More than 50 businesses have opened on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights north since 2008, rents in Crown Heights are rising rapidly and new people, many of whom are young and white, are moving into the area. Narratively, a site that publishes in-depth stories about New York, takes a long look at the what and why of the changes happening in Crown Heights. Their explanation: Local community groups who have worked hard to improve the area, more policing (often at the request of the community), and real estate firms. We agree that areas such as Crown Heights and Bed Stuy have become safer, more desirable places to live because of the hard work of the people who have lived there for decades. Might broader forces also be at work, namely the decades-long disappearance of well-paid jobs with benefits and the reversal of white flight?
Note: The publisher of Brownstoner is one of the development partners at 1000 Dean, mentioned in the article.
A Look Below the Surface in Gentrifying Crown Heights [Narratively]
Photo by Mo Scarpelli for Narratively


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I have a lot of interest in this. My family history goes back at least 100 years on Sterling Place. My grandfather owned a building on Sterling Place off of Franklin and it was where my mother lived and I spent 7 happy years visiting and playing there. The demographics began to change. My grandfather had a small business on the ground floor of the building and he was robbed a few times at gunpoint and then the last time the low life thugs pistol whipped him and a died as a result. We sold the building as soon as we could. That was around 1960. It always saddened me that such a beautiful neighborhood became notorious for drugs and crime and I am now extremely happy to see the neighborhood changing for the better. It is too bad that good people have been racially profiled and also that long term residents are being forced out but the area is just too nice to have had the serious crime continue. If I could afford it I would come back but its way too expensive for me now and I am more than fine with that.

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