When you live in a neighborhood where the papers no longer bother to report shootings at the community rec center, or if you live in a North Philadelphia neighborhood where the unemployment rate is 37% and it costs ten times more to build a house than you can possibly sell it for, you have a different opinion on so-called gentrification. It's not helpful to low-income people, to the surrounding city blocks, or to the city in general to resist neighborhood improvement out of fear that some people won't be able to afford living there any more.As I walked past the doors of the [Kingsessing Recreation] Center toward my house, I saw some of our new neighbors working on a project on the Center grounds. It’s amazing: the guy who’s lived in the area for years thinks nothing of treating the block like his personal dumpster. The new folks were buys planting another vegetable and flower garden.
Some people might call this “gentrification”, since it’s largely white people moving into the neighborhood. I’m not so sure: these young people aren’t millionaires or yuppies: in fact, I suspect many are renters. That said, they sure have a different way of looking at the block. The old guard sees a litter box; the new influx sees a canvas.
16 July 2008
Gentrification is good
Brendan points out that not everyone who lives in a gentrifying neighborhood hates gentrification [EDIT: Brendan comes to discuss gentrification, not to praise it; the gentrification non-hater is myself]:
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4 comments:
Hey Michelle, thanks for the link!
Just to clarify: I wasn't praising gentrification, which I strongly oppose because it drives out low-income people who DO care about the neighborhood.
When I think "gentrification" I think more of the houses that went from $150K to $400K in the 43-48th street areas seemingly overnight. And that was sad, because that area was lauded in the City Paper (might've been the weekly) a few years back as the most peaceful racially and economically mixed neighborhood in Philly.
I don't think gentrification's what's happening in my area (we've got another few years before that happens). However, it IS improving, and the heroic efforts of the two women who pick up trash (I failed to mention they've lived int he neighborhood for well over 30 years each) are finally being matched by the new neighbors.
I guess no matter what you call it, seeing people actually caring about a neighborhood in southwest philly is a good thing.
Again, thanks for the link!
Brendan, thanks for clarifying. I didn't mean to characterize your post as praising gentrification, but I think you're right in calling out my phrasing. I'll edit to make it clear that our opinions are different.
I think there's another point, too, that your comment brings up, and that is that there's more than one definition of "gentrification." Some people (myself included) would carry the term all the way back to the initial change in residents in a neighborhood -- say, the first wave of young people, "urban pioneers," and college kids looking for a cheap place to live. It sounds as though you'd wait until house prices go way up before you'd call it gentrification.
Some people (myself included) would carry the term all the way back to the initial change in residents in a neighborhood -- say, the first wave of young people, "urban pioneers," and college kids looking for a cheap place to live.
I tend to wobble back and forth on that particular definition. From my perspective, that first wave is a precursor to gentrification (especially when it's artist and musician types). What I've noticed is that once a given neighborhood gentrifies (by my "houysing prices rise" definition), the artists and musicians move out as well, because they tend to be low-income like the original residents.
I bought my kingsessing house because of its amazingly low price. And sure enough, the price has gone up --A LOT-- in the past couple of years. So maybe I am a gentrifier, even though I'm still working poor.
It's weird, having this asset I can't really tap into right now. Equity rich, low in cash on hand.
Equity rich, low in cash on hand
Ain't that the truth. I've heard it called "house-poor," and that's where I'll be for the next several years.
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