Today's Washington Post tries to deal with the issue of Williamsburg and gentrification (both in its first iterations and its more recent versions). Says the Post:
Much has been written about gentrification and its discontents, but in few places has the speed and finality of that transformation been more startling than in Williamsburg, a formerly working-class Brooklyn neighborhood of 180,000 people along the East River. A wall of luxury glass towers is rising for 25 blocks along the "East River Riviera." Wander inland and check out the needle condo towers with three-bedroom places retailing at $1,135,000. Overnight, another preserve of working-class American culture is rendered unaffordable to thousands of families -- and to the hipsters themselves...As Williamsburg turns urban Disneyland, those who own homes, a small fraction, see values spike and pass the dough to their kids. Everything becomes safer, hipper, there's better sushi.
We can't copy and paste the whole thing, and there will no doubt be some opinions about the article, so the rest of the reading is up to you.
· A Condo Tower Grows in Brooklyn [Washington Post]