Tag: Gentrification in the Bronx

Bridging Kingsbridge is an interdisciplinary project consisting of performative actions and video-projections in public space as well as photographic-essays and collection of oral histories that will reflect on communities living in the Kingsbridge area of the Bronx. Given the approval to convert its centric Kingsbridge Armory into “the largest ice sports complex in the world”, this area is of importance in the context of communities disrupted by large developments of entertainment/sports venues.

As reported by The Observer regarding this type of developments and community agreements, former New York City comptroller John Liu states:

“From Atlantic Yards to Yankee Stadium to the Columbia University expansion, the public has seen a string of broken promises to communities and questionable involvement by some government officials.”

As a long time resident of Kingsbridge, I’ve already witnessed landlords raising rents on businesses and tenants as well as refusing to renew leases. This is evidence of gentrification, which ultimately leads into evictions and displacement of  working-class people.

Bridging Kingsbridge will create a historical timeline to document the cultural and societal complexities of the community and its changes; more importantly, it’ll use art as the primary tool of discussion and political subversion to engage and revitalize the Kingsbridge community.