In the city that never sleeps, NYC is often portrayed as a bustling city that’s always in an economic boom. But this image is not always true in all neighborhoods. I have seen many communities fall into the hands of gentrification. It’s a change as clearly as night and day. A side effect of neo-liberalism. Many families are being pushed out of their homes and businesses due to the cost of living rising. This is due to new residential buildings being built and high chains companies moving into these neighborhoods. Although at first glance this may seem a move in the right direction, it is actually not the case. This leads to a higher economic status people moving into the neighborhoods thundering up the prices which makes lower-income families not being able to afford to live in those areas.
Personally, I live in a balanced Queens neighborhood. Recently there was a new apartment building being built in my community which in turn did not have much effect on us but it did have an impact on other neighbors. We see the greed of the owners of the apartment building come into play when the city announced they were building a brand new homeless shelter two blocks away from the brand new apartment building. They immediately went to protest but with little to no success. I can only imagine what other neighborhoods have to go through.
The first hint of neo-liberalism seen in New York can be traced back nearly 50 years ago in the 1970s. The author, Dickinson, portrays this well in the article, The Making of Space, Race, and Place. Neo-liberalism is policies that support a free-market, capitalist environment, and where businesses have more control than the government. A simple act of going against graffiti shows this. NYC was in a low financial state at this point in time. Politicians wanted to attract businesses to become a prosperous city. Citizens, more often low-income teenagers would express themselves with graffiti as an outcry to their community needs. But politicians wanted to push these low-income families, majority Black and Latino, out of neighborhoods so that business can come in. Exclusively banning graffiti to shut down the voice of the citizens in need.