death of the old

Thomas Merton writes of drinking thin beer and eating hot dogs full of mustard at Coney Island. Apparently Coney Island has been sold. Well, Astroland at least...it might as well be all of Coney Island as far as I'm concerned. The Twin Towers are gone...decimating and de-glorifying the famous and beautiful skyline. They've cleaned up Times Square. Harlem is increasingly a sought-after neighborhood. They've pushed the homeless out of Tompkins Square Park. And Washington Square Park is being "redesigned" and "refurbished".
And along with these things go youth and memories and memories of youth.
We're paving over and redesigning and refurbishing a world that is inevitably dying a not-so-slow death.
We're polishing turds and taking the soul out of the music.