Of the three readings, I was particularly struck by Cadora and Kurgan’s piece on Million Dollar Blocks. Besides the cogent graphic explanation of this phenomenon, the article really rang true as I lived in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, amidst clusters of million dollar blocks.
Clinton Hill is a primarily black residential neighborhood with black-owned businesses situated near Pratt, integrating some art-student types into the mix. I had no idea I was living in a community so directly affected by the criminal justice system. My ignorance towards the number of people incarcerated in my neighborhood is very telling of my disconnection with the community. This is partly due to the fact that I was very much a part of the first wave of gentrification in Clinton Hill.
Gentrification seems like a tired debate, but further realizing my detachment to the community in which I once lived, I would like to rehash it in relationship to the mappings presented in this article. Perhaps mapping of the million dollar blocks as they are described by Cadora and Kurgan, overlaid with a mapping of gentrification of these areas. Gentrification in Brooklyn could be another version of the million dollar block, in the millions of dollars Manhattanites are spending on Brooklyn brownstones. More likely than not, these mappings would be inversely related.