Going back to the original topic . . . I feel that the neighborhood will continue to evolve, primarily because the middle class is being priced out of Brooklyn etc., especially those folks starting a family and needing space. Some of the factors that are tempering the gentrification (for lack of a better word) include the limited public green space, the limited supply of rental units, and the commuting time to downtown Manhattan. However, overall, you have the housing, transportation, and commercial infrastructure in place to see significant gentrification over the next decade.
I have lived in South Brooklyn and loved it while I was there, the food, the bars, the parks, the overall scene. I am now in JH and I love this place, albeit for different reasons. I love the Uruguayan bakery, the Polish deli, the tamaleras near the subway entrances, even a roasted chicken every so often. I will never go hungry in this n’hood. I love that LGBT couples make up 20%+ of my building. I love seeing Tibetan ladies dressed in their traditional garbs. I like walking down Roosevelt and wondering what happens beyond all the dark stairwells late at night. I love that people in the neighborhood seem obsessed with having dogs as pets. I love seeing the teenagers make out against trees, cars, and entryways because they have nowhere else to go. I also like stopping by Table Wine and grabbing a decent bottle of wine come Friday night.
I am not into the littered streets, nor into people not picking up after their dogs, nor into the calling cards handed out on weekends, nor into the lack of public greenspace, nor into the number of women with cosmetic surgery. I don’t care much for E77 for some of the reasons expressed before, but I wish the owners all the best in making their business work for them. At the end of the day, none of these are deal breakers for me. Like any relationship, you take with good with the bad . . . .and overall there is lots of good here.
I don’t think JH will become the next Brooklyn (nor do I want it to be). However, it will change significantly, but in a way that builds off of what we have here. We will likely see more professionals, more money, more kids, but it will be people who appreciate and embrace the diversity of JH. Mind you, my sense is that many of the immigrants in JH are “middle classâ€. They may not be college educated or read the New Yorker, but they are hard working, take pride in who they are, are happy with where they are in life, etc. I think those folks helped JH become the safe and prosperous place it is today.
My last observation, I get the sense that there are some people who moved to JH from Brooklyn etc. and either resent having to live here or resent not being able to live there. That sucks because they should live where they will be happy. I suspect some of these folks end up leaving JH, some just come to terms with the place and get past it, while others just keep hoping for the gentrification that has grabbed hold of Brooklyn etc. For better or worse, some of that gentrification is inevitable and likely sooner than we think.
