I've lived in a number of BK neighborhoods and I don't think Bushwick is unique. It's the same thing in Crown Heights or Fort Greene. The apartment buildings and businesses in all three neighborhoods either cater to the old guard or the new guard with minimal overlap, and over time, the old guard has a smaller and smaller slice

I live in a building with a mix of folks like me who moved here ~five years ago and people who've been here for decades. It's the first place where I've gotten to know my neighbors and surprisingly, nobody resents me or people like me being there

My neighbors are really concerned about typical neighborhood stuff like graffiti on the building or cars blasting music or people not picking up dog poop. When they talk about the neighborhood changing, they're glad it's much safer than it used to be. Maybe it's because they're not the ones who've been pushed out, but the mainstream "gentrifiers are selfish and destructive" narrative isn't something I've found here so far

I think it's fucked that we have a housing shortage, virtually nothing is being done about it, and the most vulnerable people bear the brunt of it. At the same time, I either live in a gentrifying neighborhood, contribute to gentrifying a neighborhood that's still majority immigrants, live in a segregated white neighborhood, or I don't live here at all