[inlikealamb]

Young people ARE a nuisance that must be put up with when en masse. I live in an area that went through the full extent of gentrification, from being colloquially referred to as a "slum" to being a place where single-family homes go for $1M+.

The first wave of gentrification were college students because they are the group that would pay $1,000/mo per bedroom in a 4-bedroom house (which is a common way for developers to flip a property into a rental). They did not give two shits about the neighborhood, and would constantly litter, trespass, and be noisy at all hours of the night... and as the density of students living in the area increased, it got worse (careless landlords renting to them is also part of the problem). Apartments change hands every year, so you're not even consistently dealing with the same nuisance neighbors.

I agree that neighborhoods need to change, but they need to change in a way that isn't unbridled gentrification. We need diverse multi-generational communities of families, young people, and old people because we keep each other in check (same goes for race and class). In my experience gentrification creates waves of homogenization.