Main Claim – When driven by greed and profiteering, gentrification (the renewal/upheaval of older neighborhoods by new
neighborhoods) destroys families and communities.
Section 1 – Sub Claim – defining the current problem of gentrification in Little Italy

EXPOSITORY: from NY Post “Little Italy” article – no Italian American families currently living in Little Italy (down from 44
families as of the 2000 census)

EXPOSITORY: from Parillo book – historical context for Little Italy families (immigration patterns, statistics)

COMMENTARY: high costs of wealth progress – destruction of cultural base, heritage and family structure

NARRATIVE: introduce and describe Rocco, his sadness at being displaced

NARRATIVE: describe the building that is no longer there

EXPOSITORY: from NY Post “Little Italy” article – description of the city now, shining and gleaming, new with Starbucks on
every corner
“At La Bella Ferrara, the monthly rent went from $7,000 to $17,000 in just two years — and the sad owners closed after 42
years in business. “We serve dessert and coffee, we can’t afford that,” said co-owner Frank Angileri, 69. “They pushed us
out. . . . Italian businesses can’t survive here, with the rising rents and the economy. It’s a shame, it’s such a shame. They
kicked us out like dogs.”

EXPOSITORY: from NY Times article – the demand for luxury condos and apartments in NYC caused the

EXPOSITORY: from Jacobs and from NY Times article describing the destruction of cities and neighborhoods by the powers
of greed: “outstanding, magnetic cities would attract only the most profitable type of housing… too much money, cataclysmic
money, would end up destroying neighborhood rather than saving it.”

COMMENTARY: the allure of profits is an almost indomitable force; greed begets greed; rent skyrockets, buildings transform
from working class communities to impossibly expensive (and faceless, characterless) housing developments
Section 2 – the culture of the community prior to gentrification

NARRATIVE: role of Rocco as father and provider

NARRATIVE: extended family and homeownership, how he acquired the building with aunts and uncles moving in

EXPOSITORY: from Giordano “Italian Families” – importance of culture, ordone del famillia (Giordano 618)

NARRATIVE: spaghetti dinners with the whole family

COMMENTARY: Rocco’s ability to feed his family in their communal home represents his role as patriarch to provide shelter
and nourishment but also cultural identity to his family. For Italians, communal culture is more important than individual
identity. For Italian Americans, the bedrock of the family neighborhood in Little Italy preserves the values of “la via vecchia” or
the old way (Kolb 114).

EXPOSITORY: from NY Post “Little Italy” article –
“Manager Mike Ahmed, a 32-year S.P.Q.R. veteran, recalled the glory days: Guests from around the world, people getting
engaged or married at the 500-seat restaurant, important business meetings held over the linguine di mare.

COMMENTARY: Italian family culture is determined by proximity, by enclaves of family and regional cultures. Without
proximity the cultural identity of these immigrant groups will diminish
Section 3 – the trauma of displacement

NARRATIVE: last dinner, throwing rocks through the windows, tears in his eyes, the family’s departure (not understanding
the significance)

EXPOSITORY: from Giordano “Italian Families” – the trauma and dissociation from the destruction of family and
community

EXPOSITORY: from NY Post “Little Italy” article –
“Manager Mike Ahmed, a 32-year S.P.Q.R. veteran…‘It’s become too hard to make a living out of this place,’ he said with
resignation. The soaring rents are ‘the start of a cancer we’re not going to be able to control,’ he adds.”

COMMENTARY: Not only does Rocco lose his livelihood and his home, but he loses the culture that sustains his family in
face of the culture of the new world