Gentrification Conference
The PennDesign Black Student Alliance - a group of minority Architecture, City Planning, Landscape, and Historic Preservation graduate students - will be holding a conference in Philadelphia where they will be discussing amongst other things, gentrification and the unintended effects of design (or lack thereof) on minority communities.
Usually developers will come into a neighborhood, buy out the old residents, clean it up (after years of neglect) and even change the name of the neighborhood to reflect its new ‘trendy’ image.
A good example of this is shown in this article from last week’s Chicago Tribune written by a black professional.
Ever since Mayor Richard Daley announced Washington Park as his choice for a 2016 Olympic stadium, the area increasingly has been referred to as the “mid-South Side.” It’s a curious label.
The area encompasses Bronzeville, North Kenwood, Woodlawn and Washington Park–the historic Black Belt of Chicago. It is a setting that writers Lorraine Hansberry and Richard Wright portrayed in their influential works “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Native Son,” where U.S. Rep. William Dawson assembled black political muscle to deliver Democratic votes and where the Rolling Stones trekked to hear authentic blues.
“Mid-South Side” sounds like a byproduct of gentrification and a stab at recasting the area’s rich history–using language to conjure a new identity
[...]
Black professionals are moving in where less affluent families are being pushed out–to poorer black neighborhoods or to the south suburbs. It’s conflicting to know that gentrification benefits newcomers like me and my friends. Meanwhile, public-housing residents have become scattered, and only a fraction will be allowed to return once their housing complexes are redeveloped into mixed-income communities
[...]
Chicago historian Dempsey Travis, president of Travis Realty Co., said “mid-South” is a sanitized term to make whites who move to the area more comfortable. [MORE...]
Then there is this short documentary of the gentrification of Roxbury
The same has happened inside of DC and is now underway in New Orleans.
My question is: what can be done about this when the poor have no money or power? You have to have money to develop and upgrade a neighborhood and the poor just don’t have it. If they own the home, they are offered enough money that they can’t refuse. In many cases, the homes are not owned by the people living in them, and the owner is more than happy to sell at a hefty profit.
If they are renting, then the rent will be jacked up after improvements are made and will force them out of the neighborhood.
Banks start to pop up where check cashing joints once were. Bagel Shops replace the chicken joints. Reputable grocery stores open. The streets are repaved. Rents are raised. New street lights go up and the neighborhood has an entirely new look, a new name and residents.
Problem is …where do the displaced go? We look at the improvements to the old neighborhood, but don’t think about what happens to the old residents as their condition is not improved…
The Unspoken Borders Conference will be in Philadelphia from March 30-31 2007. Hope to see some of you there
Filed under: Changing World
Something similar (renaming) occurred on Long Island about 15 years ago in one neighborhood. The neighborhood was already nice, but the side which was predominately white was renamed Islandia, the rest of the community continued to be called Central Islip - for some time they kept the same zip. Same as the area I was raised in Bay Shore-Brightwaters.
Another related issue: Redling Black Communities. The National Black Chamber of Commerce addressed this issue two years ago.
http://syracusethenandnow.org/Redlining/Redlining.htm
http://blackintrospection.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_blackintrospection_archive.html
Gentrification is, and continues to be, a serious issue for many in (urban) minority communities throughout the US. I don’t know how likely it is but I would like to see more Muslims and Islamic organizations speak out on this issue.
The fact of the matter is that Urban Renewal programs, which initially tried to do something good, and Urban planning more generally have always provided temporary solutions to more serious problems that the residents of inner cities faced.
Urban Planning in this country certainly does not take into account, let alone reflect, the voice of the poor and disenfranchised in America’s urban centers.
Well…it’s all good though…as long as there’s a STARBUCKS on every street corner in America — I guess we shouldn’t complain.
Abu Ameerah
Why would Muslim organzations jump into something this complicated? Is there a “right” side to this? What is the real complaint? It seems that when whites/wealthy people move in, they use money out of their own pockets to improve their homes and this increases the home values and improves the community. Blacks and Latinos wait until they receive aid from the gov’t before they do anything and as a result their community looks like a slum.
There is the same problem in Chicago where whites are moving into Humbolt Park which was once a Puerto Rican neighborhood. The community is improving and “activists” are complaining that the neighborhood is losing its Puerto Rican character. But go back further in history and one would know that Humbolt Park was settled by German immigrants until they were run out by the Puerto Ricans. Now the Puerto Ricans are on the receiving end and do not like it. Things move in cycles. People move in and others move out.
Gentrification is happening in Houston as well, and is growing rapidly; more and more every day. Ever since the construction of the Astro’s new baseball field—Minute Maid Park, formally known as Enron Field—condominiums have been springing up all around the place! The Astro’s baseball stadium is located in the heart of inner-city Houston, and with all the fresh, new, expensive condominiums that are being built day by day, it appears the heart of Houston is undergoing a change: Demographically speaking, it’s going from poor and black to rich and white. Furthermore, the blacks are being driven out by the rising property values, and as they move out, the whites move in.
I used to think this type of phenomena only existed in Houston, but after reading these articles and watching the video, it appears that it’s occurring rapidly all through out the country!
James, there’s no need to be surprised. Earlier this year there was a report released stating that the Suburban poor outnumbers urban poor.
Hassan, I suspect you have never set foot in a black/latino area, with the exception of inner cities. Have you visited a trailer park lately or Kansas or Maine where you’ll find the same deplorable conditions amongst whites? This affects Muslims and HUMANS as well. Remember we are SUPPOSED to be the best people * COUGH* and speak the truth (even if it’s against ourselves, as well as stand for what’s right and just…Then again MOST of us are only Muslim in name and dress.
Bint Will,
I am not saying there are no white poor areas. The other side of this issue is that the neighborhood is improved. Many parts of inner city DC look better and are safer after gentrification. This can’t be denied. I am saying there only seems to be complaint when the area is black or Latino
In fact I am glad you mentioned trailer parks. When trailer parks are razed there is no complaint of the area maintaining its character
Hassan:
Well, since when has an issue being “complicated” ever stopped Muslims from jumping in!
Our “leaders” and Islamic organizations don’t mind getting into the political sphere. Look at what nonsense that has lead to! Guess who voted for BUSH in 2000…..MUSLIMS did along with other NEOCONS! Yaaaaaaay!
We love Bush! We Love Bush!
“Why would Muslim organzations jump into something this complicated?”
The real question is: WHY NOT!
should be:
The real question is: WHY NOT?!?!?!?!?
[...] Trendy Gear I suppose you will find people wearing a Keffiyah over their shoulders in those gentrifying neighborhoods over a cup of latte. In the early 1990s, the kufi had a similar status in hip hop [...]
[...] residents and 6 percent decrease in blacks from 2000 to 2006 are probably the result of the gentrification of once-affordable city neighborhoods, demographers [...]