Bushwick: Then and Now

The rise, fall and subsequent rise of Bushwick, via City Journal. A decent history, though I wonder about the final gentrification-is-nothing-but-good conclusion:

Still, there’s little evidence that the trans­formation will do anything but benefit most Bushwick residents. “Gentrification drives few low-income residents from their homes,” writes Columbia University urban-planning professor Lance Freeman, who has studied the effects of neighborhood change in New York. Instead, demographic changes take place gradually, prompted not by precipitous hikes in rent but by normal turnover in the housing market. Far from pushing people out, Freeman has found, neighborhood upgrades like Bushwick’s encourage many residents to stay and enjoy the fruits of revival.