Original subtitles

Marc Levin:How do you think this neighborhood has changed?

It's like the buildings are changing.

Is it getting better? Is it getting worse? What would you say?

- Worse. - Getting better.

Worse, 'cause the buildings

are turning, like, old and dirty.

And you said it's getting better.

'Cause the builders are building the new houses.

( music playing )

( jackhammer rattling )

Omega Linton: I feel like they're trying to push

everybody out of New York City.

I don't care what color you are.

If you don't have the big dollars,

they want you out.

They want that apartment and that spot for someone else

who's bringing in those dollars.

Cher Elyse Carden: I walk down the street now,

I don't see anything that I recognize anymore.

All of my favorite stores and shops are now gone.

Nick: When you walk down the High Line,

there are literally, like, new construction buildings every day.

It's changing so rapidly.

Claudia Saez-Fromm: We're the capital of the world.

People want to live in Manhattan.

Are the people going to be moving out?

That's what happens.

William Wilson: I grew up on 25th Street and 9th Avenue.

There's an apartment complex on the corner now.

I don't know where-- I came home from jail and it was there.

Corey Johnson:You have this school where you could send your child there

from kindergarten through 12th grade,

pay between $40,000 and $50,000 a year

for private education,

and literally across the street,

you have the Elliott-Chelsea houses

where a tremendous number of people are living in poverty.

Luc: I've noticed, like, a greater disparity

just between looking at kids across the street and Avenues

and then looking at the housing projects.

This gap is just becoming larger between the two.

Even though you may just see an avenue between each block,

it's actually much larger than that.

Rosa: So, if you look out here,

you can actually see the Statue of Liberty.

So, like, right over there.

And these are, like, the other rich buildings

where other people live.

My family is poor because we live in the projects.

We don't live, like, nowhere perfect.

And my mom, she doesn't give me a lot of money--

like, probably $2, $3

to go to the store and stuff like that.

I mean, my family is not a perfect family, you know what I'm saying?

I can't, I can't. I try being honest with you.

And you say, "Oh, Daddy, buy me this, buy me this."

I cannot, because I don't have no money, Rosa.

- You understand what's going on in-- - I understand!

If I got the money, you think that I'd say no?

You don't-- no, if I got the money, I'd say I'll go with you.

I mean, I don't have what I want necessarily,

but I do have, like, people that I love.

Tócala.

See?

She love you.

♪ My name is Rosa, it rhymes with bosa ♪

♪ I stick to the lyrics every day and knows-a... ♪

Who do I admire? I admire Beyoncé.

I mean, if I ever meet her, I'm gonna cry.

It's gonna be, like, so emotional for me.

I mean, Mark-- I mean, if who-- like your favorite singer.

Who's your favorite singer?

Billie Holiday.

You-- if you meet him, right?

You would, like, faint or something, like, something...

oh, my God.

( thunder rumbling )

Rosa: Avenues is a school that I wanted to go to,

but I couldn't because it was too much money.

Parents are more poor at my school,

and Avenues, it's, like,

people that have, like, a lot of money, you know what I'm saying?

♪ Welcome to Avenues, the best high school ♪

♪ I've got a strange feeling ♪

♪ That you're in for something new ♪

♪ I wanna tell you about my favorite crew ♪

♪ We've got a name for it, student council ♪

♪ Our job is to make the school the best that it can be ♪

♪ Your job is to report any problem that you see ♪

♪ We've got the president and the secretary ♪

♪ But what about me? I'm the V.P. ♪

( cheering )

Yasemin: I've seen people come to the school

and they're like, this is a spaceship.

Like, they go in the elevators, they're talking to you.

There's a cafe with coffee.

Like, it's to the extent

where it almost makes you white out everything else.

Geoffrey: The first day, I came to Avenues

and I saw an entire line of Mercedes SUVs

outside the school just dropping kids off.

It was a little intimidating because I thought,

wow, I'm going to a school where people are, like, crazy rich.

Luc: In Vermont, I was always looked at

as the wealthiest kid in my class,

whereas here, going to Avenues,

I definitely was not.

Isabella: Just being upper middle class

is something that a lot of kids have in common.

Like, they don't have enough money to have a private jet

and go to Turks and Caicos over the weekend,

which a few kids do.

-( ball dribbling ) - Go, Avenues!

Sophie: When I come to Avenues, I definitely feel like

I am the lower part of the pack.

And that's kind of odd, right, 'cause compared to the rest of the world,

I go on vacation, I go to a private school, in general.

So it's a very odd shift once I walk in the doors.

And when you live in the city

and when you're exposed to all these different walks of life,

you are able to say, okay, this is what I have.

But that's not the same case for everybody else.

Joel: When we were learning about the Titanic--

like, first class, second class, third class, and the crew--

like, the first class was the wealthy ones,

second class was sort of wealthy,

third class, not so good,

and crew, you just work for money.

( speaking Spanish )

Levin: Where would you put yourselves?

I figure I'll say at least second class

or third class.

- Joel, Miley. - Joel:Yeah?

Come,vengan. I have pizza for you.

Coming.

Seven people in a little house.

-Two rooms. - Ta-da!

Joel: Me, my baby sister,

my mom and dad sleep in one room.

And my sister sleeps in the other room,

and my grandma has to sleep outside

in the living room.

Three-sixths is one half, so--

oh, I didn't look-- oh.

- Mmm. - I got it, I got it.

So you-- good.

Candida Montero: He asked me why we had to live

in that small apartment.

He asked me so many questions--

that he would like to live in better place.

That's a heartbreak.

And the thing that he tell me,

"Mommy, when I go to college, when I finish college,

I will buy you a big house, Mommy, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms."

And his dream is, like, better life.

Ricardo Scofidio: We used to, at one point,

build parks to escape the city.

The High Line, and one of the great strengths of High Line

is that it really opens the city up to you.

And when you go up in the High Line,

you see the city in ways

that you've never experienced before.

Real estate prices have skyrocketed.

Everybody wants to live near the High Line

and on top of the High line.

Saez-Fromm: Come on, Tyler, get dressed. Go get your coat.

- What's in that dress? - Hurry up.

Are you gonna take anything to camp?

Camp.

Saez-Fromm: My morning routine is the best

-with our family. - All good?

That 30 minutes that we're bonding,

we walk together as a family to school.

( chattering )

- Look it, a beautiful day. - ( kids chattering )

( Saez-Fromm laughs )

Be careful. Don't trip, don't trip.

I grew up very humble.

My mom assembles lamps

and my father would manage pizzeria restaurants.

I went to a public school at the time.

I didn't speak a stitch of English.

What are you doing at school today, Sophia?

What I like about Avenues

is that they really are more creative

than the traditional public school method.

Mark David Fromm: Come on, Sophia. Come on, Tyler.

Saez-Fromm: When we went there, I told Chris Whittle,

I've seen your school being built.

This is my number one choice for our daughter.

We believe in this school.

-Hola. ¿Cómo estás? -Bien...

Chris Whittle: For those of us in the world of schooling,

-there's an inside joke that... - Have a good one.

...if you came back from the 15th century,

there are only two things you would recognize--

your church and your school.

And recognizing your church is probably a good thing.

Recognizing your school is probably not.

Schools take a long time to change.

( speaking Chinese )

( students speaking Chinese )

We think of it as the first global school.

We envision major campuses

in the great cities of the world,

20 over the next decade.

What's really special and different about the school

is that we focus on preparing children

for international life.

- ( rapping in Chinese ) -( people laugh, cheer )

China becoming the world's superpower,

it may be helpful someday to know Chinese.

Instead of pressuring you

to read textbooks and study for exams,

they push you to make sure

that you're not just memorizing everything,

that you really understand what you're learning.

They kind of encourage you to be the teachers.

We learn by the Harkness method.

It's roundtable discussions.

We don't have a bunch of individual desks

facing one board or the Smart Board.

We do the Smart Board,

but, you know, everyone's facing in towards the center.

It's a roundtable discussion, and that goes for every class.

It's called Avenues, the World School.

That's an amazing friggin' title, you understand?

And this is right across the street from the projects.

( chattering )

Hyisheem: Hearing all of these good things,

the school is so great--

the one thing that kind of got me, though,

was the fact that it cost over $40,000

to admit your child.

In this neighborhood,

I don't think I can name five people

who make over $40,000.

So, when it comes down to that,

it's like a tease almost.

And it's a smack in the face.

Ken Jockers:People who live in public housing here in Chelsea

are poor or working poor people.

For a family of four,

approximately, you're looking at

a household income of about $21,000 a year.

The unemployment rate in these complexes

is about 50%.

Juwan: Nobody will understand

what it's like to live in the projects

unless you've lived in the projects,

because you can be my best friend for 25 years

and we're going to school, hanging out every day,

but you don't know what goes on

when I close my door and lock my door at night.

It's no-- it could be no hot water.

It could be-- it could be no cold water.

It could be no food.

- ( chattering ) -( ice cream truck chiming )

Hyisheem: When you're younger and you're playing in the park,

you know, there are things that you just don't pay attention to.

And, you know, you're focused on having fun.

But, you know, growing up, you start understanding

this is not a place where you want to live the rest of your life.

I mean I've been shot twice. You already know that.

You know, it's-- and living in this neighborhood.

I got shot on 26th Street between 9th and 10th.

Levin: What was the...?

A guy walked up to me.

He said, "What's up?" and started firing.

Grazed me on my head right here,

hit me in my hip right here.

I'm blessed to be alive.

In 2012, our friend Dante got shot.

It was really, like, in all honesty,

that could've been me.

( music playing )

♪ In the hood it's the same old thing ♪

♪ We need to think about some ways to change ♪

♪ To my brothers that bang, it's all love, homie, open your brain ♪

♪ We need to think about some ways to change ♪

♪ Some ways to change ♪

♪ In the hood it's the same old thing ♪

♪ We need to think about some ways to change ♪

♪ To my brothers that sling ♪

♪ With or without you in the game, it's the same ♪

♪ We need to think about some ways to change... ♪

( siren wailing )

Isabella:Honestly, when I first started walking to school,

everyone was, like, afraid to walk up that street,

because there are so many stereotypes that come with that.

Geoffrey: There are students at this school--

and I remember the first year that everyone was here.

They'd be, like, "Oh, let's walk home."

They're like, "We need to take 23rd Street

to get back to the subway."

Luc: Walking past the Chelsea housing projects,

I see people who look at me differently,

look at me as if I'm, like, white, rich preppie kid.

And they probably think that I'm looking at them

as poor, you know, people who are inferior to me

just because I may have more resources at the time.

Geoffrey: I've really had to think about how I'm perceived

just walking through the community with an Avenues polo on.

Nick:I mean there's public housing right here at 25th and 10th,

there's Avenues, then there's restaurants right over here.

And over here, there's art galleries.

I mean, it's almost a weird place to be,

'cause you're walking around,

and you look across the street

and there's something that almost looks like

it shouldn't be there-- you know, public housing.

But it was there. It was there first.

And that's what-- I mean, that's kind of what gentrification is, isn't it?

Saez-Fromm: Yeah, you're gonna be right by Chelsea Market.

So it's, like-- that's where your food shopping is gonna be.

It's great.

We moved to West Chelsea in 2006.

We took a big leap of faith because we're in real estate.

We're like, this is gonna be the new hot neighborhood.

And it was.

Three bedrooms,

they can be anywhere from $5.6 million

to about $15 million.

So, that's the Frank Gehry building. Right?

That's on 19th Street where Thomas Juul-Hansen--

that's also the Thomas Juul-Hansen building.

Joe Restuccia: In the prior ways of gentrification

and change that happened on the West Side,

always the new residents

have integrated into the new neighborhood.

This is different.

This is trying to create a new identity

for what our neighborhood is.

The development you see there has all happened since 2005.

There's been a land rush west of 10th Avenue

and there's also been, like, the museum of architectural innovation, you know?

Every building is trying to outdo each other.

Are you familiar with the neighborhood?

My kids go to school at Avenues.

Oh, so you know. That's perfect.

You enter the building underneath the High Line.

-This is a view of a penthouse. - That's beautiful.

This townhouse pricewise is 11,750.

- Okay, okay. - Okay.

- That would work? - Yeah.

Now, apart from that, when you go to the top,

- we have a duplex penthouse. -Okay.

And that's-- you know, that's more like close to 19.

You have two walk-in closets, you have a sauna.

I think my husband's gonna have to make more money.

Jeffrey Gural: We probably own 45 buildings

and, I think, about eight million square feet,

almost all of it in Manhattan.

Real estate plays a big role in gentrification

because everybody wants to make a buck.

You know, we live in a free-market society.

Most of what we bought were old factories.

Restuccia: Well, west Chelsea and the West Side, in general,

was industry.

I mean, Nabisco invented the Oreo and the Lorna Doone here.

Paper warehouses, printing presses--

it was a very heavily industrial neighborhood

that was comprised of that and tenements.

And the docks, there was a huge longshoreman industry

that, of course, went away in the late '60s, early '70s.

And so these are true working-class people.

Whittle: This was built in the '20s.

In its very early days, it was a turkey slaughterhouse,

and trains pulled up right here and unloaded turkeys.

And then it, I think, evolved into mainly a warehouse.

Silas Seandel: Put the helmet down.

Artists working in Chelsea,

there wasn't dozens and dozens of artists

when I started to work down here.

It was very dirty, it was very gritty,

it was very industrial, for sure,

and also very foreboding for the most part,

certainly after the sun went down.

Anything over west of 10th Avenue was suspect.

I've been in this neighborhood since 1983.

This is the Wild, Wild West.

That was the straight place, this was the transvestite place,

the next place was the she-hes.

There was a club there that you used to stay in

until 12:00 in the afternoon.

After that, you would leave

and go to that red building over there to the top floor

and stay there from 12:00 in the afternoon

till 9:00 at night.

Gural:Initially, we were buying these buildings because they were so cheap,

and then we converted them to office space.

So now one day we woke up 10 years ago

and that's where everybody wants to be.

Rosa:I was-- grew up in Chelsea.

I seen the stuff that happened in Chelsea.

I have friends that died, like Dante.

And he was friends with my brother, Danny,

and we actually lost him.

( siren wailing )

I seen a lot of bad stuff in my area,

and I understand it.

For a kid my age, I really understand

what has happened in this world,

what has happened in where I live at.

I live in the projects,

I live in the middle of a very poor place.

This is my big brother, Charlie.

This is my middle brother, Danny.

Okay, let's go before there's cars. Come on, honey.

( chattering )

Danny: My mentor always told me, I know, it's okay.

It's not your fault if you're born poor.

But it is your fault if you die poor.

Me coming from here, I didn't know that.

I didn't really understand that.

I was actually a Democrat.

And then when I was presented the opportunity

to become an entrepreneur, everything is self-performance.

That's what America is.

If you want it bad enough, you'll get it, and I love that.

I love that now, but I didn't-- I changed.

My whole mentality changed now than what it was before.

I'm a Republican now. It's crazy.

This is my first time hearing that, honestly.

- Are you serious? - Danny:It's crazy, man.

For real? I didn't know that. That's really new to me.

Danny: It was, like, if I can give you a dollar

or I can give you an opportunity.

Which one are you gonna take?

And most people, as a Democrat,

they'd rather take the dollar than the opportunity.

So you're saying Democrats are more for lazy, poor people?

There are certain situations where it is not your fault that you're on welfare.

You know, things happen in life, but at the same time,

there's people in life that just like to

pretty much use the government, you know, use the government.

And they're lazy.

They're lazy and they're dependent.

We've never really had this conversation like this,

but you're right, though, you're right.

- Ah! - Man:Let's go!

Danny: Times are changing.

The way money is being made is changing.

I want to make millions and millions of dollars.

And I don't make it yet, but I'm 22 years old.

My goal is by 27, I'm wanna be a self-made millionaire.

Nick: Any article I've read recently

says that in my generation, we'll be the first generation

to not make as much money as my parents did.

You know, my parents worked to get where they are now.

You know, they weren't handed any money

and that makes me look at them

and I want to do the same thing.

I want to be able to at one point

go out and buy myself a nice apartment

or a nice house or a nice car

and be proud of myself

and maybe send my kids to private school.

What you'll be able to see is 432 Park Avenue,

which is gonna be the tallest residential building,

I think, in the Northern Hemisphere.

The thing is, the higher you go, the nicer the view you have

and the more money you can get for it.

Architecture as of now interests me

not only as a hobby or something that I like, but also as a career.

Ever since I was little, I'd say I wanted to be a doctor,

so hopefully I'll be able to follow that path.

But how much money am I gonna make as a doctor?

You ask people, kids my age,

"What do you want to do when you get older?"

You want to make money. I just want to help people.

Where is that gonna set me off socioeconomically and financially?

I don't know.

Luc: My dad is a currency trader.

He works very, very hard,

so that's why he's really successful.

I really hope to be like him someday.

I want to be involved sports marketing.

I really love my New York sports.

Work in Madison Square Garden scheduling events,

things like that-- that's really what I want to do.

( music playing )

Edgar: I've been playing piano

because my parents are both professional musicians.

It's a very great way to relieve stress.

My parents always stress that, you know,

they're paying for this high school.

You have to get As, you have to get to a good college,

you have to get into a good, you know--

you have to get a good job.

I've been wanting to go to Harvard since I was five.

I think anybody who goes to a school like this

feels the pressure to succeed in life.

Rosa: I want to be a singer, but if that doesn't work out,

I wanna be a professor of geology

at Columbia University.

Everyone asks me the same exact question.

Why is it geology?

Teacher: Good morning, Rosa. How are you?

Bye,mami. Have a nice day.

Rosa: It's geology because there's some questions

that I asked my mom and dad.

And they don't, like, know the answer,

so I want to find out for myself.

How did pieces of rocks get on Earth?

When I want to grow up, I mostly want to be a dancer

or artist or astronaut.

I mostly love dancing.

It's active, it's fun.

I love challenges.

Are you guys okay with touching worms?

- No! - Yes!

Jockers: Hudson Guild is a settlement house,

and we're part of a movement that started in the late 1800s

to help immigrant families get established

in new neighborhoods in New York City.

We have morphed over the last 120 years

into a broad-based program

that's designed to serve everybody

who lives or works or goes to school

here in the Chelsea neighborhood.

- Teacher: How many boys? - Four.

Teacher: We have four boys today.

I work here with Hudson Guild in the children's center.

No, no. Where do you want to sit?

I come from the Dominican Republic,

and my family is a family of four kids.

And it's, what can I say, very hard.

The life right now is very expensive,

especially in this area.

( whistling tune )

Joel: My dad, he has to wake up at 5:00,

and he comes back at 5:00.

So his job is 12 hours.

Fernando Barbecho: It was busy, busy, busy today.

I didn't take a break, even, too.

- But you wake all early, like 4:00. - Yeah, I wake up early.

I wake at like 4:00, 4:00 in the morning.

Montero: He working in a restaurant, he making sandwiches.

He's from Ecuador.

He's illegal.

He don't have no document yet.

That's why make for us, uh, more hard.

I worry about my children,

that if something happen to him,

if he's being, like, sending back to his country.

Yeah, I'm worried about that

'cause I want my dad to stay with me

instead of going all the way over there.

Papi,

What is that?

It's for the bathtub.

Oh.

If you buy me that, you will be handsome.

- Barbecho:Yes. -( Montero laughs )

If I no buy this, so not handsome?

-Mm-mm. - Mm-mm.

( cello music playing )

( speaking Spanish )

- ( man vocalizing ) - ( music playing )

( woman speaking Japanese )

( clarinet music playing )

( woman speaking Polish )

Scofidio: The week before it opened, we kind of said, "Well,

if we can get 300,000 people up

- in one year, it would be a great success. - ( chuckles )

Of course, now it's five million a year.

Restuccia:It's in the top 10 tourist attractions of New York City?

I think that's hysterical

because I sat in meetings where people said,

"Tear that piece of junk down."

Joshua David: We're building the third section

of the High Line right now.

This was probably our biggest fight of all--

to save this part of it.

This is the original condition

that we found up on the High Line.

So these were the tracks that trains ran on

exactly as they were originally laid.

The High Line was built from 1929 to 1934.

It was built to get dangerous rail traffic

off the streets of New York City.

What was at one time the Hudson River Railroad

had run rail down the west side of Manhattan.

And almost as soon as the trains started running,

they started running people over.

David: The avenues were known as death avenues.

New York City enacted a law

where a man on horseback had to ride in front of each train

to try and clear people out of the way,

and those men on horseback were called the West Side Cowboys.

The High Line created this very unusual condition

which was an elevated railroad line

running through the center of city blocks

and sometimes through buildings.

In 1999,

somebody invited me to a community board meeting,

and then I ended up sitting next to a guy

who I had never met before.

It became clear that Robert and I

were the only two people in the room

who thought that this represented

an incredible opportunity.

But there wasn't anybody trying to save the High Line.

Everything seemed sort of aligned against us.

( girl chanting )

( kids chanting )

Restuccia: It's the major irony.

The real estate industry funded the lawsuits

to ensure the High Line was turned down.

It has provided a catalyst

beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

There's a building being developed on West 30th Street

that will have individual swimming pools in each unit.

There's another building on 11th Avenue and 24th Street

that has a car elevator that brings your car

up to your floor for your apartment.

This is not about a neighborhood or about New York.

It's about "I wanna take my money out of Singapore,

out of Abu Dhabi

and invest and park it here."

Whoa.

Okay.

Restuccia: Now, I don't think anyone in our neighborhood

really understands what's coming.

This is our Hong Kong on the Hudson.

There are gonna be 13 residential buildings,

some of which are 60 to 90 stories.

I haven't been to Hong Kong, but I've certainly seen pictures.

That's what it will look like.

Maybe those individual swimming pools won't look so fancy.

( distant siren wailing )

Rosa: Hiya!

I hate money.

I hate, hate, hate, hate money.

You know why I hate money? I'm gonna tell you right now.

People fight over money

and I hate that they fight over money.

Money was made by the devil,

I think, because God didn't say--

He was like, "No, you have to pay for this."

God-- I never heard a parable--

a parable or the Bible saying

that God said, "Oh, you have to pay for this."

Jesus, if he was on this world,

he would-- money would be non-existent.

Daddy, I'm closing you here.

Can you pick up the bike?

Rosa:Mom!

This is something I-- I'm embarrassed to say this,

but my mom had to pawn all her jewelry

'cause-- to pay the rent and stuff.

You think-- you see how that-- you see how that is?

I mean, you don't see my mom with-- she put fake on stuff.

Now she don't-- $3 stuff.

She used to have a whole bunch of jewelry--

pretty jewelry on.

( kids chanting ) Let's go, Avenues, let's go!

( clapping ) Let's go, Avenues, let's go!

( clapping ) Let's go, Avenues, let's go!

( clapping ) Let's go, Avenues, let's go!

Let's go, Avenues, let's go!

- Man:And one! -( crowd cheering )

Whittle: One of the things that we try to convey here

is how lucky students are

so that they understand that and they don't have

any kind of arrogance related to their privilege.

( chatter )

Fulano: I mean, since the people at Avenues--

their parents have lots of cash,

so all the richer kids can be a bit of brats.

But in some situations,

the richer kids and the poor kids

could have the same personality, could still be nice.

They could still be the same because poor and rich

don't always define your personality.

I always looked at my house as just a thing

that I have that I take for granted.

But then one day, you know, I had my birthday party.

A lot of kids came over who hadn't been to my house before

and said it's, like, huge and whatnot.

Like, it really put it in perspective

that, wow, you know, I have a lot.

Like, I'm very fortunate to be where I am.

Yasemin: I've grown up in a very liberal community

around a lot of progressive people.

In a weird way I like to call them

kind of, like, self-hating wealthy people.

I didn't earn my money, you know?

I didn't earn a nice house on the Upper West Side.

I didn't earn, you know, a tuition at Avenues.

I didn't earn any of it. I was given it.

My mom's family came from Turkey

with a large amount of money.

Because of that, I have a large amount of money.

I'm not saying they didn't work hard.

They definitely worked hard, but so do people who go--

who live in the projects across from Avenues.

Most people work hard.

It's just did the dice roll correctly for you?

Do you have that luck? Do you have that privilege

assigned at birth or do you not?

Barbecho: The people sent me home.

Those job-- I was working a long time for this guy and...

I make a mistake-- one salad, something like that.

He screaming to me because I know he knows

I no-- I don't have papers.

Act like, "You, you wanna work here?

You listen to me! Look at my face!"

And I was-- my face like that because, you know,

behind me is my family,

so I gonna work hard for my family.

And I said, "Sorry."

And then he said, "Okay, you know what?

Punch your card and go home."

That's it, just do like this.

Montero: And you had, like, 10 years

-working for his-- you know? - Yeah, 10 years.

And for the little mistake, for sesame seeds.

Do you believe this?

-That was tough. - It's like a tough month for me.

For us.

Juwan: When I was eight years old, I lost my mom.

Um, very close to her.

I was just-- lived with her and it hurt me.

It was like, "Okay, my mom's gone."

I done did enough crying.

I still have to live my life.

And it was hard, like, at eight years old.

The end of 2013,

I lost my little brother, my baby brother.

So that's what I'm dealing with. I'm fine, though.

Strong.

I am pursuing my career in acting and comedy.

I do want to be an actor or entertainer.

( meows )

Isabella: Well, my mom grew up

in a very poor household in Illinois

and she had to, like, work for her own money to go to college.

When I was three,

she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

When I was nine, that was when she really got sick.

And it was really hard to see her every day

near, like, the end of her life.

Afterwards, I felt, like, guilty.

Um, it's just... hard.

I know that the economy isn't good.

I'm not sure that there are many jobs available

and that college is difficult to get into

even if you have great credentials.

But I want all the hard work that I'm doing now

to pay off in some way

and I want to ultimately do something creative.

( chatter )

Nick: You look around and, you know,

Stanford right now has the lowest acceptance rate.

It's a record low.

And that's what all these colleges want.

They want their record low acceptance rates.

They want the best of the best to go to their schools,

you know, which is understandable.

But at times, you know, it becomes hard for everyone

to work as hard as they can and do the greatest things,

go to these summer programs wherever,

and speak three different languages,

to be the greatest of the great to go to these great schools.

I want to go up.

I want to be great.

Teacher:You have to get the entire country in your viewfinder,

so you have to step back to the point where you have--

-there you go, there you go. - I got it. I'm getting it.

- Wow, like a pro. -There you go.

Luc: My mom, she's always telling me about how,

"Oh, when I had an assignment, I had to walk miles to the library

to just even look up a word in a dictionary."

And nowadays, I just go on my phone.

In two seconds I have what I need.

It's just hard to think about where I might end up

because my parents, they had it worse than I did,

yet their environment made them push themselves harder

than my environment does today.

I was getting in the elevator in my building one day,

and I live on the 49th floor

and the lower half of the building

is lower income housing floors.

A woman and her little boy, who's about maybe two years old,

each African-American, they pressed 14.

And he said, "Wow, you live all the way up there?"

And I was like, "Yeah, I do."

And he said, "Well, I live down here."

And then at that point, I didn't know what to say.

Like, I could've said, "Oh, cool."

But then I was thinking about,

"Oh, well, the mother knows that I don't think it's cool."

Like, is she thinking that I'm thinking

I'm above them and they're lower than me

and that, like, socially I'm superior and things like that?

And I never--

I never thought about that before.

( chatter )

Job: In the TV, there's no TV shows

that's really the rich and the poor together, you know?

It's either it's a rich show or it's a poor show.

Brandon: I live in a low-income apartment.

I applied in a lottery.

I felt like crying. It was like, "Wow,

I'm really gonna move out the projects."

Like, I lived here all my life.

All I seen was this.

I live on the second floor, but I live all the way in the back.

So one day, I'm coming out with my friend,

and these two girls, they're all the way in the front

and they seen us walking.

They slammed the door,

locked it, and put a chain on it.

And I heard it.

I'm like, "Wow, are you serious right now?

Like, you're really scared."

Still to this day, I walk in the building,

people look at me like I'm not supposed to be there.

Reporter: An apartment building with two separate entrances.

One for sky-high market rates

and one for low-income residents

that opens to a side street.

It's been dubbed "the poor door."

Brandon: There is no reason I should be walking

through a separate door because I make less than you.

So our kids are gonna be raised like that?

"Oh, this kid makes less than me or I'm gonna make more than him,

so he has to go through the separate door all his life."

Where are we gonna go next?

What's next? Are we gonna have separate bathrooms?

You know what I mean? And we're gonna have separate gyms

and the amenities in the building

so you have to go in the poor gym.

Scofidio: I remember once doing a competition.

It was for affordable housing.

It was for low-income housing.

I was given second place.

And when I asked the jury, you know,

"We thought we had a great project.

Why did we get second place?"

And they said, "Even though you could meet the budget

and it could be built, it was too good."

Brandon: I'm a doorman.

Right now, it's $12 an hour.

I work just like you. I work just as many hours.

I might just work harder than you, you know what I mean?

I wasn't born with a gold spoon in my mouth, you know?

So I-- I'm working, though.

I don't plan to be a doorman for the rest of my life.

I don't wanna be low-income for the rest of my life.

I plan to make some good money.

( man shouting on bullhorn ) ...workers under attack.

- What do we do? - All: Stand up, fight back!

-If we don't get it? - All: Shut it down!

Miguel Acevedo: These buildings go up,

these developers reap millions and millions and millions of dollars.

In return, the community gets

some type of affordable housing.

But when it comes to employment, we get zero.

Restuccia: The condominiums are selling

outside of the ones on 57th Street,

you know, the super tall crazy numbers?

They're selling for the highest price per square foot

of anywhere in the city of New York.

And if you can afford to buy a condominium

for, you know, $15 million,

you probably can afford to pay basic wages

to people who are opening and closing your door

and taking your packages and cleaning your hallways.

- Isn't that the sort of underlying thing here? - Woman:Yes.

( music playing )

Joel: "Romeo and Juliet."

Yeah, we're just practicing the whole show.

I'm a Capulet on Juliet's side.

( music playing )

Woman: All right, this is the scholarship.

Your essay should describe your professional and personal goals

- and why this scholarship is important to you. - Okay.

I had started attending Hudson Guild when I was eight years old.

From basketball to homework help

to cooking class to SAT prep,

it's been the number one resource for me in my life.

A baby?

Jockers: What we're doing is providing

that same level of academic and social support

to make sure that as many poor children

have that leg up

that other children's parents are paying for.

Gural: We adopted all of the children

that were in the third and fourth grade

that lived in the housing authority

and agreed that we would provide them counseling

and mentoring and tutoring.

It helps to level the playing field.

Anybody, middle-class families, you know,

they send their kids off to college.

The kid has a problem, he calls their parents,

the parents send a check, run up there, who knows what?

For these kids, it's not that easy.

Hyisheem:Seeing that young child growing up in those dirtier circumstances

many of us would say that, "Hey, that child doesn't have a promising future."

Well, I wanna let you guys know something.

I was that child.

The difference with me was that when people saw me,

they didn't just see me for my circumstance, my situation.

They saw me and they recognized my potential.

( applause )

Jockers: This part of Chelsea has gone through a major change

in which the number of people with money

has increased significantly.

I have described it at some times

as going from Appalachia to Park Avenue

in the span of five minutes.

( kids chattering )

Noah Klarish: We moved here about 15 years ago

and it was kind of like the Wooly West at the time.

Come on, let's play.

My kids go to Avenues.

I'm not looking to insulate them

and to have them, you know, grow up in an ivory tower.

I think it's great for them to have

all the various mix that the city offers.

I don't think of it,

"Oh, now I'm on the bad part of the block.

Now I'm on the good part of the block."

I'm on the block.

Michele: Oh, wow!

This is great.

Oh, my gosh, I love this fireplace!

It's beautiful.

- Michele: There's a-- there's a playground. - There's the playground.

Michele: So you think it'll be safe for the kids, too?

Saez-Fromm: You know, I mean, I can't guarantee safety.

This is a choice for you and your family

to make sure that if you're gonna be here or 19th Street

- in a new development. - Right.

So it's really a personal decision, up to you.

Would you live here?

You know, there's something to be said about vertical living

and, like, the price point has considered

that it's right in front of the mixed-income housing.

That's why you're getting 6,600 square feet

- for not, you know-- for 10.35. - Right.

You know, like, our feeling

as residents in west Chelsea is to embrace it,

you know, and not to be like--

is this-- it's different? Yes.

Do they have different living? Of course they do.

But either you embrace it

or it's not for you and you move on another street.

It's a little scary

to take a chance on something like this

and to find it doesn't--

- It doesn't work out. - it doesn't meld as much as you'd like it to.

Levin: Would you like to go to a school like Avenues?

Of course.

Do you know anyone there?

No, of course not.

I laugh at the fact that they use all our parks,

but don't-- but don't even like us.

Linton: They did ask us to use the parks.

Of course we said yes.

I mean, who are we not to allow anyone to use the parks?

But they did speak about scholarships,

but when a few of the families did go,

you know,

there's none of our children there right now currently

in the two years that it's been open.

It was not an issue, in our thinking.

We actually liked the fact

that we were right across the street

from public housing.

We have a robust scholarship program here,

and part of our arrangement with the community board

was that a portion of our scholarships

would go to students in Chelsea.

Juwan: They say they giving us a break by giving us a little bit.

And we still have to pay

20-something, 30-something thousand dollars.

We live in the projects. How are you helping us?

We don't even have $20,000 in our savings account

or we wouldn't be here.

I want to just get a loan.

It's a community, right?

But once you go to 26th Street

and 10th Avenue, it automatically splits.

Yasemin: I noticed this kind of irony

that these two communities were right next to each other.

It just kind of made me wonder how do they coexist?

I wanted to start the conversation,

so I talked to the Hudson Guild

and they suggested meeting Juwan.

So, like, have you ever met anyone from the neighborhood?

No, I haven't. It's a shame.

I don't know, like, where I would even-- how I would even meet people.

-Uh-huh. Oh, okay. - What are you-- have you talked with Avenues students?

I haven't talked to Avenues students at all.

To us, Avenues is, like--

like just made out of money instead of bricks.

It's like money, money, money, money.

So it's just, like, all white kids and snobby people

and stuck-up people, all that types of stuff.

It's everything but positive sometimes. Most of the time.

What did you think when you first, like,

seen the school and then you seen, like,

a project across the street from it?

Some of the students at Avenues, even in my grade,

they've grown up so much, like,

they've been told their entire lives, like,

"You don't go to neighborhoods like that.

- You don't go to areas like that." -Mm-hmm.

So, then, even though they wanna rebel,

there's still that fear in them

- that's, like, almost just... -Right.

instinctual to them to go away.

I don't even know, like-- if I saw you on the street,

like-- and if you saw me on the street,

would you strike up a conversation?

Like, I don't-- I don't know.

If you come here with a group of friends

to, like, play basketball

or to just hang out in the park,

we don't interact 'cause it's like--

nobody knows you, so it's like,

"Who are you? Why are you talking to me?"

That's how they're gonna come off.

People from here are so sensitive.

I don't know how you can have this tough exterior

and be so sensitive.

Hyisheem: You know, I can go up to an African-American male

who is a doctor, whose family comes

from long lines of Cornell University, Yale, Harvard,

and he would look at me

just like anyone else would look at me--

as a kid from the projects.

- Hey. - Woman:Hey. How's everything going?

- Everything's going great. - What you got, another year to go?

Yeah, I graduate next May.

- Hey, boy. I'm proud of you. - It's good to see you.

- So what's your major? Business? - Social work.

- All right, okay. - Yeah, social work.

Yeah, that's good. I'm happy for you.

- Thank you. Thank you. - Proud of you.

You need to inspire some of these other young-ass knuckleheads out here.

- I'm serious. You're laughing... - Definitely, definitely.

Hyisheem: I thought that being here,

"Oh, the cops are picking on us 'cause we're black.

This is happening because we're black."

But understand that it's not racism here.

It's classism.

They don't care about what color you are.

It's the fact that you don't have what they have.

Isabella: This year, like, we need a school newspaper,

magazine "The High Liner."

I'm writing an opinions piece

about-- I call it, like, "The Hidden Truth."

I mean, everyone knows that the 1%

has more wealth than the bottom 90%.

Nicholas: I think that this country

in the past has set people up

to become rich and to make a lot of money

and that comes with the freedom that people have here,

free enterprise and...

Yeah, and it ends up with 1% owning most of our--

Nicholas: It has to end up like that in some sense.

Why does it have to? Is that just-- are you talking about human nature

- or are you talking about-- -Yeah, I'm talking about human nature.

Like, if you give people the ability to say like,

"It's okay for you to get this wealthy,"

then they're going to want more money.

It's inequality, right? It's not fair, right?

Like, I could've been born on that side of the street.

Nicholas: I mean, a lot of times I just feel guilty

for going to school here.

For not being on the same--

or in the same playing field as other people.

I mean, we have all these discussions

about privilege in our school

and, like, I think a lot of times

they end up blaming us or that's what it sounds like.

But it's not really our fault

that, like, we were given the opportunity to go to this school.

I'm sure if people across the street

had the opportunity to go to this school,

they would take advantage of it.

-( beeps ) - Woman:No, no touch. No touch.

En garde, ready?

Luc: Avenues and other private schools in the city

produce results, but at a cost, right?

Like, they may have more resources,

so therefore, it's, like, a better school to go to,

but it can't-- it's like it can't be available to everyone

'cause barely anyone has 45K to fork out.

I'm very nervous.

Even though I've been to Avenues,

most people would think, "Oh, well, he shouldn't be nervous."

But I am just because you don't know what's out there yet

and because it's always changing.

You can't really prepare for it.

Brandon: 'Cause your mom's in the projects.

My mom's in the projects.

Do you have a fear about that,

like as far as where she gonna be in the next 10 years?

- Do you know? - I actually do, you know?

She told me all the time they're gonna move her out

or she's gonna have to end up--

they're gonna give her money to move out or whatever.

These buildings, they're not gonna pay for that shit.

That's what everybody's saying.

- Everybody says that now. -They're gonna buy us out.

We're just seeing buildings being built.

Like, what's that over there, you know?

It's just like a big question mark on what's gonna happen next.

Wilson:I feel like they're already starting to push us out.

I feel like I live under a cloud of darkness,

but surrounded by happiness.

Yasmin Rodriguez: I just don't understand why the old can't be with the new.

I have so much history here

and it's just like this is what I told my landlord.

I said, "This is your property, but this is my home.

And I was like, "And you can't take that from me."

Carden: Let's stick together.

Let's keep the faith and save our homes!

( cheering )

Carden: Like so many buildings here in the city,

we're now experiencing new landlords coming in

gutting the building, renovating all the apartments

and then renting them at very high prices.

But in the process,

they're also displacing the tenants

that were originally living there.

Johnson: Illegal construction,

the shutting off of gas, holes in the wall,

unsafe conditions without proper fire exits.

This may be ground zero given the value of real estate

and the rapid change that we've seen on the West Side.

Andrew Rai: Firefighters, schoolteachers,

social workers, sanitary workers--

all these people are driven out of the city.

If you're gonna drive us all out,

who's gonna clean your streets?

Who's gonna teach your children?

Who's gonna protect these streets?

Who's gonna put out the fires?

I'm shocked that this can happen in our country.

And if we continue with this the way we are,

where is it gonna lead?

Where-- is it gonna be an apartheid? Really?

Rodriguez: I have a daughter, a 14-year-old.

I'm gonna cry.

She said-- ( sobs )

She said it's because she knows how much my home means to me.

That she's gonna-- she's gonna make sure

that she'll have-- she'll have enough money

to buy me my apartment.

That's her goal.

She says, "Ma, I know that you sacrificed

to put me in Catholic school

so I can have a better education."

She knows that I've done all that I can for her.

And the only thing that I want is to be able to live

in my home that I was born in.

That-- this is all I know

and she says that's the first thing she's gonna do.

She says, "Ma, I'm gonna make it."

We would like to start with a moment of silence for Luc,

who was a really incredible member of our Avenues community.

Edgar: The first thing I tell anybody about Luc

is that he was one of the f--

maybe-- I don't know what happened there,

but at least to everyone, he was one of the funniest, kindest,

and just one of the most pleasant people to be around.

I think wherever he went he made friends,

so that's why it shocked so many of us.

Yasemin: He was somebody who was in my life.

And then to think that he's here one day

and he's gone the next by his choi-- that was just like a very--

it was very hard to accept that.

Edgar: The actual funeral was so packed,

they had to put hundreds of chairs outside

and it was pretty touching.

I just couldn't comprehend it for quite a long time

that somebody so happy, so cool

just would be in a situation that caused that.

Reporter: In just a few minutes,

President Obama's gonna address the nation,

telling Americans what steps he is taking

that will affect millions of immigrants

who are in this country illegally.

Barbecho: If I got the chance to get my papers,

I think I can knock the door and get a better job

and then buy something for you,

something for her or for her, too.

So, let's hope he's here.

- Woman:Let's go! - Obama:If you have children who are American citizens

-or legal residents... - Ah!

...and you're willing to pay your fair share of taxes...

- Montero:That's you. - That's you.

...you'll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily

-without fear of deportation. - Montero:Yes.

You can come out of the shadows

-and get right with the law. - Oh, my God.

- ( cheering ) - Man:There he is.

So we can make it.

Yay! Joel, come here and hug your papi.

- Miley come. Group hug! - Group hug!

Tackle, tackle, tackle.

Joel: I didn't want him to leave

'cause, you know, he's my dad.

I really-- I love him.

He's, like, the best.

The protector of my family.

Yasemin: I've started a project called "115 Steps."

It's composed of both photos and audio interviews.

The title comes from-- because there's 115 steps

between Avenues and the Chelsea-Elliott housing project.

( shutter clicking )

Including both kids from Avenues and kids from Chelsea-Elliott

and I kind of just asked about each person's life

and what their thoughts are on gentrification and Avenues.

There are rumors, like, Avenues has a chocolate fountain in it.

I want a chocolate fountain. We don't have one, but I'd like that.

Lucas: I think there's a big socioeconomic divide

that keeps us separate.

As much as we try to say that it doesn't matter,

really, that's a big part of who we are.

Josh: I believe a lot of people from Chelsea get jealous

'cause they want the same opportunity,

but the opportunity's never been passed down to them.

Juwan: He's from across the street.

- And this is my friend Brandon. - Brandon, nice to meet you.

- This is Yasemin. - Yasemin:This is Isabella.

- Hi, how are you? -Hi, nice to meet you.

- How are you? -Brandon, nice to meet you.

Yasemin: So up here is the cafeteria.

- Brandon:It feels like a museum in here, like... -( Yasemin chuckles )

- It's everything looks nice. You just don't touch it. - Juwan: Oohs and ahhs.

Downstairs, you had, like, that huge touch board

- screen thing. -( girls chuckle )

Josh: Honestly, like, I'm just astonished.

Crazy!

- Look at that! - Cool, bro.

Yo, I wish they had a basketball court like this.

What? What?

Yasemin: I think one amazing thing about Avenues

is the trust that they have in their students.

They will get behind your project,

letting you discover and explore,

like, interests that you have.

( camera clicking )

Josh: Being in the gym is kind of, like, an emotional feeling.

It just-- it hurts a little bit

to go back and to have to face reality

and see where I have to go after this.

This is the blog for "115 Steps."

If you go on Google Maps, there's 115 steps

between Avenues and the Chelsea-Elliott housing projects.

I could've also totally made up that number

- and nobody would know. - ( all laughing )

I know. I thought you did.

No, but it's confirmed by Google Maps.

How does it feel when you look right across the street

and you see the projects

where there's, like, less fortunate people?

Yasemin: A lot of identity searching for people

of, like, our age and of our socioeconomic class

and who have opportunities like us

is, "What is my role in this and what is my responsibility?"

'Cause I think there is one.

It just starts with us communicating like this.

As they see us growing up and mingling

with each other, they're gonna understand, like,

"Okay, I don't have to act like this."

Ironically, we live-- it's the land of opportunity,

yet it seems like we have a lot more opportunities than you guys have

and I don't really know why that is.

I don't really think there is, you know?

Brandon: That's just how life is.

-We're in America. - It's America.

- Yeah. - It's America and it sucks.

Brandon: It's more about-- it's more than racism.

It's more about wealth. It's who controls the money.

Josh: My sister, she's a little girl

and she dreams to come here.

Like, it would honestly change her life.

This is exciting. You've been in there before?

- Never. - Oh, my God.

It's like being in Disney World, I'm telling you.

So, this is the middle school common area.

Doubles as the library, doubles as study space.

You find students doing small group work

or projects out here.

Acevedo: This is a really good school,

and I believe if you're gonna come to a community,

to be part of a community,

you should give back to the community.

And my goal is to make sure,

especially the residents from low-income development,

has the opportunity to get into this school.

Woman: We will graduate students

who are accomplished in the academic skills one would expect--

at ease beyond their borders,

great leaders when they can be,

good followers when they should be.

Rosa: I wanna be a leader because I wanna show other people

that are-- 'cause I used to be a follower.

Okay, I don't wanna say that,

but I used to be a follower, it's true.

I used to, like, copy other girls

and be, like-- they used to be all sassy and stuff.

I used to be like... ( clicking tongue )

I used to be like all that stuff, and I still have it.

I'll be like, "Yeah, mm-hmm, girl."

I still have that little thing, but I don't be, like,

following other people, what they do.

Like if-- monkey see, monkey do,

monkey get in trouble, too.

I don't do that stuff.

If you look in here,

we have two classrooms that are painted

with IdeaPaint so you can write on the walls.

Can you take the iPad home or it stays in the school?

Woman: You can take it home if you're a little bit older.

The younger students leave theirs here.

The kindergarteners leave their iPads here.

- What about the fifth grade? -Fifth grade, you can take it home.

- Yes! -( women chuckling )

( marching band playing )

( people cheering )

David: For 15 years, we have worked to secure

the entire historic structure

and open it to the public

and today, that part of our mission

-has been achieved. -( applause )

( cheering )

Scofidio: When we first looked at the High Line,

the history had many layers to it.

There's the billboards that were stuck up on the High Line

because, obviously, cars passing under the High Line

would see the billboard.

We decided to keep the frame of the billboard.

The frame takes something which is just a general view

and makes it a very particular view.

Oh, my apartment is right there.

Around my mom's times and my dad's times,

this was a bad area.

Everything is changing now.

They got the High Line, which is so beautiful.

Oh, you wanna see me run?

You wanna have a race?

Starting now!

No! I hate you, you little midget!

I can get that, too.

I've been here a lot of times, like, a hundred.

David: We're a free New York City public park

open to the public, no charge,

creating places where everybody, regardless of background,

regardless of income, can come together.

( band playing )

( cheering )

Rosa: The people, the audience,

they gave me $5.

It was like, "Oh, my God!

My first money from a stranger."

I mean, that felt good. I mean, I love this.

This is, like, the best thing ever.

Let's see down there!

♪ Yeah, I wanna try ♪

♪ I wanna make it to the top ♪

♪ And if I don't ♪

♪ And if I fall down, I'm gonna make it up ♪

♪ And don't you worry ♪

♪ 'Cause I'll be fine ♪

♪ I will make it, I will make it ♪

♪ Oh, I will make it happen, all right ♪

♪ Yeah. ♪

( music playing )