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Brooklyn’s Newest Resident an Outspoken Critic of Gentrification

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – With more than half of the world’s population living in urban areas, it’s no surprise both the cultural and physical landscape of America’s cities are rapidly changing.

This change is particularly stark in the ever-transforming New York borough of Brooklyn, where former industrial buildings have been converted into high-end condos and long-term residents and business owners are being displaced at a rapid rate.

Thankfully, there is a new voice for the people.

Andy Malone, a 24-year-old, suburban-born punk and recently relocated NYU film student, has become the voice of the voiceless.

“This place has changed; it’s all just coffee shops and cocktail lounges. What happened to the art? What happened to the soul of this neighborhood?” Malone asked from his live/work space that was previously a low-income housing apartment.

The displacement of residents from neighborhoods their families have lived in for generations has caused unrest and discontent, especially among Malone and his D-beat band, Displaced.

Related: Three Song Demo Unlistenable

Having spread the message of the evils of gentrification while living in Oakland and San Francisco during the years between high school and college – which he used to “find himself” – Malone decided he needed to take his cause to the East Coast.

“I, unfortunately, saw the same thing happening in the Bay Area, but my loud complaining while waiting in line for brunch or to my friends via Facebook really made a difference,” Malone pointed out as he entered the corporate-run gym he joined when he moved to Brooklyn. “All it takes is one share of an article about Google buses to change the world.”

10 Comments

  1. dizz nuts January 7, 2015

    Wtf is this shit

  2. Al January 8, 2015

    Looks like mad decent satire

  3. Eusebia January 11, 2015

    Hello folks, if you want to lose weight
    you should type in google – CutThermaFat –
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  4. futurepilgrim January 13, 2015

    Funny stuff. All it takes is one share….

  5. Stephen January 16, 2015

    not the most hilarious thing i’ve ever read, but it’ll do.

  6. mike January 16, 2015

    Bitching about coffee shops, while holding multiple cups of coffee, from said coffee shop I would assume

  7. Anthony Marino January 17, 2015

    Can the voice of Brooklyn be someone BORN in BROOKLYN… like an actual BROOKLYN NATIVE…. smh….

    • Spike January 17, 2015

      This is satire, dude.

  8. Eddie January 18, 2015

    I’ve lived in these artsy communities for over 16 years in several different areas of NYC. I think the doubly-absurd point the article is trying to make is that a lot of the people who complain about gentrification are the gentrifiers themselves. They usually presume that, even though they’re technically a part of that wave, they’re somehow exempt of its sins, usually by being truer to the creative roots of that community than the other gentrifiers…which we should all call bullshit on, of course.

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