I've thought a lot about gentrification as a white young professional New Yorker with a household income well above the average you quoted--especially because I believe strong neighborhood communities are the most important social good in America (much more important that some hyper-mythologized "soul" Moss wants to write a city into having). Gentrification breaks those communities apart as few things can. We have to live in the city because a job requires us to--where do we live if we don't want to be part of gentrification? The Upper East side, where the average income is as much above ours as ours is above the city average? I genuinely don't want to break apart communities that have seen Manhattan develop over several decades, but I also need to live somewhere.
I've thought a lot about gentrification as a white young professional New Yorker with a household income well above the average you quoted--especially because I believe strong neighborhood communities are the most important social good in America (much more important that some hyper-mythologized "soul" Moss wants to write a city into having). Gentrification breaks those communities apart as few things can. We have to live in the city because a job requires us to--where do we live if we don't want to be part of gentrification? The Upper East side, where the average income is as much above ours as ours is above the city average? I genuinely don't want to break apart communities that have seen Manhattan develop over several decades, but I also need to live somewhere.