Submitted by nicole, Dec 2, 2007 02:38

My husband's family has been in the neighborhood since 1901, and is where we live today. Ditmas Park has definitely been changing. I'm worried about all these people from Manhattan moving in driving up prices and rents, even though we own a home, other people are being driven out. I also don't particularly like all the white "hipster" and "fancy-pants" types moving in (not that I don't like white people) but because it means less diversity and the dreaded possibility of the neighborhood then starting to look like some plastic disney-land, fake soho assimilated bizarro world, after all the corporate profit seeking machines start to move in to try and make a buck off all these new people moving in, because they know if they open an Ann Taylor, a Starbucks, J. Crew, Crate n' Barrel, Chipotle Grill, etc. etc. some people will manage to keep those places in business no matter if there's one on every block. (Fer Chrissakes people can't you all just stop shopping?!) Then the neighborhood will look like every other boring neighborhood that's fallen victim to gentrification and invasion of the chain-stores; which is practically all of Manhattan (which might as well just be one big shopping mall) and now parts of Brooklyn like Williamsburg, Park Slope, Dumbo etc.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.