Ultra Rich? Try Ultra Gentrification
In this week's New York Magazine, there's an interesting article about what they call the ultra rich. It's a bit long, so I'll sum it up: In New York, there is a growing number of super-rich people, and their lifestyle "requires" certain things such as chauffeurs, private jet transportation, and $19 hot dogs. Thus, the article says that the top 1% of the New York rich sustain about 153,000 service jobs, and many of these jobs receive six figures.
Now I have a lot of problems with this. Of course, the article doesn't just say this is the greatest thing to happen to New York ever, but it understates how much it really affects the makeup of the city. The ultimate effect will be a sort of super-gentrification of the city. Nothing will be affordable any more because the rich will just keep driving real estate prices upwards, as well as everyday goods (the CPI here has been growing at a rate 30% faster than the rest of the country, according to this article). So what people see and love in the vibrancy and life of Manhattan will no longer be attainable by average joes.
This, as the article explains, creates New York outposts, former edge cities now drawing like-minded people who want the New York experience but can no longer afford it. What is unfortunate though, is however many restaurants, parks, or urban-hip dwellers Hoboken might get, it will never get the cultural advantage that Manhattan enjoys today.
Why? First of all, New York simply just has a historical advantage. It takes many years to develop a vibrant city culture. Plus, who do you think supports things like the Metropolitan Museum and the New York Philharmonic? The super-rich.
So New York does need them. We need them for supporting our culture and their creation of jobs (though we can't stop there with job creation, but that's another post). But to bring back a point I have made several times, all this luxury housing is just making New York harder and harder to live in, and is taking away just as much culture as it may be adding. While the ultra rich may be a economic neccesity, their place in the city must be limited.
Now I have a lot of problems with this. Of course, the article doesn't just say this is the greatest thing to happen to New York ever, but it understates how much it really affects the makeup of the city. The ultimate effect will be a sort of super-gentrification of the city. Nothing will be affordable any more because the rich will just keep driving real estate prices upwards, as well as everyday goods (the CPI here has been growing at a rate 30% faster than the rest of the country, according to this article). So what people see and love in the vibrancy and life of Manhattan will no longer be attainable by average joes.
This, as the article explains, creates New York outposts, former edge cities now drawing like-minded people who want the New York experience but can no longer afford it. What is unfortunate though, is however many restaurants, parks, or urban-hip dwellers Hoboken might get, it will never get the cultural advantage that Manhattan enjoys today.
Why? First of all, New York simply just has a historical advantage. It takes many years to develop a vibrant city culture. Plus, who do you think supports things like the Metropolitan Museum and the New York Philharmonic? The super-rich.
So New York does need them. We need them for supporting our culture and their creation of jobs (though we can't stop there with job creation, but that's another post). But to bring back a point I have made several times, all this luxury housing is just making New York harder and harder to live in, and is taking away just as much culture as it may be adding. While the ultra rich may be a economic neccesity, their place in the city must be limited.
posted by Aaron at 2:29 PM
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