The flower pot

I live downtown. In Alphabet City, almost on Avenue D. It's pretty much as far south and east as you can live on the island. And Avenue D is considered, well, rough. Me? I love it. Characters in Tompkins Square Park, gardens tucked in between buildings, graffiti a patchwork piecing together the neighborhood. But all of that is changing, I fear. Gentrification. One block away from me, the flower pot building is going up. Million dollar apartments, yes, one bedrooms for a million dollars. And the demographic they're supposedly looking for to fill the building is mine. Young (er, cough, cough...sigh), female professionals. HA! If you've got a mil to drop on an apartment, what on Earth would inspire you to move almost all the way to D? There is no Starbucks. No shopping, except for a 99 cent store. No New York Sports Club. There are laudromats, Spanish and Chinese restaurants, grocery stores and pharmacies. But it ain't luxury. And I like it. But I'm not sure the neighborhood would suffice for a person looking to spend a mil on an apartment.

After three years of living in my studio, I feel a part of the hood. I speak to people on the street, pass things I no longer use on to neighbors, accept things others no longer need. One of my neighbors just moved out and left me his air conditioner! I'm not much of a window unit girl, but, man, was it hot yesterday! My street is built of a senior facility and community housing, interspersed with what was a squatters building, a couple of churches and a Habitat for Humanity building, created to house low-income families. What was once planned diversity seems to be getting pushed out into the East River.

So here are my questions. What young prefessional drops a mil on a one bedroom? Is this an alternate reality? Are there people my age bringing in that kind of dough? I guess if you have money to throw around, why not? But the neighborhood, this part anyway, is still mostly lower income families. How do those two dynamics relate? What happens when you put the have-too-muches and the don't-have-a-lots on the same block?

And me, I can't even seem to keep a plant alive in a pot, let alone see it through to blooming with flowers! Please see dead licorice plant at right.