If you were to leave my house, make a right turn, and drive a half mile down Penn Avenue, you’d pass Bakery Square — a 150 million dollar redevelopment project that became open for business a year ago and houses (among other things) a 115,000 square foot Google office, Anthropologie, the Urban Active Fitness Club I now belong to, the Coffee Tree Roasters where I’m writing this entry, and the nearby Marriott that I’m stealing wi-fi from because the Coffee Tree connection gives you a two hour time limit.
If you drove 300 feet further and looked to your right, you’d see a Trader Joe’s and a shop that does repairs for custom bicycles that cost somewhere between “obscene” and “the approximate price of my life.” On the left hand side you’d pass a doomed shopping complex that houses a liquor store, the nastiest dollar store that’s ever existed, a Weave Mart, and a predictably hood supermarket my parents affectionately coined “BeBe’s Giant Eagle.”
Drive another 200 feet and you’ll run right into a spanking new Target. Behind this Target is a mix of $200,000 lofts and Section 8 housing. My barbershop is within a two block radius, as is Rent-N-Roll — a place where you can put 26′s on layaway (No, seriously. If you don’t believe me, go to their website) — Whole Foods, Rainbow, The Kelly-Strayhorn theater, and a homeless shelter/soup kitchen.
Also, if you were to look on a map, the name of this section of Pittsburgh would be “East Liberty.” But, if you happened to look at all of the recent signs and advertisements promoting this area, the name somehow morphs into “Eastside.”
This all makes me a living and breathing solider on the country’s most important battlefield — a high stakes war where instead of machine guns and Humvees, the enemy is armed with Sperry Top-Siders and $13 cupcakes. Yes, my friends, I’m a first-hand witness to the world’s most retched 14 letter word: Gentrification.
Now, this is where you’re probably expecting me to talk about how jarring is it to see a community I grew up in undergo such change. Included would probably be a passionate treatise about black people being displaced and black businesses getting priced out. I’d might even quote a passage from “The Bluest Eye” and cite something written by Sister T. But, since I’ve obviously taken advantage of the many perks the gentrification has brought with it, you’re probably expecting me to end this piece with a paragraph or two describing my ambivalence towards the entire situation and a bit of genuine reflection about the guilt I feel for not leading the “reverse the redevelopment” movement
This is (partially) true. I am aware that these things are going on, and I am definitely ambivalent. But, I’m actually ambivalent about my complete and utter lack of ambivalence.
Basically, I really don’t give a f*ck about any of the gentrification negatives I’m “supposed” to care about, and I’m (kind of) worried that I’m supposed to¹.
I know I should care that many people who look like me are being forced out of this community. In fact, I actually want to care more. I want to feel like sh*t whenever I choose to get my produce at Whole Foods instead of BeBe’s Giant Eagle. I want to want to protest whenever I leave my barbershop and have to sidestep the pale-thighed joggers hoarding the sidewalk. I want to want to run up and kick the motherf*cker who’s walking his dog at night in a neighborhood where you couldn’t even wear red t-shirts 15 years ago.
I wonder if something’s wrong with me. I’m convinced that I’m supposed to be concerned, that I’m supposed to feel a perpetual uneasiness about the change going on in the “Eastside”; this gotdamn gentrification. Sh*t, I even hoped that writing this would induce at least a little bit of worry.
It hasn’t. I still really don’t give a f*ck, and it’s likely that I won’t find a f*ck to give any time soon.
Actually, you know what? Nevermind that. I’m going to go for a nighttime jog around the neighborhood with my girlfriend in a couple minutes². Afterwards, we’ll probably walk to BRBG and get some adult milkshakes. We might stop at Bakery Square and watch a Jazz show on the way back. There’s a chance we might see some of our friends there, and we’ll probably have a pretty good time.
Anyway, maybe I’ll find a f*ck to give when I make it back home.
¹The whole “I don’t give a f*ck” premise contains some hyperbole. I do care. I just don’t care nearly as much as I think I’m supposed to.
²I’m lying. I don’t do jogging. I will walk briskly, though.
—The Champ
I think you just gave your stalker directions on how/where to find you, Champ.
HA!
haha I was thinking the same thing…
it’s not very hard to find me as is. just look for the big headed guy with a t-shirt that says “the champ” and it’ll probably be me
according to my stalking and knowledge of Pittsburgh, I think we live close to each other!…I can’t walk to Baker’s Square but I’m close.
no, yall live pretty far apart lol
thanks, Gem…e-dream killer
Uumm, I’m wit you Champ …. we all want a better
quality of Life … and I’m not going to apologize for it!
I agree!
I agree! Do people really want to live in the hood – I mean really?
I can see where and why people disagree with my premise. it’s not so much about living in the hood, it’s the fact that the neighborhood is being completely altered by outsiders
The only folks that seem to be winning in the Burgh are those who are winning on this front are the people over by the casino; they made sure that they had a seat at the table to make their concerns known. Although my brother-in law lost his apartment because his land lord saw dollars and jacked up his rent.
Man I can’t write this morning! Sorry yall.
The lead in should read:
The only folks in the ‘Burgh that seem to be winning on this front…..
“The only folks that seem to be winning in the Burgh are those who are winning on this front are the people over by the casino; they made sure that they had a seat at the table to make their concerns known.”
i think people who still live in east lib, garfield, and even larimer have begun to see positive changes as well
I agree with you 100%. Since graduating from college in May, I moved back in with my parents in the hood. Luckily, all my resources are outside of the neighborhood and I won’t have to worry about being shot trying to get my hair done or a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera Bread.
cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera Bread
as hard as panera’s bagels get after 5pm, though, you might be able to use one as a bulletproof vest
True but I’ll tell you what…they make damn good bread pudding after the fact.
KMN
LMAO @ bulletproof vest!
How disappointing and shallow. To write a blog targeted towards black people, giving advice on relationships, and then admit to not even giving a f*ck when they’re being priced out of their homes. To ignore the centuries old discriminatory housing practices that have gone on, the red-lining that have marred the lives of millions of black people and simply point out that you can now jog late at night and sip coffee and steal wi-fi. Just wow. Perhaps a little less self-absorption would be best. Some of the people you care so very little about could very well be readers of your blog or at least know people who are facing the very start reality that they may no longer have a place to call home. Yes, you should give a f*ck.
#YouMad
He or she is mad. One of the black people that are mad about gentrification but YET won’t fix their own neighborhoods. I remember when Sista Soulja came to my college and told us “If we don’t take care of our problems, somebody else would”
Do you know him/her? It is ridiculous to me that you would assume this person is not doing anything to fix their neighborhood. And what are you currently doing with that advice that Sista Soulja gave to you?
Womp womp…
Why should he apologize for wanting to live in a safe, secure neighborhood? I have to say I’m all in for gentrification when the results do in fact make a better place to live.
sigh….
we are not talking about any predominantly black neighborhood
nor are we laughing at the misfortune of others
we are talking about areas that have had high crime and drug rates
areas that are a sore on the community
REGARDLESS if the area is predominantly white, black, asian, etc. ANY area that is unsafe and does not contribute to the production of the city it resides in needs to be dealt with
If we as black people BELIEVE in these communities than we need to OWN in these communities…Nobody can force you of your own home without paying a price
Lets be honest…the people who gentrify take a HUGE risk moving into the area and trying to make it work…I mean WE not gonna do it…nobody is forcing us to NOT move back..we don’t want to deal with it…
The downfall of the black communities happened looonngg before a Starbucks opened up…
it started when we allowed chains to come in and bankrupt the mom and pops…
it started when we allowed the homes our grandparents/parents took pride in, fall into disrepair
it started when we became more educated and instead of mving back we moved away
we have essentially *forced* our own self out
what i am trying to say is that MANY factors..long before white people took an interest..have caused the downfall of the black community…
and as much as we love our people and our neighborhoods we can’t stand to see it in the condition that it once was…
as i’ve said before no one gentrifies an area that is decent…
you should be outraged that your people live in conditions that are downright deplorable…
you should be outraged that whole generations have lived in the same housing project without getting results…
you should be outraged that your people can’t even walk the streets at night and must put bars on their windows…
you wanna be mad..start at that THEN work your way down
but don’t be mad at the cupcake spot..or the whole foods…or the asian fusion spot for moving into a neighborhood…
nor be mad at the people who enjoy them..
Preach!
+151
it started when we allowed the homes our grandparents/parents took pride in, fall into disrepair
you should be outraged that your people live in conditions that are downright deplorable…
you should be outraged that whole generations have lived in the same housing project without getting results…
*round of applause*
Who wants to live in/move back to an area where 30% of the houses on your street are boarded up? Windows busted, aluminum siding gone and copper piping stolen from the basement… Graffiti everywhere, broken bottles in the street.
They’ve been trying to gentrify the Eastside of Cleveland for years now, but you can’t build a 1/2 mil dollar house in the hood and it just magically turn into the suburbs. I really don’t know if Cleveland can ever be what it once was, because in my eyes it’s Detroit, Jr…
And lest we forget – there’s all kinds of gentrification. Chinatown is now mostly Vietnamese, Little Manila is becoming more Hispanic, and the Jewish neighborhood turned Black neighborhood is becoming white
right…its like the circle life…every neighborhood has its own life cycle…
i’ve seen whole suburbs turn into a section 8 housing in as little as 5 years
…but the *reason* that’s happening is because the people who live in those suburbs now want to live in the city… so they move, and they displace the people who currently live there by moving *those* people (and the section8 program) out to the suburbs instead…
but the *reason* that’s happening is because the people who live in those suburbs now want to live in the city… so they move, and they displace the people who currently live there by moving *those* people (and the section8 program) out to the suburbs instead…
this is happening in the Burgh as well
And what’s sad is, the public transit doesn’t move along with it… so now (at least where I’m from) you have a bunch of people “way out there” with no money and no what to get around…
Oh wait, maybe that’s the goal… if you they can’t back down to the city… where everything is… you won’t even have to see them and they’re retched poverty.
I agree about the public transit not moving along. I hear folks complaining all the time about having to take 2 or 3 buses just to get to town. Previously, they only had to take one bus that ran frequently.
http://www.truth.com We’re firmly convinced that the lady who owns the condo next to me in my building is a slumlord. We’re currently on Section 8 resident number 3 and she and her daughter have literally turned our building into the hood overnight:
-smoking in a “smoke-free building
-slamming doors at all hours of the night
-arguing/fighting/throwing things loud enough to hear through the walls
-leaving trash in our stairwells
We’ve complained ad nauseam but management can only issue warnings. If I wanted this sh*t I’d have just kept my rat/roach infested apartment in Baltimore.
/rant
Champ, the plight of the Talented Tenth is why we all, yourself included DO care. The tricky part is I think you’re really saying you support redevelopment. Which is fine. I do too.
The singular defining point that distinguishes redevelopment from gentrification is that the latter specifically displaces poorer people. Who of course, are typically black or latino. It’s important to recognize that difference and take our educated thinking a step farther to identify the real problems:
What’s the impact on that population after displacement?
What are the systemic problems that maintain that population at the bottom of the income pool? For good measure, how does that affects us in the middle and upper classes? I bet we could cure poverty if some economist could simply prove it’s more profitable to eradicate it.
VSB rather awesomely has a broad mix of people from all over the US and beyond. I love seeing you bring this up as opposed to nip-slips because it opens dialogue on something much more important.
Still, it’s critical that we don’t let ourselves get lazy, brainwashed by the shiny new everything that is America: That is failing miserably. Not only black folks, everyone.
“I bet we could cure poverty if some economist could simply prove it’s more profitable to eradicate it.”
I don’t know that it is more profitable to eradicate it. Most poor people are willing to pay almost twice as much for goods and services, than middle class or rich folk. Don’t believe me, check out check cashing fees, payday loans, rent-n-roll. There is big business is selling cheap things to poor folks for big money.
Thanks for this post, although it was a bit unsettling at least you used humor =) and kept me reading.
.
i must say sistah watkins, your reply was THE most refreshing one on this site. to the author of this blog: i would like to hope that there is a lot of sarcasm in your writing and although you do not let these ‘issues’ attached with gentrification keep you up at night, you do care a bit to worry about folks who are displaced because it may not be you nor me but it may be our moms, aunties, childhood friends, BARBERS
i am a young professional and am ALL about progress and making our communities better. i am the first one to pay for an overpriced cupcake and a starbucks coffee BUT i honestly and sincerely do care about the plight of poor black and latinos in this country.
gentrification (or any other ‘non threatening’ word you’d like to use) can be great IF it didn’t come with vast displacement. ok, in some parts of this country empty lots and dilapidated buildings needed to be filled up and replaced, i get that. but in cities like new york, there are rich vibrant communities that are being torn down for the sake of gentrification. for the sake of ‘improving’ the area just because it doesn’t look a certain way, it doesn’t have certain shops around.
please, as sistah watkins said: let’s NOT get lazy and brainwashed by shiny new thangs. they will numb us and lead us to THINK we do not care, when in the depths of our hearts we do.
now i don’t want to live in the hood, no thank you. i worked my a#$ off to leave it and move on up the economic ladder of success BUT i don’t think that living in a nice area should come at the expense of tearing down families, communities, etc.
this country is rich and has really smart a#% people. i KNOW they can find a way to come up with policies that ‘clean up’ certain areas while keeping the original residents in place (if they so choose to remain after the changes).
but it’s part of conspiracy theory (if you ask me) just like the Urban Renewal policies (back in the mid 1900′s, coined NEGRO REMOVAL by James Baldwin because that is exactly what the policies that were supposed to be cleaning up and reviving urban areas: removing negros).
it’s not so ‘black and white’ (and there is pun intended lol), it’s really not that simply.
care while you sip your latte and steal wifi. it’s free
Oh God… East Cleveland is a wreck. My entire family is from Cleveland, me and my siblings are the only ones born outside of the state. I remember when I was little and would visit every summer and the neighborhood was still somewhat thriving. It was safe to play outside, there weren’t addicts and shady folk walking around ALL day and ALL night. My grandmother has been in her house for 40 years, I want her to move away SOOO badly. Every other house in the neighborhood, AND I MEAN EVERY OTHER HOUSE, is boarded up. And the ones that aren’t boarded up are falling apart. It’s so sad… To gentrify East Cleveland would be to completely gut it out and start over.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let the church say amen!
amen *waves hand*
Amen Amen!
Well said, sir. Excellent point.
CHURCH!
I almost got up outta my seat and started shoutin’! Very well said!
your tirade seems a bit self-righteous, but i can feel where you’re coming from. but how exactly did we “allow” locally owned businesses (“mom & pop stores”) to be overtaken by chain stores from outside the community? chain stores have way more resources.
you say “what i am trying to say is that MANY factors..long before white people took an interest..have caused the downfall of the black community…”
i respectfully disagree. “the downfall of the black community” (in the u.s.a.) is that our very existence was illegal since the beginning of our en masse presence in the americas. black slaves & free people were subject to the whim of inconsistent legislation and treated more or less like criminals. and now, the rules that have to be followed by the incarcerated & formerly incarcerate are very similar to what was found during slavery…no “R” for runaway, just a credit report labeling you as a felon, and and being barred from lots of career fields.
i understand that we have to move forward from that, but i also think one of the things “holding back our people” is low black self-esteem…which is often the result of victim-blaming, which i felt like you did in your comments above.
when gentrification happens, it’s not like tom & becky move in, & then get josh & sarah to move in too, & then add to the tax base, improve the public school system, & then kiki & jayshawn get the benefit of going to a better school. that sh*t never happens. they send their kids to private school if they have any, or a really good magnet school. they drive up property values, & yeah they might start some really cool urban garden, but most likely the little brown kids will be displaced, and either go to another sh*tty area, or go to a better, suburban school, where they’ll be well below the academic level of their classmates. perhaps they’ll get more attention, maybe held back, maybe socially promoted.
people have the right to move wherever they want. i’m riding a gentrification wave myself. but it has nothing to do with improving neighborhoods. it’s claiming more attractive land. more space for the price. closer to the city, or closer to work. homes with more “character”–these are the things that motivate gentrification. & if people get displaced, so what? it has nothing to do with improving neighborhoods, it’s completely selfish.
i agree, we should be outraged about the deplorable conditions that many of “us” have to deal with. but this does not appear to be the way to counteract them.
“when gentrification happens, it’s not like tom & becky move in, & then get josh & sarah to move in too, & then add to the tax base, improve the public school system, & then kiki & jayshawn get the benefit of going to a better school. that sh*t never happens. they send their kids to private school if they have any, or a really good magnet school. they drive up property values, & yeah they might start some really cool urban garden, but most likely the little brown kids will be displaced, and either go to another sh*tty area, or go to a better, suburban school, where they’ll be well below the academic level of their classmates. perhaps they’ll get more attention, maybe held back, maybe socially promoted.”
this is my only problem with gentrification. the displaced kids suffer. they’re not going to be able to move to a better area, so their living conditions will go from bad to worse, they’ll get even less education, and they’ll have even less of a chance to make it. it’s easy for people like us not to care, because it’s not affecting us negatively. but i bet little tyrone and tamika care a hell of a lot.
@Around the way girl: Yes. That (displacement) is THE problem of gentrification. Gentrification is not about improvement, it’s about displacement. Redevelopment is about improvement.
Yes, exactly. Thank you for providing the redevelopment term.
My very first response to this post was via twitter:
“Gentrification is not about improving communities, it’s about displacing communities. You didn’t help the hood, you moved the hood. #simple”
Ah, redevelopment. I think we’ve gotten somewhere. Not a fan of displacement.
Well you just said it all! Round of applause!
*slaps theeclectic*
No one is allowed to speak THAT much right!
And not for nothing, but if housing prices are raising and you own grandma’s home, you’re getting wealthier.
+ me!
Standing O!
* exactly ! *
One of the most common things folks do when talking about gentrification is colorize it. Gentrification knows no color. I live in a neighborhood in bedstuy brooklyn that is essentially on the cusp of gentrification. Because my wife and I were willing to pay more for our building than everyone else around us – causing the property values to increase – we are, by definition – gentrifying our neighborhood.
Just wanted to throw that out there for the record.
IMO it’s very difficult to talk about gentrification (class) without talking about race because classes are disproportionately affected by race.
Right. It seems that some people are primarily upset that white folks are moving in. I wonder if we’d even be having this discussion if most gentrifiers were black. This is really a class issue and the perceived conflict of values between classes both black and other.
We’d still have the argument.
It’s an old argument, and black people had it among themselves long ago: Booker T vs WEB.
“One of the most common things folks do when talking about gentrification is colorize it. Gentrification knows no color.” Monday’s syllogism: Gentrification is about displacing the poor… People of color are mostly poor… Gentrification is about people of color.
I too am part of gentrifying BedStuy. But I just want to live closer to the city that I work in.
Though my landlord is comfy with it because we have a similar background.
I always wanted to live in a brownstone because of the space you get in the apt and the fixtures/large windows.
“Yes, you should give a f*ck.”
I don’t deny this. But, being able to be (relatively) safe in a community where I’ve had friends raped and murdered and my house shot into when I was 12 (I lived in a row house and they mistook it for a drug dealer’s house that was a couple houses down) far supersedes any socioeconomic guilt about the change now.
Of course I’d love it if we were able to turn the community around ourselves. But, we didn’t, and I don’t shed any tears when thinking about the crime infested high-rises that were demolished to make room for the Target. Why? Well, since those high-rises are gone, I don’t have to worry as much about my girlfriend getting caught by a stray when she’s shopping for paper towels.
Sadly enough, I have to say I’m with you on this one. As a native Chicagoan westsider, I’ve watched gentrification actually help communities such as Lawndale and whatever you call that neighborhood by the United Center. I see attempts being made at trying to help Austin as well, but it’s had mixed results. The crabs in a barrel mentality is strong, and I’ve found myself muttering “This is why we can’t have nice things” on more than one occasion. I’m a parent now, and that alone was the basis of my choosing to live in a suburb less than a mile away from my old stomping grounds. Safe places to play, better schools, vibrant community – that’s the kind of environment I want my daughter raised in.
“I’m a parent now, and that alone was the basis of my choosing to live in a suburb less than a mile away from my old stomping grounds. Safe places to play, better schools, vibrant community – that’s the kind of environment I want my daughter raised in”
i think people’s views about this sort of thing start to change once they have people whose safety they’re responsible for (ie: children, girlfriends/wives, parents, etc).Maybe I’d be a bit more of a revolutionary if I weren’t from this area and I didn’t really have people near by that I cared about
+infinity
“The crabs in a barrel mentality is strong, and I’ve found myself muttering “This is why we can’t have nice things” on more than one occasion.”
I blogged about that exact topic this morning. It’s sad how we went from banding together to get out of slavery and building our own communities to tearing them down and forgetting the value of using the village to raise our children.
I laughed loudly when you wrote about the person walking their dog at night. My neighborhood here in Atlanta is going through the same thing, 200,000 condos are going up down the street across from what used to be one of the most notorious “Traps” in the city and like you, while I’m supposed to be concerned, I think I like the condos better than the 37 dudes that were on the corner in white tees 3 years ago.
“I think I like the condos better than the 37 dudes that were on the corner in white tees 3 years ago.”
yea. I much as the assholes in the Priuses annoy me, I’ll take them over the Beanie Sigel doppelgangers any day
…but the point is, those brothas are still around- they just aren’t on *your* block anymore… you mighta moved ‘em, but you aint help ‘em. (I’m just sayin)
But I don’t think you have to take up this cause, honestly… I think we have a responsibility to be passionate about *something* worthwhile for our communities, but no one person can give eightyleven hours to *everything*… I think it’s equally important to know what causes you choose not to take up as it is to choose a few _to_ take up.
I might not be the most passionate about immigration, but I will give my check for girl to get some birth control in her life.
“…but the point is, those brothas are still around- they just aren’t on *your* block anymore… you mighta moved ‘em, but you aint help ‘em. (I’m just sayin)”
Ah, see, this is true now. I think we forget that just because the unsavory folk aren’t around anymore that they somehow disappeared. Naw, they just went somewhere else, bothering different folks. And this isn’t likely to change until we change the mentality that the thug life is the good life. “Read a book, read a book, read a mother-effing book” and all that.
On the flip side, am I the only one who finds it hilariously ironic that this must be, in a twisted sort of way, exactly how white folks felt when all the minorities started moving into their areas? “Ugh, honey, there go them whities again, try’na betterfy our neighborhood with their “Tar-jays” and Starbuckses and fitness centers…”
on the flip side, i haven’t really seen black people trip about white ppl moving in like that… i’m from gentrification ground zero…we watched the white people move in with curiosity, then amusement, then uncertainty…the “perks” they brought along with them were seen as a good thing, including starbucks… & bookstores…we were happy to have them back in the city proper. unless they do something blatantly disrespectful, most people are just happy to have a neighbor that’s cool & not causing any drama, as long as they aren’t the cops.
“…but the point is, those brothas are still around- they just aren’t on *your* block anymore… you mighta moved ‘em, but you aint help ‘em. (I’m just sayin)”
i agree. they’re still there. but again, my immediate concern for the safety and quality of life of the people i care about supersedes my will to help the beanie sigels
which makes sense…
unless the people you care about… your people… *are* also the beanie sigels…
the people I care about who are the beanie seagals have heard from me, their mama, their aunts, play cousins: “we wish you made better choices for yourself, your family and community” and “we are praying for you” and “I am here when you’re ready to let that mess go”
Accountability is realizing you alone chose to bring pain to your mother’s eyes and someone else’s mother’s eyes and choosing different when you are ready to do so and receive the help and love from family. And I agree with the Champ.
This right here.
Basically, I don’t give an eff about these three reports that must be uploaded by 8am central time, or my raggedy work computer that keeps freezing.
Oh wait, we’re talking ’bout you? Sorry.
Gentrification sucks, until it doesn’t.
“Gentrification sucks, until it doesn’t.”
expound and sh*t
The systemic forces that help kneegrows (or any other disenfranchised group) reach the lowest common denominator push existing residents out of their neighbors after they have been routinely denied basic levels of service by a power structure that would rather they disappear to the dark side of the moon. Developers either seek out (or are wooed) to poorer neighborhoods and use the local governments to hijack land at sweet prices with a bunch of tax breaks. These developers woo monied residents into the area with newly constructed/renovated housing and middle-class shopping, sidewalks and parks get built (cuz people who “deserve” them now live there), the police do less stop and frisk and more protect and serve, and street lights and potholes get fixed. Not to mention the zoning commission magically decides it’s allergic to liquor stores, check cashing places, and tons of fast food (unless of course it’s Panera or Chipotle). The neighborhood is overall more livable, but at the expense of pushing poor people out of neighborhoods with services that they can use. Most of the gentrified neighborhoods have easy access to public transportation, are more walkable, etc – and yet the gentrified residents usually can afford cars and use them frequently. Poorer people rely on these services, and they often aren’t valued as consumers of these services.
But, in the end, who doesn’t want a nice coffe shop, a couple of nice eateries, a selection of entertainment spots, etc.? Who doesn’t want well-maintained properties and safe neighborhoods? So, yeah, it sucks for the people who are guilty of the crime of being poor, and who are just going to be pushed into another poor pocket of the city without ever having meaningful access to this investment, but it does make life more convenient for those who can afford to live in those neighborhoods.
Now here’s something to ponder, something that actually flies in the face of my own pro-gentrification stance. A lot of people cannot afford to hold down the fort when the gentrification wave sweeps through. Cold hard reality is that we cannot expect everybody to be rich or even middle class. That is unrealistic.There are only so many paying jobs. Some jobs that America needs to be done do not pay well enough to protect good citizens from gentrification. Can neighborhoods be revitalized in such a way as to not punish people who work jobs that we actually need them to fill, that happen to be low paying?
Haha I remember Bebe’s Giant Eagle. One thing that always tickled me about the ‘Burgh was that there was only one chain of grocery stores and each store was incredibly different. Bebe’s GE was pretty hoodrat, but right down the street was the World Market GE where a violinist once followed me around serenading me in the produce section.
As for gentrification…. I’m with you Champ. Give me Trader Joe’s and being able to walk out of my apt safely at night. Sigh, what I’d give now to not hear the wh0res screaming at each other outside of my window at 2 am. -_-
I miss Squirrel Hill.
“Bebe’s GE was pretty hoodrat, but right down the street was the World Market GE where a violinist once followed me around serenading me in the produce section.”
yeah, this is weird as hell. they’re separated by (maybe) a mile, but they couldn’t be further apart
As much as I want to protest the all encompassing ‘monster’ that is gentrification… I can’t. I WANT a better quality of life, I WANT a Starbucks on my corner, I WANT a Whole Foods within walking distance… And the over abundance of caucasoids that have infiltrated my area gives me all of those things. I fear I’m more angry (and saddened) by brown people that think back with fondness to the ‘good old days’, when you wouldn’t DARE walk the streets if you were white.
It also needs to be said that many young and brown professionals who protest about the ills of gentrification, are indeed gentrifiers themselves… ::sigh::
Giving a fluk is tiring.
I think people tend to forget that in the midst of that ratchetness, there was a community. I don’t think the issue is the nice stuff per se, as much as the arrival of said stuff means never seeing a good chunk of your peoples ever again. Also, when you’re struggling, any thing that can be considered “yours” is worth its weight in gold. I’m not against gentrification, but pretending what was here before was somehow worthless to anyone is foolish. Hoodrats are people too.
“I don’t think the issue is the nice stuff per se, as much as the arrival of said stuff means never seeing a good chunk of your peoples ever again.”
thing is, in many (if not most) of the neighborhoods going through this, you still see a sizable chunk of us around. you just start to see more of “them.” I don’t think the community has or will be destroyed as much as it’s just being altered a bit
I see your point, but poorer communities rely on those social contacts to get by. So even though most of the bunch might be around, a non-trivial portion is gone forever, and that makes a huge difference. I know that in gentrification throughout the US, academics and social service agencies notice the breakup of social networks and the attendant increased demand for social services.
I’m not against gentrification. I just want to point out that there are costs to everything.
Great points. While gentrification might get rid of the ratchets, it is also messing with good, innocent people who just have the misfortune of having a low socioeconomic status. And because they’re uneducated, they’re not going to be able to pull themselves out of the situation…they haven’t the slightest idea what to do, or that they even CAN do anything. They need help, and they need us to care.
I dabbled in community organizing for a little while, and if more people participated in stuff like that, our less fortunate brothers and sisters might have a chance. I understand why people don’t, though, because you have to start small, you’re fighting bigger and more powerful opponents, and change comes very slowly. It’s more than most people, myself included, have the long-suffering for. There does come a point when you realize that, unless you’re gonna dedicate your life to fighting the power, you need to worry about your own well-being, and the well-being of your loved ones. So I guess it’s natural to just give up, make our money, hit up the Starbucks, and thank God we were born into circumstances that allowed us to succeed.