[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

Dude, Rainey got gentrified and anyone who has lived there more than a decade got punted to Manor already. Every single business in Rainey is less than a decade old. None of this is "history". Like, oh shit Container Bar and unBARlievable might be replaced with Steam Punk Saloon 2 and The Dizziest Rooster?

It's a part of the city that was identified as needing to become denser to deal with the cities housing crisis, which is the only reason the current Rainey exists at all. It was planned this way from the word jump.

Also, Midtown and Lower Manhattan are really bad examples.

1) FiDi is now pretty damn hopping with really good bars and restaurants. It *wasnt* that way because no one lived there.

2) Mid Town is also a really large brush-stroke. There are parts of mid-town that are phenomenal. Time Square is its own beast, but Rainey isn't going to be Time Square at any point in time.

As a former New Yorker I have a better example:

A bunch of Manhattenites moved to LIC/Greenpoint and Williamsburgh looking to save money. The city had identified all 3 areas as being underdeveloped and key to fighting spiking rents in NYC. 10 years on when the development got dense these same people started fighting all the new development in their neighborhoods. Most of the original immigrant communities were pushed out by these same people but all the sudden the Domino Sugar plant was in need of saving by a bunch of mostly-not-polish people in Greenpoint.

I am always willing to listen to the victims of gentrification and urban density. Its a real problem that cities need to solve. I am not going to listen to those that gentrified an area complain that the neighborhood they "created" over the last 10 years with developers needs to now freeze in its exact time and place because they like it as is.

Like, what most of us are concerned about it twofold:

1) Density to deal with a housing crisis in the city and fight urban sprawl which is bad for the environment and poor people who have to deal with commutes.
2) A general understanding that you don't control property that you don't own just because it is near you.

All of this land is slated to be developed, and the developers can simply build slightly smaller less dense high-rises without seeking additional approvals. The city can and should extract things from the developers for the additional rights they seek. But that's it.

Our city is getting absolutely out of hand with housing costs and yeah, that means we need more housing and we need denser housing.

Also, I go to Rainey at least once a month when there isn't a global pandemic. It's pretty easy to find street parking 4 nights a week without much traffic. Thursdays can be hit or miss. Friday and Saturday are the biggest issues, but that is completely solvable.

Dude: I know.
Thanks for proving my point. We probably could have worked together on this.