Hello
My name is Edryan and as a Mount Vernon resident and being really close to the Bronx I have first hand seen the effects of Neo Liberalism and gentrification. I was raised mainly in the Bronx so seeing the rapid change of project buildings being “renovated” in exchange to have wealthier families and usually non persons of color to essentially replace these the resident already. For example, in my father building in which he still currently lives the buildings purchased from someone else and made anew. With the reservations came this increase hijacked rent and price where it was risen tremendously. Being in the 1970’s with extreme economic and political troubles business elites came this sense to having different austerity policies as we mentioned in class in with graffiti and this is where the world of privatization came from. We now rent out certain places that used to contain small business and give them off to studios for higher businesses. In worst cases these decisions can even lead to the homelessness or displacements of certain individuals. they can literally not afford to live after essentially being kicked out from their businesses or home. In addition, near my home there was a project that really impacted a lot of thing it was called Mount Vernon’s Sandford Boulevard Redevelopment Project. It made allowed more major businesses to come to Mount Vernon including Target, Staples e.t.c. It also took over a lot of smaller businesses and was even under fire for a very long time from neighboring counties(pelham manor) for the increased traffic it would bring, the very dramatic increase of population and congestion, and the way it would effect these smaller businesses, yet, they still lost and it went through. Even though, Dickson did mention many things like this there is always two sides to every story. This project did bring forth much new jobs and did overall help the struggling economy within Mount Vernon. So of course both stories have to be heard.
Now that you point this out, I can definitely say I am a witness to this form of gentrification. It’s really upsetting because the people who renovate the building pretend like they are intending to do it for the residents of the building till the renovation actually happens and all of a sudden the rent is 2 times higher. The residents were already struggling to live there so how is jacking up prices supposed to help anyone.
In areas such as the Bronx, Brooklyn, and more I feel like gentrification is seen more first hand. I was still shocked to see it happen in my area as it was mostly quiet. No crime or extreme poverty was around. It is not a shocker that most gentrified areas are targeted due to it being full of minorities.