Cool counterpoint
There's nothing cool about somebody that is around because they see dollar signs everywhere.
What the developer was saying wasn't a cool counterpoint, it was as cool as penguin shit. The neighborhood was cool and diverse the way it was before the developer came in trying to fuck with and gentrify it, before the respect for the people of the neighborhood was overran, and before the people were left without much choice but to fight or flee. Not everyone was going to flee like the developers wanted, no matter how much rent or housing/living costs went up, trying to price them out.