I bet you have gentrified lately.

I am just worried about some of the existing culture, becoming diluted, if not permanently obliterated. Older residents are being forced out of a community that was once their’s, simply because they can no longer afford the now sky-rocketing rents and property values - property values of course that they are not profiting from.

Ok, you say Bedford Stuyvesant… what kind of culture exists there? I argue that every neighborhood has an existing feel, or culture. Some are more obvious or potent then others. Think Harlem, which in fact, is now in its own process of gentrification. Harlem as is the premier Black community in the United States. It is a community that has an extensive and impressive history. Harlem has been through squalor and pain, experienced an amazing renaissance, revisited the hardships again and is now becoming gentrified.

My question is…Is there a way that we can allow the benefits of gentrification: rising property values, quality of life issues, etc. without removing the residents that endured the communities struggle? If any deserves to benefit off a rising, gentrifying neighborhood, shouldn’t it be the ones that have been there all along? Food for thought.