Do people have a right to the city? Do longtime residents and businesses have a right to remain where they are?  If so, how should local governments, urban planners, and other decision-makers ensure these rights are maintained?

        New York City has always been the city of big dreams. Many people travel here from every part of the world to chase their dreams. That’s what makes this city so amazing. Neighborhoods have a mix of almost everybody including various races, cultures and  different views and religions. But the community is the glue for many people in this a city of numberous diversity. The film, My Brooklyn,  shows a Fulton street that I grew up on. While watching the film, I seen so many people and faces that I grew up with that I didn’t realize were gone. Fulton street in the late 90s and early 2000s was a huge portion of the melting pot. You can go downtown and get a furniture set or a cellphone, or maybe even a outfit and most definitely jewelry at a reasonable price. These local mom and pop businesses established relationships with there frequent customers creating the atmosphere of a downtown community similar to a family. The new changes of gentrification discouraged the memories of the Fulton street that I once knew. With the trend of online shopping, I couldn’t find a reason to go to Fulton anymore. It’s terrible how the management was able to sell these local stores for corporate money. The people that worked daily on Fulton strip weren’t offered a cent for displacement or moving them out with overpriced rent. So many dreams, money, time, and effort put into these small businesses to have them be pushed out for a new condo or a Starbucks .They should have been given a chance to become part of the new Fulton street or given some kind of reimbursement so they can take their business elsewhere. There’s always two sides to a story although I disagree with what has happen to Fulton street. I can now say it’s much safer than ten years ago .

        In the film citizen Jane she wanted to keep communities the way they were,  while her opposing counterparts wanted to put highways and buildings in place for a better tomorrow. In this film, I’m torn because I understand the value of community so much because I came from one, where everyone knows your mother and father. In those communities, the village raises the child. But I do believe change is great, because of how much safer it s in present time. I do agree the placement of new buildings because they were necessary since most of the buildings were developed over 40 years ago and needed an upgrade. It is disappointing that it took gentrification to make the streets a safer place to walk on.