New York is Being Cannibalized by Gentrification - It's Time to Save Our City

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

I recently posted an article on FaceBook about New York facing empty sky scrapers, while New Yorkers can't afford to live in their own homes, as the result of rabid and rampant gentrification.  Gentrification actually began prior to Bloomberg becoming mayor, but went on steroids after his take over and his insensitivity to the needs of New York's diverse community.  His primary focus was on his cronies - the development community. 

Even though he's been out of office since 2014, it has escalated to the point that, according to statistics, at least 300 New Yorkers per day are leaving because they can no longer afford to live there.  It's as if some alien invasion has taken over our city - and the people are being aggressively gouged, displaced, disrespected, disregarded, as they overlay hundreds of years of tradition and community.  When a 200 square foot apartment - that used to be a family sized 4 bedroom apartment, with real  working class families residing in it - costs $2,000 to $3,000 a month in rent; and a family is barely bringing that much home a month in salaries or wages, it's clear that there is something seriously wrong here.   I got the message and realized that I certainly didn't have the deep pockets to keep ponying up with that kind of rent.  

But when you look around and find that the neighborhoods that are being aggressively targeted with ersatz "redevelopment," or "improvement" are Black - they you get flashback of the bad old days of "Urban Renewal means Negro Removal" -  a statement coined by James Baldwin after the first wave of gentrification took place in the 60s.

As Brooklyn's first Black Borough President, a lot of eyes are on Eric Adams and what he is or can do to stem the tide in Brooklyn.  The damage may well already be done under the former BP,  Marty Markowitz, who was smiling in everybody's faces, sponsoring concerts and at the same time allowing his cronies go into Brooklyn and wholesale tear down homes and displace some of the finest brownstones with crappy construction; knocking down whole blocks - while people on the buses, feeling helpless, and seeing their communities disappear, asked the question, "Where do they want us to go???"  Well, it became patently clear that they really didn't care where they went - they were viewed as impediments to progress.  Brooklyn was under attack, and most of the elected officials were oblivious or ignorant to what was happening right under the noses.  When the NY Board of Realtors held a Conference in Brooklyn, and literally mapped out their division of Brooklyn into regions, none of the elected officials were invited or involved - at least not the Black ones.   And when I tried to warn them of the dividing up Brooklyn by the commercial real estate industry, they were incredulous.  After all, why should they be interested in Brooklyn?  They had Manhattan.

In fact, interestingly enough, one of the real estate offices I worked with had originally refused to list or service any properties listed in Brooklyn because there were too many Black people - They originally looked down their noses on the Borough because it was 85% Black.  I think, that ratio has drastically changed, as more and more of what used to be inexpensive homes were snapped up, chopped up, and put back out on the market at nearly 10 times the original rental or sales price. Rent prices have been escalating so much that the landlord/tenant court stays full as people who work every day in the businesses and services in New York can't afford to keep it up.  Rapacious (conniving) landlords, aided and abetted by a bogus "rent control board" that has been instrumental in getting rid of rent control, legacies and other protective programs that used to shield New Yorkers, have gone off the rails and are now out of control. 

And now - here we are.  The horse has been let out of the barn and is galloping down the road.  What is going to happen to unring the bell?  Will New York have to become a ghost town, or a town so overpriced that no one but foreign travelers and uber rich can afford it?  Sometimes greed has to shoot itself in the foot before it realizes that it's gone absolutely too far.

Below is a clip from the New York DAILY NEWS on Borough President Eric Adam's statement on gentrification in Brooklyn, as well as articles on gentrification, urban renewal, etc. 

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-an-open-letter-to-new-yorkers-old-and-new-20200126-qbfx5tbsjvdtrazxfpjkuvobg4-story.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/american-housing-has-gone-insane/605005/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/upshot/why-trumps-use-of-the-words-urban-renewal-is-scary-for-cities.html

https://ibw21.org/commentary/vantage-point-articles/gentrification-the-new-negro-removal-program/

https://www.progressivecity.net/single-post/2017/03/12/%E2%80%9CNEGRO-REMOVAL%E2%80%9D-REVISITED-URBAN-PLANNING-AND-THE-NEW-JIM-CROW-IN-KANSAS-CITY

https://nlihc.org/resource/gentrification-and-neighborhood-revitalization-whats-difference

The problem, again, is how will New York resolve this gigantic problem facing it now.  It may well be, if we continue to over build it, and no one comes, what will we do?  Warehouse them and hold them off the market until they can sucker someone into taking it; count it as a loss - what?

Of course, while I'm writing this about New York, the same thing is happening on the left coast in California.  It appears that America's major cities have taken total leave of their senses, lost their moral compass, put the greedy over the needy, and continue to do the same dumb stuff day after day.  

Once again, I'm warning and encouraging people to stand up for themselves and their communities.  I did a piece several years ago entitled "Gentrify It Yourself."  Now more than ever, it's up to the people in the community to determine who their homes and communities belong to.  When people put financial bottom lines over your well being, it's time to put them on notice that you're mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more.  

If the people will lead, the leaders will follow - it's your city - you need to keep it that way. 

Now that doesn't mean keeping decayed communities in states of disrepair; it doesn't mean deferred maintenance - it means a collaborative effort between developers, residents, and city representatives so that the renovations are pro-people - i.e. people friendly - maybe with some sweat equity so that the people who have been there are the beneficiaries, while still making progress and providing for others who are newly moving into the community.  It considers those who were there first and giving them preference.  

It's your City - You deserve their respect and consideration.   And your legislators and elected official don't know how to do it, tell them to contact Retired Congressman Edolphus Towns - he will show them how and make it happen.  He did it with the Mitchell Lama situation - and it still stands.

I've said enough for now.  New Yorkers know how to get the job done - so do it!!!

NOW THAT YOU KNOW

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Stay Blessed & 

ECLECTICALLY BLACK 

Gloria Dulan-Wilson

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