Manhattan gentrification

A long way to go until what? The beautiful day when I can can have a Red Lobster and an Olive Garden and a Food Court around the block. An outlet mall on the corner. Manhattan is an island off the coast of America and that's the way I like it.

or until you have beautiful tree-lined streets with well-kept buildings and nice stores and restaurants (think west-village, 60s-80s west of Lex).

It will take generations. You think the West Village happened overnight? It started gentrifying back in the '80s. It took a small neighborhood 20-25 years to get where it is. Also, the area of the Upper East Side mentioned didn't gentrify. Quite simply it was always one of the toniest parts of town going back to the nineteenth century when all the robber barons built their estates on 5th Ave.

Where do the new artists, writers, etc. live. Manhattan inspires and unfortunately only rich people, who inspire nothing, are able to live in Manhattan. The city loses out.

it's the rich people who bring money and business to the city, allowing it to prosper. it's their tax money that funds the city's infrastructure, police force, etc., that keep the city running.

Where do rich people get money?

@julia

loses out on what? endless supply of lazy bums or so-called artists and writers who sit around on their wannabe asses all day smoking pot? great artists and writers with actual talent will be as rich as any other "rich person". what inspiration? people at work in the city make the world go 'round.

that's what I love about manhattan... it's cut-throat --- survival of the fittest at its best. if you're good at something the possibilities are endless. no one is born with a right to live here... it's an earned privilege. what exactly are you asking when you ask where do the new artists, writers, etc live? i don't understand the need to sympathize with someone because he or she can't find a place to live in an area...

"great artists and writers with actual talent will be as rich as any other "rich person"."

This is a bit off-topic, but that statement is unequivocally wrong. Many great artists do not become wealthy. It would be wrong to say that none get wealthy either, but I don't see how you can equate good writing/art to high income. Julia is wrong as well - someone's bank account doesn't tell you much (if anything) about their personality, talent, etc. These kinds of assertions are a bit ridiculous.

The best thing about New York has been the meshing of so many different types of people - the fear is that when it becomes too costly to live here, that phenomenon will disappear. The truth is, it will most likely just relocate, shift around, scatter, reconvene, in a somewhat unpredictable manner. It's not beholden to any particular parcel of land, and as much as some of us like to think we live on the only one that matters, that's really not the case.

""Manhattan inspires and unfortunately only rich people, who inspire nothing, are able to live in Manhattan.""

What kind of blanket statement is that? Inspiration has nothing to do with wealth or lack thereof. Are you telling me that the 'rich person' who funds a pediatric AIDS center is less 'inspiring' than the out-of-work 'artist' bumming around on unemployment? Get real.

> Where do the new artists, writers, etc. live.

Brooklyn.

Who would pay the artists if not the rich people? Who would pay for anything, for that matter, if not the rich people?
I recently heard from one of the "artists" that art is a state of mind. That was in relation to his awful, unskilled, amaturish, pretentious crap of photography/painting/whatever. He lives on Washington Heights. Manhattan, that is.

Village Voice once did a survey on artists in NYC... it noted that of folks who call themselves "artists" as their primary career/vocation, less than 5% made more than 50% of their income from their art.

Who is to say that the remaining income is coming from waiting tables, as opposed to maybe a decent paying job. Does a crappier "side job" qualify one more as an artist?