Rebecca Wolff

This interview was conducted with Rebecca Wolff via Zoom, with Rebecca Wolff, narrator, in her home in Hudson, NY, and Rachel Garbus, interviewer, in her home in Atlanta, GA, on June 26, 2021. Rebecca grew up in Chelsea, New York, and moved to Hudson with her small children, later becoming a homeowner in the city. She describes herself as part of an early wave of gentrifiers, but as a member of the Hudson community she has worked hard to push back against housing inequality and the displacement of lower-income residents. In 2019, Rebecca was elected an alderperson for the city of Hudson, and she applied for and received a grant to study and reduce community displacement. She discusses the ways gentrification has impacted her childhood neighborhood of Chelsea and her current community in Hudson; her feelings on New York City as it has changed; her experience participating in politics in Hudson; and what she would like newcomers to Hudson to know about the community that has long existed there.This interview would be of interest to anyone curious about gentrification in the Hudson River Valley and in New York City; the history of the Chelsea neighborhood; political life in Hudson or other small cities; the experiences of people raised in New York City in the 1970s; and movements combatting housing insecurity and community displacement.