I've seen apartments in that building there that are basically setup like tenements, with service industry kids and students packed, maybe 10 into one room sharing one bathroom. It's probably worse now than back then ~2 years ago.
I don't particularly care what happens to them. Gentrification in NYC is maybe 15 years old now, and there are Bedford homeowners who moved in 10 years ago (editors, freelancers) etc who complain about new hipsters moving into their neighborhood, and how the 'hood was more authentic back then. The most "bougie" people that move there now are actually 20 somethings...
The sad thing is that this happens quite often in New York yet it rarely radicalizes anyone...look at the East Village if you want a good indicator of how much people are willing to get rolled over.
On Jan 26, 2008 12:54 PM, B. <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Yeah, I hastily posted the "Hipster Girl" video, with
> its references to Williamsburgm when I saw Joseph
> Catron's original post, because I dunno what goes on
> in the swingin' areas of Brooklyn and Williamsburg, me
> being down here in the yahooligan South with Pecos
> Bill & all, but after reading the accounts of what
> happened to the, er, "hipsters," I have to admit that
> I am more on their side -- based on the blog entries
> Joseph C. shared -- than the city's
>
> The shutting down of their housing unit and the really
> draconian conditions under which that took place
> (because there were vats of Matzo in the basement?
> Creating a fire hazard necessitating eviction? Give me
> a break!) seems like something that is worthy of some
> righteous anger. In other words, based on what I read,
> I support the "hipsters" here. Whatever and whoever
> they actually are as people -- people who are in the
> end getting evicted from their homes.
>
> Unless there is something I am missing, I got the
> feeling the Williambsurg residents were being evicted
> because property developers saw a big chance to cash
> in on the neighborhood in light of the ambiance
> artistes had imparted to the area. So now that they'd
> done that, thanks, but you're evicted, and now we can
> set up some posh housing for the really-deserving
> boozhie types to take your place.
>
> -B.
>
>
> J T. Ramsay wrote:
>
> "I hope we never lose the hipster strawman. Ever. Will
> there ever be a way to accept that people are
> displaced because everyone's after cheap rents, and
> that there's a lack of affordable, rent-controlled
> housing to maintain neighborhoods, esp. in NYC?"
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