Edition: U.S. / Global  The Big City; The Gentry, Misjudged As
Neighbors  Published: March 26, 2002  WE all think we know how
gentrification works. Developers and yuppies discover charm in
an old neighborhood, and soon the very people who created the
neighborhood can't afford it anymore. Janitors and artists are
forced out of their homes to make room for lawyers and bankers.
This process has been routinely denounced in neighborhoods like
Harlem and Park Slope in Brooklyn. But when researchers recently
looked for evidence of such turnover, the results were
surprising.  Gentrification does not cause an exodus of the poor
and the working class, according to a study in New York and
another in Boston. Just the opposite happens: people with
relatively little income and education become more likely to
stick around. The rate of turnover declines, apparently because
people don't like to leave a neighborhood when it's improving.
You may have a hard time believing these results, but you can't
dismiss them as propagand