Welcome to New York City (Sort Of) - Page 4

The more monied newcomers often cultivate an air of oblivious entitlement that can enrage lifetime New Yorkers who have lived through some of the city’s most hellish times — long stretches of blight and neglect — when no one wanted to visit the city, let alone move there. Now that the city has prospered again, the much-dreaded “yuppies” from all over America make over their new home in their own image.

Mom and Pops are replaced with chain stores, gourmet shops, and expensive bars, restaurants, and boutiques. Rents spiral ever-upwards and the poor and middle class who are not fortunate enough to own property here are eventually forced out of their old neighborhood. The poorest are "banished" from the city altogether.

Many developments and programs originally designed for the working and middle class have gone by the wayside as well. Rent stabilization is becoming a thing of the past. Housing developments built for working class union members or returning World War II vets are now being purchased by speculators and converted to market rate apartments or coops.

Long-standing businesses are shut down seemingly overnight when their rents are doubled. Virtually every once-dangerous or low-income area has either become a playground for the wealthier newcomers or is well on its way to impending "hipsterdom." As a result, the city's timeless reputation as the promised land of perpetual diversity and opportunity is eroding, arguably as never before.

Yes, New Yorkers are also Americans. New York City is still a magnet for both immigrants from all over the world and young wide-eyed dreamers from all over the country. New York is also America in its most extreme state - the most expensive and exciting, the most heartbreaking, and the most enthralling city, the city of opportunity and the city of broken dreams, all at the same time.

Just ask any New Yorker.

Article Author: Elvira Black

Elvira Black is a “retired” New York writer blogging for her own amusement here on BC. Her passions are politics, the arts, the weird things we do, and New York City.

Visit Elvira Black's author page — Elvira Black's Blog