Yesterday we exposed how The Clocktower’s luxury expansion building, ‘The Crescendo’ in Port Morris, was marketing itself to be located in the fictitious land of the ‘Piano District’ that is allegedly located somewhere in the South Bronx.
As of this morning, 25 Bruckner Boulevard’s marketing company, Mdrn. Residential, has removed all references to the ‘Piano District’ thanks to Welcome2TheBronx’s harsh criticism yesterday.
The area is still incorrectly described as Mott Haven but we all know it’s technically Port Morris and a common tactic by developers to give their properties more prestige by using the better known name.
Thank goodness for keeping “receipts”, no? At least we still have the screenshots of this fumble.
But this doesn’t solve the bigger issue of gentrification and displacement.
Whether we like it or not (we hate it), gentrification is here on our shores and is only picking up speed.
The asking rents at The Crescendo currently are the highest of any rental development not just in the South Bronx but the entire borough and if the building ends up leasing out completely, it will set a bar for the area and a signal to developers.
This will lead to further displacement and undue pressures on our residents as landlords will indeed continue to apply pressure to buy tenants out of their leases, not to mention greedy developers who will inflate the local commercial rents by snatching up leases (because they can afford to) and driving out mom & pop shops.
But let’s also get something straight: Being anti-gentrification in no way shape or form means that one is opposed to a neighborhood “improving”.
We all deserve access to quality food, to a healthy environment free of asthma-inducing truck traffic, better schools and all the bells and whistles that come with gentrification and how our own politicians like to tell us, “Gentrification is good for you!” (well, not using those exact words).
We deserve these things because we are human beings, we deserve the dignity that comes with living in such environments and not treated like animals or less deserving because our communities don’t have access to the wealth that others do.
So while the company has erased the ‘Piano District’ from its website and marketing materials, our problems still remain.
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