Category: Blog 2

Neoliberalism has affected many New Yorkers. Throughout the different boroughs, there has been an increase in gentrification, which has led to prices escalating. As the prices increase, people begin to struggle to pay for basic necessities. This creates many burdens like displacement and homelessness. Dickinson describes gentrification and explains how “the urban center caters to middle- and upper-class professionals. This process displaced many poor people to make room for wealthier white-collar workers” (30). Further, public spaces and workplaces transform into private institutions for capital gain. Throughout time we see lower-income individuals get neglected and taken advantage of. Thus, we see gentrification prioritize the needs of wealthy individuals and expect the native residents to find their own way, ignoring the negative impact they are receiving. Consequently, we see many homeless people sleeping on the streets and subways which has become a new “normal.” Neoliberalism also increases unemployment rates, which leads to more people in poverty. In my neighborhood, there has not been a lot of change besides some increase in prices like many other neighborhoods. I would say Manhattan has the most impact. For example, my grandparents used to have an apartment in the upper west side. It was a rent-controlled apartment. My grandparents were offered money to move out so the owners could renovate it. They ended up selling the apartment for more than a million dollars. This shows how in recent times, prices continue to increase in Manhattan. As a result, people are beginning to branch out to other boroughs like Brooklyn, which makes it more expensive to live there as well. I also notice in gentrified areas, well-known shops and chains get built, resulting in fewer small businesses. All of this will continue to happen throughout all of New York until it ultimately turns into an unlivable and extremely expensive state.

 

 

Personally, I have not witnessed the effects of neoliberalism as a resident of New York. I certainly can’t think of a moment where I have seen a change happen and it affecting others negatively/positively. However, certain changes are being made right now as we speak. Although they aren’t done yet, I can already think of the positives and negatives of such changes being made around where I live. To be specific, near my home, certain small stores that sold cheap items and other household things had closed down. In replacement, a target is currently being built. Now the only positives I can think of when it comes to this is that more jobs are opening up for the people who live around where the target is being built. When it comes to the negatives, all the small business owners that owned stores in the area that the target is currently being built in have all lost their jobs. Most of them with their only source of income is gone. Then for the rest of the residents in the area, the prices of goods will definitely rise due to a privately owned corporation building their business in the area. Prices are high enough that people won’t be able to afford things. Similar to a point made in Dickinson’s text, “This restructuring had a profoundly spatial element as well. The dis-location of the poor from the urban center was helped tremendously by the fiscal policy that encouraged gentrification. There was a massive restructuring of the uses to which urban space was put…” In other words, to compare the similarities between what I am saying and what Dickinson wrote, the poor area that current residents live in is currently being gentrified by bigger cooperation. All with the intent to make more money by taking advantage of the poor.

The meme of the reindeer next to the text that quotes “deviation from the norm will be punished unless it is exploitable.” relates to what Dickinson writes about in her text. To explain what the quote is saying, basically it means any change or differences from what is normally accepted in society, or seen by the ones in power will usually be seen as bad and punished. However, this isn’t the case if the differences or “deviation” can be exploited, and made profitable. Similar to what Dickinson writes about, people of higher status see graffiti as a bad thing. They labeled it as a crime and called those who did it, criminals. They shut out the voices of people who did graffiti, which would usually be the poor people living in New York. All because it was seen as “different” and the poor were the ones doing it. However, to those of lower status, graffiti is a form of art and expression. It is a simple pass time and it causes no harm. When the rich realize they can make profits from graffiti, they won’t hesitate and quickly take charge, despite the fact that they were the ones who were calling it a bad thing and labeling it as “criminal” in the first place.

Money is everything to this country and if you don’t have it you might as well keep your mouth shut. I have seen many resources in my neighborhood that have been closed down or replaced with something else that doesn’t make any sense. For example, there was an ice cream shop that had a lot of computers that the public could use and it was $5 per hour. Also, they would let you print out papers and that would be .25 cents per hour. I loved this place so much and unfortunately it got closed down for literally no reason. I also noticed many cleaners in my area being replaced by private businesses which is an issue because now if we want to go to a cleaners we have to go somewhere really far which is so ridiculous. The worst thing about it is that these business owners aren’t having a choice or given any options. Their only choice is to move along and find somewhere else to go. In Dickinson’s text it states,” It also served as an opportunity for the business community to implement a panoply of policies that pushed poor and working-class people out of the city, or at least to the margins.” History always repeats itself and we can see that because this was  happening in the 1970s and it’s still occurring today. In my opinion this meme is saying to me that moving in another direction away from the government’s norms will have a consequence unless it’s brining in a profit for them.