One kind of gentrification is definitely preferable to another.

I had a drink this evening with my friend Mandy; she's the Executive Director of the Williamsburg Gallery Association, which is the non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the art community centered in Williamsburg. The neighborhood is definitely in a state of transition, as the artspaces and studios are forced out by hipsters with money being forced out by condos, and it's all absorbing the Latino, Polish and Jewish blocks that were there first; the WGA reflects this state of flux. Mandy has the right idea; the WGA needs to be about more then boosting the neighborhood's for-profit galleries, it needs to be a genuine community arts organization, which Williamsburg will need more than ever as the rising condos blot out the waterfront view. Meanwhile, she spearheaded the printing of a really handy large-format, newsprint guide to Williamsburg's art spaces, called RAW 2007, which you should find and pick up; anyone who's tried to find some of the more obscure venues on foot will know how valuable a resource that is.