Archive Report_Elvis Williams_Site _Report 2

Elvis Williams Site Report 1

After watching this short film I got a sense of this whole class and what we are trying to raise awareness of. Seeing downtown Brooklyn as community being manipulated and destroyed by developers who seek to gain riches at the demise of the poor. Many small businesses are being displaced and put out of business leading to owner not providing for their families. Another essence of Brooklyn that is being lost is the cultural aspect of the community. Rezoning has introduced many new multi level high end housing which brings a new community to the existing. Although It might seemed like a great idea, the new residents didn’t support commerce at the Fulton mall. Instead they frowned upon the people who sold there. Streets that usually was busy with people buying and selling now feels like a ghost town. The only people benefited from these new developments were the developers who walk away with millions of dollars totally turning a blind eye to the people it truly affected.

I found this article to be factual. I have always notice whenever i travel on the train that type of people which comes off the train in certain areas and the type of people that travel to the final stops. In most cases that i am familiar with it is usually the minorities (Blacks and Latinos ). I have done architectural research on the Coney Island and also the Rockaways and notice that the areas where crime is prevalent are the areas where we have these high rise poor settlements. Interestingly the article shows us how the poor has been dislocated to these far, flood prone areas, away from the vision of the city Robert Moses envisioned. Ironically gentrification continues as poor people are now being moved once again, as many middle to upper class families are moving to the coastline.

My question is, if we are so aware of Gentrification, why do we continue to make it happen today?

I found this documentary very informative and learned many new things about the city i lived in. The story is concentrated around two main characters, Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses who fought on opposite sides of the fence to create what each saw was the perfect community. Moses idea of developing a city based on the influx of the motor vehicles, concentrated mainly on Le Corbusier’s concept of providing multi level apartments, while destroying communities in the process of building these towers and highways. Jacob on the other hand realized the ramifications of Moses’s vision and fought to stop the mass gentrification which would destroy the essence of communities. I feel both were visionaries, Moses had some great ideas and may have made NYC what it is today however i also feel that Jacob’s intervention happened at the right time because it started a revolution of people fighting for their communities.