The Changing of My Old Neighborhood in Queens

I am a college student who goes to school in upstate New York in Binghamton and I happen to live in a nice town in Queens. I enjoy my hometown and love going back to it on the holiday breaks like during the winter holidays. However, something was horrible wrong when I cam back this year. For the first time I noticed a change in my old neighborhood that I had yet to recognize in my previous trips home. My hometown has a nice movie theater and a park for kids of all ages and teenagers to hang out and play ball. It also has a nice selection of shopping stores and everything you could possibly need to buy is within the town. When I first heard that the first luxury apartment building was being created, I didn't think much about its consequences at first. I just thought that it would be an increase in the population of the town. However, I am finally begin to understand what is happening with my neighborhood and why other neighborhoods like it around New York City are changing for the worse as well.

The rise of the first luxury apartment building came quickly as the developer of the building sold every single apartment for 1 million dollars in less than a month. A wait list line had already been created in case anyone decided not to pay up which I doubted anyone would. The first apartment building was at least 30 stories high and I am sure than the developer made a huge fortune off of the building. My town is located in a midway point between Long Island in New York and Manhattan. The town is also very easily accessible by train, bus, taxi and the Long Island Railroad and goes to almost any place in New York. The wide range of shopping stores also makes it an attractable neighborhood.

However, the birth of one luxury apartment building brought two more within a span of only a month after the first building was bought. Developers has seen how much money and success they could make from a luxury apartment building in my neighborhood in Queens and wanted to quickly capitalize on the opportunity like any smart businessman would. The sad reality, as I've learned, is that the developers have taken over the land which is currently held by a Walbaums and a Key Food, two stores which are the main places for buying food within walking distance. Now, in order to buy food, you have to drive or take mass transportation which puts a heavy burden on the older senior citizens, babysitters and single parents.

From what I have heard, the luxury buildings all contain fitness gyms, swimming pools, restaurants and a whole lot more. It is quite sad that more local mom and pop stores will be slowly going out of business as well as a result of these luxury buildings. Currently, the local church and temple are fighting to get funds to remain open because the price of rent and maintenance has skyrocketed because landlords and developers are charging more and more. Stores are condensing because they don't have enough money to pay for their increasing rent. A Cold Stone Creamery ice cream store recently closed because their rent was so high. For neighborhoods such as mine, it is a sad reality that the local townspeople must face.