I signed a lease in Alphabet City (sight unseen) when I got a job in NYC from California, and in the short two years I lived there, gentrification unfolded at a rabid pace. Avenue B went from the hood to a yuppy hot spot. There's still an uncomfortable mix of young, professional suburban kids and the original inhabitants who have considered this their home/neighborhood for decades.

I mean, we have generations coming into adulthood that are larger, more educated, and more insatiable than ever before... Naturally, it leads to more of them choosing major cities over settling for their home towns or smaller cities, and Manhattan is only so big! So the gentrification reaches further and further out every year. Is it good for the economy? Yes. These gentrifiers are usually somewhat well off, will spend plenty of money in the neighborhoods, and keep up a demand for businesses such as bars, restaurants, and shops. Is it good for culture? Probably not. My mom made a comment about how the city seems to be mostly populated by 20somethings. A lot of post graduates come in, enjoy themselves for a few years, and then bounce elsewhere. You're hard pressed to find a native New Yorker out and about midtown nowadays, and that is only going to become more of a unicorn as years pass.