Gentrification Provided By Citibank

Blah: You show your intelligence, or lack thereof, when you participate in a debate and finish with "douche" Right away everyone sees you for the loser you are and therefor takes nothing you say seriously. You should grow up and at least try to be intelligent when posting a comment. Also, alwayslookingforanatm as well as the entire conversation is about Williamsburg not Manhattan, so why are you listing all the banks he can go to in Manhattan? I really enjoy these postings except when idiots like you cannot give your opinion without stupid, unintelligent comments...douche

As interesting as these contributions to the gentrification vs. slum debate ongoing in urbanist circles I for one would like to weigh in with my support for porn theaters. They really should not be lumped in with greasy chinese food etc. Bodegas too, I used to buy loose joints at a real nice bodega in Sunset Park. Those places are getting hard to find.

Um, I think Williamsburg is an exception, as gentrification in other parts of New York and New Jersey is driven by people with real jobs.

Gentrification in Williamsburg is driven by midwestern kids with trust funds and cocaine addictions, who throw a sheet of aluminium foil on the wall of there overpriced loft and call it "Art".

Typical Jake psuedo-counter culture post. Good job proving you are once again stuck as a teenager. These post above are right, that hood was crap and looked like a third-world country.

wait wait, PleaseShutUp don't forget check cashing stores. Those are necessary for real new york

whoa! blah just rallied against nail salons, banks, chain restaurants, and over-priced bistros. Give that man a bodega, some greasy chinese restraunts, and a lingering sense of insecurity, because nothing but "real" New York will please him.

What's so bad about gentrification? Neighborhoods have natural cycles, and trying to keep one a certain way forever is futile.

"I think it's about time the neighborhood has a bank

you mean not like the one at astor place, or broadway and 8th, or on broadway and 12th, or on avenue a and 4th or or or or fuck this. you should consider walking 1/2 a fucking mile to a bank ot be a blessing. when the whole town is banks and nail salons and chain restaurants overpriced bistros, then there won't be much point living here. perhaps you'd like another k mart placed in the middle of washington square park.

the neigborhood needs another bank like I need a syphylitic lesion on my brain. douche!

[playing devils advocte]

i find it hilarious that the the people who knock gentrification are the exact same kind of people who sat on their asses and did nothing when this very same neighborhood went from good to bad so many years ago...

i think it's about time the neighborhood has a bank. regardless of how you got your money (whether it be from daddy or from working your butt off at a minimum wage job), unless you keep it under your mattress or in a jelly jar, it'll be a lot easier to grab some drinking money from the bank's atm rather than pay the enormous fees that keep on rising (taking advantage of your desperation for another drink!) at the local atm's!!

yes what do they do when they spend down the trust fund? call daddy at his bank job and ask for more spray paint money...

When did retirement savings mean gentrification?

Anyway, the whole punchline to the Williamsburg debate is that Williamsburg didn't have much going for it pre-gentrification anyway. So who cares if it gets gentrified, it has always sucked.

I think of this too when people bitch about the Times Square gentrification. Who cares about Times Square? It has always sucked. Pre-gentrification it was mostly porn theaters, and now it's all clean and kid-friendly. So if you're a fan of Time Square, you're either a Disney-loving tourist or a skeevy perv. Both are equally lame.

Yeah, f you government tax-advantaged savings for retirement! I'll have someone else pay for me when I'm too old and decrepit to work! I'm not going to let the man get me down!

Yeah. Hipsters and stuff.

This shit is so funny to me. I would be willing to bet my 401K that whoever "hacked" this sign is some trust-funder wanna-be artist douchebag who moved to Willaimsburg 3 years ago after his dad agreed to pay his Williamsburg rent for him. Hey sign hacker cool-guy.....YOU are the reason Williamsburg is being gentrified, not Chase Bank. No one ever considered building luxury condos in Williamsburg until people like you with your stupid $150 asymmetrical bang haircuts started taking over and paying $1600 for a studio apt on Bedford.