There Goes the Neighborhood: How the Gentrification Machine Really Works

There Goes the Neighborhood: How the Gentrification Machine Really Works

There Goes the Neighborhood: How the Gentrification Machine Really Works

Mayor de Blasio’s plan to rezone East New York is his way of controlling the gentrification machine—so what does the zoning plan actually look like?

There Goes the Neighborhood and Kai Wright
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to rezone East New York and 14 other neighborhoods is his administration’s way of controlling the fierce gentrification machine that is steamrolling across the city. So what does the zoning plan for East New York actually look like?

This week we talk with WNYC’s Jessica Gould and City Limits editor Jarrett Murphy to understand the nuts and bolts of the plan.

And we go deep into the gentrification machine to see how it works. We meet Elizabeth Grefrath, a young gentrifier in Crown Heights who tells us what it was like to move to the neighborhood just a few years ago. We sit down with big time developers like Boaz Gilad of Brookland Capital and Kunal Chothani of Akelius—a new player from Sweden—to understand how they operate in the borough’s various markets.

And we walk the streets of Flatbush with real estate agent Namane Mohlabane who shows just how complicated—and personal—the machine can be.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Have something to say? Get in touch with the There Goes the Neighborhood team at (646) 783-WNYC or through this form:

 

Support independent journalism that does not fall in line

Even before February 28, the reasons for Donald Trump’s imploding approval rating were abundantly clear: untrammeled corruption and personal enrichment to the tune of billions of dollars during an affordability crisis, a foreign policy guided only by his own derelict sense of morality, and the deployment of a murderous campaign of occupation, detention, and deportation on American streets. 

Now an undeclared, unauthorized, unpopular, and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran has spread like wildfire through the region and into Europe. A new “forever war”—with an ever-increasing likelihood of American troops on the ground—may very well be upon us.  

As we’ve seen over and over, this administration uses lies, misdirection, and attempts to flood the zone to justify its abuses of power at home and abroad. Just as Trump, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth offer erratic and contradictory rationales for the attacks on Iran, the administration is also spreading the lie that the upcoming midterm elections are under threat from noncitizens on voter rolls. When these lies go unchecked, they become the basis for further authoritarian encroachment and war. 

In these dark times, independent journalism is uniquely able to uncover the falsehoods that threaten our republic—and civilians around the world—and shine a bright light on the truth. 

The Nation’s experienced team of writers, editors, and fact-checkers understands the scale of what we’re up against and the urgency with which we have to act. That’s why we’re publishing critical reporting and analysis of the war on Iran, ICE violence at home, new forms of voter suppression emerging in the courts, and much more. 

But this journalism is possible only with your support.

This March, The Nation needs to raise $50,000 to ensure that we have the resources for reporting and analysis that sets the record straight and empowers people of conscience to organize. Will you donate today?

There Goes the NeighborhoodThere Goes the Neighborhood, a podcast by The Nation and WNYC Studios and hosted by Kai Wright, takes an in-depth look at gentrification in Brooklyn and the integral role that race plays in the process.


Kai Wright Kai Wright is editor and host of WNYC’s narrative unit, and a columnist for The Nation.


Ad Policy
x

Latest from the nation

Today 5:00 am

How the SAVE Act Seeks to Undermine the Right to Vote

Anthony Conwright
Today 5:00 am

Do the Owners of MLB Teams Even Like Baseball?

Matt Kreisher
Today 5:00 am

Assisted Outpatient Treatment Doesn’t Work. Mamdani Could Stop It.

Nev Jones and Eric Reinhart
Today 5:00 am

How the War Has Led to the Largest Disruption of Energy Supplies in Decades

Stanley Reed
Today 5:00 am

When Did the Natural World Stop Feeling Sublime?

Isabel Ruehl

editor's picks

VIDEO: People in Denmark Are a Lot Happier Than People in the United States. Here’s Why.

The Nation

Historical Amnesia About Slavery Is a Tool of White Supremacy

Mychal Denzel Smith