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by 40acres 2966 days ago
In principal gentrification is fine, in practice its usually a mess. I'm from Brooklyn, which is definitely gentrified by any means. It's nice that property values are up, new businesses are booming, and crime is down -- but there is something to be said about the community which underwent decades of over-policing, redlining and discriminatory practices being booted out all because some property developers thought the neighborhood was "hot".
1 comments

I lived in Brooklyn for the better part of a decade, and was a gentrifier. I watched two neighborhoods change, and it seems to me the hard thing to talk about is that everything that's lost is immaterial. Destroying a neighborhood of folks who know each other can show larges gains on the balance sheet, but the losses can't be quantified.

Maybe Facebook can find a way to monetize those social relations, so the could be recognized as having a value. (/s)