A reader left this comment on
the Starbucks post from yesterday... and I've been thinking about it...
It's a whole new demographic around here at this point. I know because I've talked to some of my neighbors who are recent college grads from places like Wake Forest or Villanova or Bucknell, etc. I've heard it from the horse's mouth — there is a whole culture here of these type of transplants. They really do hang out together at places like "13th step" and they really are clueless about this neighborhood and what it once was. It's a tidal wave, it's an epochal shift. The EV as you knew it is officially over. I hate to be a defeatist but IMO it is time to wave the white flag. I myself am planning to move out within a couple of years and it is the thought of that helps get me through my New York days.
I've heard variations of this sentiment many times — more so in the last few months than in any recent years ... I know people who have left —
chased by the luxurification — to find lower rents in the upper reaches of Manhattan or the outer sections of Queens or Brooklyn... and I know people who continue to
talk about moving,
disgusted by the luxurification ... some people I know who discuss leaving cite as a reason the continued influx of more and more bars (and bargoers), one concept seemingly dumber than the previous one. Some people tell me that they don't fit in any more. Too old. Too weird. Too broke. Time to go.
Understandable.
Are you thinking about moving too? Are you ready to raise the white flag?
In closing, here's some perspective from a
New York Times article (excerpted via
Ephemeral New York here) titled "The affluent set invades the East Village."
The article is from November 1964.
