Photo: New Brunswick Winter

Taken from Livingston Avenue A Dozen or So Blocks from George Street

I took this because the looming tower spoke to me of the way this small city is changing, rising into the sky and pricing so many out who have long made the Hub City home. The “For Rent” sign on the lower left, the Heldrich Hotel on the right. New Brunswick remains a city with extreme poverty, but also one dotted with wealth. A vibrant arts center and transportation hub. Home to hospitals and Big Pharma, and to Rutgers University’s main campus. The city’s elected officials always speak of the changes in glowing terms, but the people who live and work in the city’s shadows remain disconnected, victimized in many cases by the gentrification of their neighborhoods.