Priced Out : : Stuyvesant Town and the Loss of Middle-Class Neighborhoods / / Lisa M. Morrison, Michael R. Glass, Rachael A. Woldoff.

• VerfasserIn: Woldoff, Rachael A.,; Glass, Michael R.,; Morrison, Lisa M.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2016]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

On an average morning in the tree-lined parks, plazas, and play-areas of Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town housing development, birds chirp as early risers dash off to work, elderly residents enjoy a peaceful morning stroll, and flocks of parents usher their children to school. It seems an unlikely location for conflict and strife, yet this eighteen-block area, initially planned as middle-class affordable housing, is the site of an ongoing struggle between long-term, rent-regulated residents, younger, market-rate tenants, and new owners seeking to turn this community into a luxury commodity. Priced Out takes readers into this heated battle as a transitioning neighborhood wrestles with contemporary capitalist strategies and the struggle to preserve renters’ rights. Since the early 2000’s, Stuyvesant Town’s owners have sought to transform this iconic Manhattan housing development into a luxury destination for those able to afford the higher price tag. Attempting to replace longtime residents with younger, more affluent tenants, they have disrupted native residents’ sense of place, community, and their perceived quality of life. Through resident interviews, the authors offer an intimate view into the lives of different groups of tenants involved in this struggle for prime real estate in New York, from students experiencing the city for the first time to baby boomers hanging on to the vestiges of middle-class urban life. A compelling, fascinating account of changing urban landscapes and the struggle for security, Priced Out offers a comprehensive perspective of a community that, to some, is becoming unrecognizable as it is upgraded and altered.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: The Transformation of Stuyvesant Town -- 1 History -- 2 Stayers Then and Now: Getting and Keeping a Slice of Stuy Town -- 3 Aging in Place in the City: Ruthie’s Story -- 4 Neoliberalism, Deregulation, and the Challenges to Middle-Class Housing -- 5 Landlords’ and Tenants’ Strategies for Coping with the New York City Rental Housing Market -- 6 The New Kids in (Stuy)Town: Luxury or Liability? -- 7 The Kids Are All Right? Kara’s Story -- Conclusion: Community and Commodity -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Authors