battle for brooklyn
Gentrification: The process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents. Brooklyn district has been subject to one of the greatest real estate operation in recent years in the USA. When plans were presented to build sixteen skyscrapers and a sports centre in the Atlantic Avenue area, the construction company claimed (as they usually do in these cases) that the whole thing was going to work wonders for the district. They gave the job to Frank Gehry, the ¨Prince of Wasted Space¨, as NPR (National Public Radio) dubbed him. They started to move the strings that needed to be twitched right away: areas which had never been a problem, buildings which had never had structural problems, started to be seen as imminent risks. Local residents were turfed out one after another and demolition orders were granted. Before you build a district, there's usually a problem: demolishing the district which was there before.
Amongst the business people involved in the whole thing, Jay-Z is well-known. He brought the New Jersey basketball team Nets to Brooklyn. He said it was something which would give the district character and make it proud. But the rappers like him lost touch with the street long ago. Bling bling. Savage capitalism's shine has whitened their skin and that of those like them. When the NBA team opened its sports centre, mayor Bloomberg said that people in the district weren't going to remember their past, they'd only be looking at the future. But he wasn't right. Many district residents and associations were against gentrification and expressed their opposition to the system: and still do. This movement includes the film Battle for Brooklyn; it's a film which was filmed in Atlantic Avenue and shows what happened there during eight years. The filmmakers Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky filmed the district's destruction, local residents being thrown out and a new district being created. And the film's success has opened a debate.
On 28th September, 2012, the rapper and businessman Jay-Z gave a concert in the sports centre which he had built. On the same day, at the same time, half a block away, the film, Battle for Brooklyn was shown. Ah, the name of the sports centre where Jay-Z gave his concert is Barclays Arena. We don't have to say any more, do we?
Amongst the business people involved in the whole thing, Jay-Z is well-known. He brought the New Jersey basketball team Nets to Brooklyn. He said it was something which would give the district character and make it proud. But the rappers like him lost touch with the street long ago. Bling bling. Savage capitalism's shine has whitened their skin and that of those like them. When the NBA team opened its sports centre, mayor Bloomberg said that people in the district weren't going to remember their past, they'd only be looking at the future. But he wasn't right. Many district residents and associations were against gentrification and expressed their opposition to the system: and still do. This movement includes the film Battle for Brooklyn; it's a film which was filmed in Atlantic Avenue and shows what happened there during eight years. The filmmakers Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky filmed the district's destruction, local residents being thrown out and a new district being created. And the film's success has opened a debate.
On 28th September, 2012, the rapper and businessman Jay-Z gave a concert in the sports centre which he had built. On the same day, at the same time, half a block away, the film, Battle for Brooklyn was shown. Ah, the name of the sports centre where Jay-Z gave his concert is Barclays Arena. We don't have to say any more, do we?
