First off, I love living in New York, there is nothing out there like this city. On my street, I live across the street from an SRO and there a few local shops across the way as well. The neighborhood (Kips Bay)has its own character for sure, but you can definitely see things are changing. The 99c store on the corner went out of business and now there's a Chase Bank branch coming, even though it is only a five minute walk to one that is already open. Is it really necessary? What the hell is going on?
From AM New York:
"It used to be a badge of honor to live in New York City, and we used to laugh at the people in the suburbs," said Jerilou Hammett, co-editor of the book "The Suburbanization of New York."
"Urban areas were all about diversity and the struggle of the creative individuals ... Now, other than little monikers like SoHo and NoHo, where is the uniqueness of most neighborhoods?"
Indeed, with the seemingly epidemic-scale disappearance of the longtime small shops and low-scale residential buildings that give neighborhoods texture, some are wondering whether the feel of New York has forever changed.
The Municipal Art Society is examining these issues with a new exhibit on the legendary city urbanist Jane Jacobs, who successfully blocked a highway from cutting through Greenwich Village in the 1960s and argued that a neighborhood's character is its most valuable asset. The exhibit and accompanying panel discussions look at the numbing qualities of gentrification, chain stores, and an influx of people who move to the city without a sense of its history.
The only difference between bank branches and Starbucks in New York as compared to burbs' is that there are generally ten to forty stories of offices and/or apartments above the stores. Even in my place of refuge in the city (Greenwich Village) you can see the crushing forces of gentrification on the horizon. The East Village is a shell of what it used to be and although I like Max Brenner's, there is nothing wrong with keeping stores like it out of our unique nabes.
The uniqueness of New York is one of its largest gems. Having a Starbucks and a bank on every corner while eventually erode the character of our city.
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