Bad Neighborhoods

As a native New Yorker, I frequently get asked what I think of “transplants.” By transplants, they mean professional managerial class workers moving to New York after college or grad school. Not working-class people who relocate here. I have had the same answer to this question for a few years.

There is only one type of transplant that bugs me. I have known a few. They exhibit the same pattern of migration. They finish their masters in creative writing and get that non-profit job in New York. They start planning their move. They have a lot of shame in being a gentrifier. They don’t want to move to Park Slope or Fort Greene because that would make them a stereotype. They also want an in-unit washer/dryer. Why do they have to live in the quiet, wealthy neighborhoods? What are they afraid of? So they gentrify even harder and move to Ocean Hill or Little Haiti. They understand poverty and intergenerational trauma. They’re not afraid of taking the subway.

They stay in New York for 1-2 years and rough it in the outer boroughs. They pretend not to be bothered by the casual street harassment and drug deals happening in their building lobby. That’s just life in the big city. They adopt vague language about “community” and mutual aid. Predictably, they get tired of the riffraff and move back to Boston. Of course they just happened upon a new job or circumstance that required them to move cities. Their employer has a satellite office in the business district. Their partner wanted to be closer to their family in Somerville. It just worked out that way. The move had nothing to do with the shock inflicted on their quality of life.

I don’t have a firm stance on gentrification, or even really know what it means. People have moved in and out of New York City forever. There are a lot of jobs here, so it attracts college graduates and non-graduates, particularly from the Northeast. I don’t have a problem with that, or see a reasonable argument against moving somewhere with good opportunities.

But I do know that gentrification is better for cities and residents when it follows a slow, predictable pattern. That gets thrown off when people move to places where they won’t stay. Rents go up and native residents can no longer afford it. This tends to happen anyway, but unusual moving patterns speed it up. It’s why you see 3D-printed luxury buildings in the poorest NYC neighborhoods.

I want people to be honest with themselves about who they are and what they want. You want to live somewhere safe, and probably quiet. You want a short commute to your job. Don’t deny your rational instincts so that you can seem hardened and use the city for character development. You will hate it and leave. Be boring and do the reasonable thing.