It has been a week here and I am already exhausted but my excitement is keeping me going! Today was neighborhood day so the group got split in to smaller groups of 8 and visited different neighborhoods in NYC. My group went to visit Brooklyn. We meet the staff of FUREE. Which is a NGO and FUREE stands for families united for racial an economic equality. They were great! They are all about saving Brooklyn from gentrification. ( which is a word I learned today which is basically the process of renewing a neighborhood buy building new buildings for upperclass people and making it very difficult for low income families to live there). After we heard how most of the original Brooklyn families no longer can afford to live there because they are surrounded now by chic grocery stores and designer clothes stores we walked around Brooklyn ourselves . It was amazing to see that right next door to the projects were high rise apartment buildings . It made me think if that is what it is like in Chicago? Am I unaware of the injustices happening in my own backyard? Today made me realize that I always have to keep my mind open and realize that are two sides to everything, even things I don’t think twice about and wouldn’t think they were an issue. Before we left FUREE the lady working there told us ” remember where you have come from and even if you haven’t come from a difficult place, remember your struggles because every person has struggles”. It was humbling in the sense that no matter how how well off you are you are still like everyone else and you can connect with others and learn from what they have been through.
Definition:
Gentrification is a dynamic that emerges in poor urban areas when residential shifts, urban planning, and other phenomena affect the composition of a neighborhood.[1] Urban gentrification often involves population migration as poor residents of a neighborhood are displaced. In a community undergoing gentrification, the average income increases and average family size decreases. This generally results in the displacement of the poorer, pre-gentrification residents, who are unable to pay increased rents, and property taxes, or afford real estate. Often old industrial buildings are converted to residences and shops. New businesses, which can afford increased commercial rent, cater to a more affluent base of consumers—further increasing the appeal to higher income migrants and decreasing the accessibility to the poor. Often, resident owners unable to pay the taxes are forced to sell their residences and move to a cheaper community.[2][3]
Political action, either to promote or oppose the gentrification, is often the community's response against unintended economic eviction.[4] However, local governments may favor gentrification because of the increased tax base associated with the new high-income residents, as well as because of other perceived benefits of moving poor people and rehabilitating deteriorated areas.
Hello Gorgeous,
Didint you just LOVE Brooklyn? It’s so beautiful! My favorite part was yours as well, how it is so mixed in culture and economic diffemernces. The bridge is my favorite , did you know that the Brooklyn Bridge is the oldest in the United States of America!? At 1 point in time is was the only way to travel between Manhattan and Brooklyn! Just some fun facts for you! Happy your getting along great!
Bry