Gentrification Map

Dear Industry City Owners*,

My name is Miguel Rendon, I currently attend City College of New York which is located in Harlem. I am writing to you to address a concern of mine which is that Sunset Park will one day become as gentrified as Harlem. This is a big problem because as seen in the previous documents, Harlem has been gentrified to the extent that there are less than 5 small areas that are Not Losing Low-Income Households. However, in Sunset Park more than half of the whole area of Sunset Park consists of Not Losing Low-Income Households. Therefore, demonstrating the drastic difference between Sunset Park and Harlem and emphasizing the threat that Industry City is causing to the population of Sunset Park.

Industry City starts to grab people’s attention and starts bringing in more and more foreign visitors to visit Industry City. It will cause them to eventually figure out that they will be capable of living in Sunset Park because if they are wealthy enough then they will begin to buy most of the property that the Low-Income population holds. Therefore, Industry City will cause the beginning of the cycle for gentrification to occur, which is to bring the interest of the wealthy people to a place that will be seen as less expensive and then they will start to invest in Sunset Park by buying property.

Furthermore, all these new incoming people will cause the rents to increase. Industry City needs to help the community in a way that the people who are willing to work in Sunset Park should be given the opportunity to work. More awareness of job training should be given to the community. More awareness of Innovated Lab Solutions, which is a place that helps people find jobs in Industry City or other companies that are partnered with it. For the community to feel safe from displacement, they should get paid above minimum wage in order to compete with others who are coming into Sunset Park, in which Industry City can provide those jobs, jobs that pay more than $40k annually.

Lastly, it is understandable that Industry City is privately owned, however, in order for the community to the corporate you must give us certain information. Information such as what is the estimated profit? What is the potential number of job openings? Will you provide jobs for the community only? Will you provide job training to the community? What opportunities will be given to the community? Will the community be able to open their own businesses with your help? What are you planning and how long do you guys plan on staying? These are questions to create a fundamental base of trust between Industry City and the community. There are so many ways both sides can benefit and help each other.

I hope this helps explain the confusion that the community feels and what the community expects from Industry City. I hope this allows for easier communication between the community and you all. Thank you for reading and thank you for your time.

Thank you,

Miguel Rendon, Resident of Sunset Park.

*Owners of Industry are Jamestown Properties, Belvedere Capital, Angelo, Gordon & Co., Cammeby’s International, and FBE Limited.