Jewish residents as a result of increasing crime rates and racial tensions between White and non-White residents and there have been some reported cases during the 1960s of Italian youths and Black/Puerto Rican Youths getting into racially physical fights. Thabit also describes how the construction of public housing projects in East New York further contributed to its decline, noting that many of the developments were built by corrupt managers and contractors. He argues that the city government largely ignored the community when it could have helped turn it around. Writing in the New York Press, Michael Manville accused Thabit of poor research, sweeping generalizations, and a failure to distinguish the actions of allegedly racist individuals from the effects of what he describes as "a racist capitalist system", and contends that much of the urban renewal and public housing efforts of the period were in fact well-intentioned, if ill-considered and hubristic. Urban renewal In the 1980s East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) organized to address the need for quality affordable housing in East New York. This coalition advocated that vacant New York City owned land be provided at no cost for the development of new affordable owner occupied housing with subsidies for low-interest mortgages. This effort was called the Nehemiah Program. It was replicated in other parts of the city and country and led to national legislation. The Nehemiah homes were funded by a loan from $8 million loan fund from three Brooklyn Churches. Its setup was described as follows by The New York Times the city provides vacant sites, forgives real-estate taxes on the homes (but not the land) for 10 years, and provides what amounts to a $10,000 interest-free loan per house. Buyers pay $43,500 (their median income was $27,000; 40 percent moved from public or subsidized housing)." New developments are rising in the area, including the Gateway Center shopping mall located on what was once part of a landfill near Jamaica Bay. Gateway Center, in Spring Creek, is a suburban-style shopping complex with multiple large stores. Gateway Center consists of two structures. Gateway Center South, the first structure, opened in 2002, and Gateway Center North, the second development, opened in 2014. Pre Gentrification Stages Although the neighborhood has not experienced the same level of gentrification as many other Brooklyn neighborhoods, however since the 2010s, it has been moving into the pre gentrification