Closing Bell: The Great Brooklyn Migration

WNYC Soundcheck host John Schaefer has penned an article on why he thinks “The Great Brooklyn Migration,” as he calls it, is the “defining transformation of Bloomberg’s New York.” Bloomberg, he says, offered the reassurance New Yorkers needed in the wake of 9/11, and helped drive an unprecedented rise in real state values — even in Manhattan’s “less elegant” neighborhoods. Of course, those prices are what drove the city’s artists and musicians across the river, changing “the economy of the entire borough.” He writes:

Brooklyn in 2001 was still cheap enough to attract indie musicians, but over the next few years it would become home to such an astonishing influx of musicians, artists, and designers – and then club owners, festival programmers, restaurateurs, artisanal brewers, distillers, and eventually, even a professional sports team – that it would change the economy of the entire borough.

He argues the “artistic ferment” and “cultural clout” of the city are stronger than ever — just no longer confined exclusively to Manhattan. Do you agree?

Photo by Jorge