Where is the Neighborhood Going?...From $800 to $3500 a month

Ahh, my old neighboorhood: the East Village. I remember walking through the familiar grunge of Ave A, Thompkin's Square Park to get to my place between Ave C and D. The Avenue A side of the park has always been the brightest. The lights would eliminate my fears of walking home after sunset. That's the beauty of the New York lights and constant activity, it makes you feel safer.

I was never a regular at Ray's Candy Store but did stop in a few times and hope that he doesn't have to close shop in the next few months. The irony is that the store's own success is essentially what raised Ray's rents from $800 a month to $3500 a month.

In recent years New York has lost some of its character to rising rent costs, landlords have perhaps gotten a bit greedy wanting to attract more national chains that pay higher premiums for locations that local businesses like Ray's Candy Store helped make into the cash-cow that they are today.

It's been 3.5 years since I lived in the East Village, but I still think of it as home...but is my sense of home slowly becoming a memory...is it still the village I love (and that loves me)?