Trolley Square's newest residents, who arrived from Brooklyn approximately 18 months ago and immediately began transforming a historically working-class neighborhood into an overpriced brunch wasteland, expressed outrage Tuesday upon discovering that some original residents still live in the area.
"I moved here for the authentic urban experience," explained recent arrival Chad Morrison, 34, who works in tech and wouldn't recognize authenticity if it served him overpriced avocado toast. "But there are still, like, actual working-class people here. People who work service jobs. People whose families have lived here for generations. It's really ruining the vibe."
Morrison, who paid $675,000 for a "charming" 1890s rowhome that was purchased for $45,000 by a developer in 2022, admits he moved to Trolley Square specifically because it was "up and coming"—real estate code for "still affordable enough that working-class people live here, but we're about to fix that problem."
The complaints from new residents focus primarily on the continued presence of longtime community members who have the audacity to remain in their own neighborhood despite rising property taxes and cost of living.
"There's a bodega on the corner that's been there for thirty years," said recent arrival Jessica Chen, 29, an attorney who moved from Washington D.C. after being priced out. "I wanted a bodega! But I wanted, like, a cute bodega. One that sells organic kombucha and artisanal chips. Not one that actually serves the community. That's not the aesthetic I was going for."
Chen and her neighbors have begun a petition demanding the city "do something about affordability"—by which they mean make the neighborhood less affordable so that remaining working-class residents are finally forced out entirely.
"Every time I walk to Jessop's Tavern for a $45 brunch, I pass people who look like they actually work for a living," complained Morrison. "That's not what I moved here for. I wanted the diversity of a historically Black neighborhood, but without any actual Black people. Just white people who appreciate jazz."
Longtime Trolley Square resident Maria Rodriguez, whose family has lived in the neighborhood since 1982, expressed exhaustion with the influx of wealthy transplants.
"They move here because it's 'authentic,' then immediately start changing everything that made it authentic," Rodriguez explained. "They complain about the corner store where I've shopped for 40 years. They gentrify every business. They drive up property taxes so high that my retired neighbors can't afford to stay in homes they've owned for decades. Then they have the nerve to complain that the neighborhood isn't diverse enough anymore. The lack of self-awareness is stunning."
The transformation of Trolley Square from a working-class neighborhood into a playground for wealthy professionals has been rapid and devastating. Between 2020 and 2025, median home prices increased 340%, local businesses catering to longtime residents have been replaced by boutiques selling $80 candles, and the percentage of original residents has dropped from 73% to 21%.
"This is exactly what happened to Brooklyn," noted urban planning professor Dr. James Washington. "Wealthy people move to working-class neighborhoods specifically because they're affordable and authentic, then systematically destroy both the affordability and authenticity. Then they complain about the lack of diversity they personally created. It's gentrification 101."
Recent arrivals have also begun demanding that the city address "crime" in Trolley Square—by which they mean the continued existence of teenagers playing basketball in public spaces and longtime residents gathering on stoops, activities that were perfectly normal before wealthy white people moved in and decided that Black people existing in public constitutes a threat.
"I saw some kids playing music on the corner," said recent arrival David Park, 37, a consultant who pays $3,200 monthly for a one-bedroom apartment that was previously affordable housing. "I didn't feel safe. I called the police. They explained that kids playing music isn't a crime, but I disagree. This is supposed to be a nice neighborhood now."
The new residents have formed a neighborhood association—which suspiciously includes no longtime residents—to "improve quality of life," apparently meaning "accelerate displacement of anyone who can't afford the lifestyle we've imported."
"We're planning a neighborhood cleanup day," explained association president Katherine Sullivan, who moved from Manhattan after being priced out of her $4,000/month studio. "We want to make Trolley Square welcoming. For people who can afford it, obviously. The others can move to... I don't know, wherever displaced people go. Claymont? Is that still affordable?"
As of press time, Trolley Square's newest residents were organizing a fundraiser to "preserve the neighborhood's historic character"—the character they've been actively destroying since arriving—while simultaneously lobbying for zoning changes that would allow more luxury development and further price out remaining working-class families.
When asked whether they saw any irony in moving to a neighborhood specifically because of its diversity and authenticity, then immediately destroying both, Morrison replied: "I don't understand the question. I'm helping improve the neighborhood. Property values are up 40% since I moved here. Isn't that what everyone wants?"
Rodriguez, watching another family pack up to leave after being priced out, offered a different perspective: "This used to be a community. Now it's an investment opportunity. They took our neighborhood and turned it into a theme park version of working-class life, minus the actual working-class people. But sure, tell yourself you're 'improving' things."