Yancey Stickler talks about “a monied imperialism of changing local cultures” that prioritizes safe financial bets over more vibrant and perhaps more volatile but meaningful community life. This is the “imperialism” of thousands of Bank of American branches replacing thousands of old, local New York City businesses.

It’s really heard to talk about and it’s really important to talk about at the same time. … It seems like any city that has any kind of dynamic culture or where young people live at all starts to experience this and it’s unclear what to do about it. …

I think this is the big battle of our age. So what can you do about it? I don’t have a solution, but I have three places where I think it starts.

These “three places” (don’t sell out, be idealistic, and be generous) are right on.