News Flash: Everyone Wants to Live in the City
If you weren’t already convinced that city life is becoming increasingly preferable to suburban life, see this article in The New Republic, which looks at a trend called “demographic inversion”—a reversal of the white flight that helped hollow out the inner city beginning in the 1950s. The author quantifies what many Brooklynites already know: the…
If you weren’t already convinced that city life is becoming increasingly preferable to suburban life, see this article in The New Republic, which looks at a trend called “demographic inversion”—a reversal of the white flight that helped hollow out the inner city beginning in the 1950s. The author quantifies what many Brooklynites already know: the neighborhoods closest to vocational and cultural hubs (like, dare we say, Manhattan) and with shopping and services in walking distance are the most popular, forcing poorer folks to move further and further out. There’s been plenty of talk about the suburbs potentially turning into 21st century slums but what will 21st century cities look like if demographic inversion continues? “In the worst case, demographic inversion would result in the poor living out of sight and largely forgotten in some new kind of high-rise projects beyond the city border, with the wealthy huddled in gated enclaves in the center.”
Trading Places [The New Republic]
Beyond Gentrification [Curbed]
Photo by Daily Phototherapy.
“The What – I think you completely quoting me out of context shows why you are truly just an asshole and have no credibility”
I don’t know. We’re approaching 100 + posts as he predicted. You guys should take heed.
Hey northsloperenter – I dig. Buying a home isn’t just about money, it’s about preference. Different strokes for different folks, as they’d say in my day.
“Hey you know what. F_CK Y__. Would you like to buy a vowel?”
Say what you want, the guy is funny. LOL.
Benson-
OK, I give up: thanks for providing the link, but I don’t have time to wade through the nyc.gov stats!
In the interest of harmony, let me suggest our disagreement is more a question of semantics than anything else. Isn’t it possible those immigrants moving into Gravesend aren’t actually ‘middle class’ – or at least aspirants to that title. Yes, they can’t afford a whole house, but does that mean they don’t make enough $$ to be considered ‘middle class’ by any normal economic standard?
So could it be the ‘middle class squeeze’ is really about being physically squeezed into an apartment rather than an enire house.
If that’s the case, I find it hard to feel sympathy for people who decide they want to relocate simply to gain square footage. And again, who sold/converted these houses in the first place? My guess would be ‘natives’ who decided to cash-out rather than preserve the identity of the old neighborhood.
Look towards Manhattan: there are countless ‘rich’ people who live in spaces most Americans would consider substandard. Yet nobody’s talking about an ‘upper class squeeze’ – at least yet!
Well put anita! I totally agree, just look at some of those big modern apt. buildings built in Manhattan during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s most look horrible now. The once chic and modern exteriors look dated and worn. I have 2 friends who live in buildings that back when each of their parents moved in were “it” buildings. Now, not so much.
Funny that both sets of those parent now live in McMansions in the burbs!
“Good to see that you are learning something about my neighborhood. It’s about time. Why don’t you tell the good people of this site where you went and what you were doing in Bed-Stuy on a work day?”
I was in Bed Stuy scumming out your wife while you was at work. I slipped you little loud brat sleeping pills and bang the living daylights out of you wife. She told me “once you have black you can’t never go back”!
“Do you even have a job?”
Nope I’m of welfare like the major corporations in America!
“You should be a politician.”
Yep! I do better that the fucking “leadership” now!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end….
Anita/Butler
The construction methods being used today in the suburbs AND the city have been utilized for at least the last 50 years – and while the structures require maintenance and upkeep (like all buildings) they continue to standup fine. (see Levittowns all over Northeast, see residential highrises built all over country since 1950)
You are confusing non-structural things like finishes and material weight (plaster vs. Sheetrock for ex) with structural stability and durability
“I was up and down Bed Stuy yesterday.”
Good to see that you are learning something about my neighborhood. It’s about time. Why don’t you tell the good people of this site where you went and what you were doing in Bed-Stuy on a work day? Do you even have a job?
“Nope everyone who bought a house from me did very well. I got out just in time.”
So you left just as the houses you sold to these people went south? That is so nice of you, what. You must be so proud. And you admit you were part of the problem and now you deny any responsibility for the solution. You should be a politician.
“Would you like to wind up on the Famous Asshole Quotes post”
what, I was quoting YOUR comments in the past when you lose an argument and begin to insult people. If anyone deserves the great honor of “Famous Asshole Quotes” it is you. Congratulations.
Brooklyn Butler said: “I think, however, that the quality of construction in many suburbs will cause these developments to be replaced with higher-quality construction. A lot of these homes are going to fall apart in 50 years.”
I tend to agree with you, but wanted to point out one, ancillary, thing.
Anyone who thinks the quality of construction currently being built by any of the big and small developers in NYC and Brooklyn is of higher quality than is what is being built in the suburbs is mistaken.
The developer mentality, in general, is only to maximize profits, and they doing that by reducing quality every step of the way. You even see it in Richard Meier’s project at Grand Army Plaza.
Maybe you have McMansions in the suburbs, but you also have what might be termed McCondos in the city. And lots of unwitting people are spending major bucks on construction that won’t, like turn of the century and pre-war construction, stand the test of time. It’s gonna look shabby real quick, despite the shiny exteriors.
What said: “when this depression gets underway, I want to see how many of you “stick it out”
I’ll ask you again. Where are we going to go? This is my life here. I am not abandoning it because the economy blows. I have nowhere else to go.
And yes I would like to buy a vowel…Y_U ARE F__LISH. All I need are three “O”s to finish this factual sentence.