect Heights (18 yrs now) change in real estate prices, quality of nieghbors (of the new tenants in my building, NO ONE even says hello, much less knows their neighbors' names); and seeing the new businesses and new architecture that completely ignore their historical, spacial or community context -- New York becomes a suffocating kind of place, ruined by greed.

  Obviously, Bushwick is the next target!

  
  
• [15] Ian from ENY Brooklyn July 22, 2007 - 10:21PM

  Sunphat Yau

  I agree with you and I am seriously looking at Camdon NJ and an invenstment spot. Living in what was the murder capitol of NY (ENY) and watching things like Gateway Mall and tons of revitalization projects go up, I can tell you once you hit bottom there is no way but up after that.

  Jessica, South Jamaica is still affordable. There are tons of basemsnt apartments in Canarsie and Southeast Queens. Check the Newsday Classified. Just be prepared to pay two fare zone prices.