"In the 1950s the Brooklyn Queens Expressway sliced through the communities and waste transfer sites and sewage treatment facilities brought noxious uses to the waterfront. Industrial businesses and jobs disappeared as deindustrialization took its toll and residents and commercial businesses fled. Between 1960 and 1980 the population decreased from 179,357 to 142,942. East Williamsburg lost half of its residents and the North and South Sides each lost 30 percent".

"The demand for housing outpaces the supply. The vacancy rate in Williamsburg declined from 3.8 percent in 2002 to 1.7 percent (in 2005.) Other data help illustrate the lack of housing in the neighborhood. Between 2002 and 2005, the number of housing units in the sub-borough declined by 588 units from 55,000 to 54,412. However, during 2002, 2003, and 2004, 1,118 certificates of occupancy were issued. These figures suggest that the number of units being created is not offsetting the number of units falling out of the market."

"It was not inevitable that only housing would thrive there after the City’s economic lull in the 1960s and 1970s. While Greenpoint-Williamsburg became a target destination for artists and other urban pioneers, the industrial uses that support a growing population - “lighter industrial activity including wholesaling, distribution, and construction” and goods and services like “food, beverages, furniture and apparel as well as construction-related” – also sprung up... There were new households and new businesses laying claim to the landscape, creating a unique mix of uses."

"Despite the widespread consensus that a global economy spells inevitable doom for American industry, the late 1990s boasted a lively industrial sector in which firms found a niche in New York’s regional economy. 'Although most large-scale manufacturing left the City long ago for suburban or overseas locations, manufacturing still employs 250,000 people in New York City'. 'They are firms that are ‘flexible, resourceful, and able to Community Development... Even after a great period of deindustrialization took its toll, the New York economy in 2006 still included 230,000 industrial jobs including manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, utilities and more. Between 1991 and 2002 Greenpoint lost 628 manufacturing jobs and 630 industrial jobs; Williamsburg lost 2,802 manufacturing jobs and 2,353 industrial jobs. While this would be a significant finding on its own, it is even more telling that no other nearby North Brooklyn neighborhood experienced the same kind of loss. This suggests that the industrial sector overall was stable and that something specific was happening in Greenpoint- Williamsburg. The culprit was the strong housing market putting pressure on Greenpoint-Williamsburg. Residential Momentum Before the Rezoning"

"The rezoning of Greenpoint-Williamsburg was, at least in part, a powerful economic development tool being wielded to increase the land and rent value of the neighborhood. As a result, the average residential price jumped between April and July 2005 from $538,000 to $638,000"

"...the rezoning not only outright replaced some of the Northside District’s and Franklin Street District’s mixed areas with residential only regulations, it also added many MX (mixed-use) zones over old M (manufacturing only zones). Within a year of the rezoning, demolitions of former manufacturing sites picked up steam around Roebling, North 10th and 4th, Union and Kent and other areas in these MX zones. In all, 4,000 industrial jobs within the new mixed-used districts are facing extinction. In their place are residential developments."