by Emma Davey 
Greenpoint is hot right now. Arguably, it might be the city’s hottest neighborhood, though we’re definitely biased.
According to 2020 census data, Brooklyn still holds the top spot as the most populous borough in the city — a population increasing every day. And North Brooklyn has a lot to do with that. Assembly District 50, which comprises Greenpoint and Williamsburg, grew 26%between the 2010 to 2020 censuses. That represents one of the biggest shifts…
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Greenpointers has covered Greenpoint & Williamsburg since 2007 — community boards, rezoning fights, local businesses, and the people whose lives and work give the neighborhood its character. Local news is collapsing across the country, but we're still here: independently owned, no corporate backing, no paywall. 18+ years, 280k+ monthly readers and followers, funded by the community we serve.
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In the interest of balance, it would’ve been nice if every person quoted in this piece was not obviously voting Democrat. As an independent voter living in Greenpoint, I think there is a tremendous amount of urban decay and empty storefronts that need to be addressed. All of the big money has been developing along the waterfront while the rest of the neighborhood gets left behind. There needs to be more bike infrastructure, green spaces, and small business incentives that don’t lure in more insidious vape shops. Tear down the BQE and kick out all the heavy industrial polluters.
I stood outside the polling place for 2 hours, and this is who would talk to me. Also, the neighborhood is overwhelmingly Democrat. Hope this helps!
I wasn’t in need of help! I simply provided a comment with my perspective on your article. Hopefully alternate points of view are still welcome in NYC.
Well Mary, don’t hope too much for this city. NYC is doomed. Only one sided party can express themselves. If you are other than a democrat or a liberal, then you don’t have freedom of speech. I say this because most liberals shut down on other people when the opposite says otherwise. If I tell a liberal about homelessness, he/she will say “oh that’s not true” or any kind of lies. When I walk down at Manhattan Ave, I see homeless people picking up cans; bunch of marijuana stores; and illegals cat-calling on women at the corner of TD bank. This is not the Greenpoint I’ve known for years. Greenpoint used to be a safe place, and there were a lot of kids at the park. Now this place has become weedpoint, and almost everyone, especially the young ones, are on weed. Greenpoint has so many problems, but nothing is going to change because most Greenpointers keep voting for the same party. It’s going to get a lot worse.
As a guy living in Greenpoint the past 12 years, I can that Greenpoint has definitely gotten worse the past 3 years or so. I would say it sort of peaked around 2012-2014. I remember thinking at that time that Greenpoint had reached the perfect level of gentrification. Not too seedy, but not too ritzy. Lots of locals who have been here a long time. Lots of ethnic character, both Polish and Latin. But with all the new buildings, and all the new people, the neighborhood has really transformed into a totally different place. It just feels so much more hectic and busy. And I will say I have witnessed more criminal activity than ever before, for what that’s worth. I have also seen a huge influx of additional cars, and especially luxury cars. It’s almost as thought the neighborhood has gotten both more bougie and more seedy at the same time. Pretty depressing to be honest! It’s definitely not the place I fell in love with. Almost all of its unique character is gone at this point. It has become just another example of a Brooklyn neighborhood.
More and more every Brooklyn neighborhood becomes the same, a sort of homeostasis of neighborhood identity. When I first moved to New York, every neighborhood felt really unique and individual. Type of housing stock, ethnic makeup, economic status, even politics, were all unique to each neighborhood and super distinct from each other. Now, everything is melting into this same bland generic Brooklyn identity. A lot of the flavor is gone, unfortunately. This is true in so many places in the world as well. I blame it on greed, development, and governmental tampering!