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I was having a discussion with a friend of mine over the weekend about how a lot of transplant these days are moving to ghetto areas like Bushwick, BedStuy, and Crown Heights. While these areas are gentrifying, it is moving at a very slow pace. Basically we were discussing that transplants think it's cool and bad-ass to claim that they live in a bad area. And they would rather choose that over a safe family neighborhood like Bay Ridge or Bensonhurst where the commute is usually longer to the city.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. I do know transplants have a bad habit of telling their friends/relatives in the suburbs about NY and sugar-coating/exaggerating about the neighborhood they live in and even going as far as recommending it to them even if it is ghetto, and many transplants are naive about the city also. And the process rinses and repeats. E.g.: I had an ex and her sister were living in Bushwick because they wanted to be close to each other and their friends. Eventually they moved to South Slope because I had moved there and followed suit. I think they're happier now though because there's more in the area for them to do and it's safer.
There's different kinds of transplants/hipsters and unfortunately the same thing happens to them as it happens to minorities mainly black and hispanic... They all get lumped into one category... For example, people on here have labeled me as a racist towards hipsters/yuppies/transplants, etc. but the thing is my dislike is only for a select few... My feelings are strictly directed towards the (fill in the category of recently arrived New Yorker) who believe they are doing these hoods, the city and the world a favor by moving into these neighborhoods and gentrifying them simply with their presence... The ones with this nose in the air attitude towards anyone not resembling them... To those, I say enjoy NYC while you can, I will not be sad when this city chews you and spits you out...
That being said, hipsters, transplants and yuppies come in all shapes forms and sizes... There are those with money that move into transitional areas at the hope of returning a profit in the future... There are the hipsters that move into the hood because they think it's cool... there are those that are simply just dead broke and are too naive to realize there are plenty of other cheap and safe alternatives in this city... While some may be annoying, I have no problem with these folks and it really does suck that they all get lumped into one category because I have met some hipsters in Bushwick (trying to be down lol) who are actually down to Earth and simply try to hard...
To answer your original question though, yes there are those who do it for that reason but they are a specific group and not a representation of all of them... Just my two cents...
A lot of it has to do with what people can afford and what they can get into when first moving here. A few of my friends when they first moved here they were sharing a place up in Washington Heights back when it really wasn't a good place to live and did it because that is what they could get. Now they live in great neighborhoods in Brooklyn because they can afford much more now.
I think transplants move there not just for cheap rent but to be an "active" member in the process of gentrification. They missed the initial shaping of character in neighborhoods like Harlem, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, etc, so to feel like real New Yorkers they are trying to gentrify and leave their own imprint in the history of NYC.
I think transplants move there not just for cheap rent but to be an "active" member in the process of gentrification. They missed the initial shaping of character in neighborhoods like Harlem, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, etc, so to feel like real New Yorkers they are trying to gentrify and leave their own imprint in the history of NYC.
No one moves to someplace because they feel like they are the "process of gentrification." People move to places for personal reasons, not social impact reasons.
No one moves to someplace because they feel like they are the "process of gentrification." People move to places for personal reasons, not social impact reasons.
There is no separation between "personal" and "social." There are always "social" implications - big ones.
And I assure you that some, perhaps many, have moved to Harlem precisely in order to be involved in the process of gentrification. It makes them feel like real New Yorkers, discovering that real 'hood and all. In some cases they stand to actually make money.
There is no separation between "personal" and "social." There are always "social" implications - big ones.
And I assure you that some, perhaps many, have moved to Harlem precisely in order to be involved in the process of gentrification. It makes them feel like real New Yorkers, discovering that real 'hood and all. In some cases they stand to actually make money.
I never said there wasn't a separation of personal and social, all I said is people don't move to places for social reasons, people do it for personal reasons, even if their actions have a social effect.
To "feel like a real New Yorker" that is a personal reason to move somewhere, not a social one. Their effect might have a social impact on the area they move to. After an area begins to change and the rents start to go up, people then move there because that area that once felt too unsafe, now feels like it is turning around and a decent area to live in, also a personal choice that may have a social effect.
But again, very few people think beyond themselves when they make choices in life. Hardly anyone thinks about the social impact they might be having on a place they live in...more than likely, those people simply think others that are moving in behind them are the real reason there is a social effect going on in their neighborhood.
It is always easier to blame the person behind you for a neighborhood changing, but at the same time anyone who lives in a neighborhood hopes for less crime and a safer healthier neighborhood which comes with social effects that people overlook in hopes of personal gains.
But then again, this is NYC, it is always changing, hoping it stays the same forever is a very naive way of looking at this city. It is too big for any one person to have any real impact in it unless you have the kind of power that Robert Moses once held.
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