Gentrification
Mar. 4th, 2008 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
figmentThis is my neighborhood. I've lived here for, what, three and a half years now? And in that time, I have seen dramatic change. But that change has really accelerated in the last year or so. Just last night, coming home from work, I was walking down the sidewalk in front of the about-to-open Target, and was struck by how intensely different the neighborhood is than it was when we moved in. From where I was standing, I could see no less than five brand new (or extensively renovated) buildings. (On the little map that the article gives, I'm just off on the fuzzy right edge of things, at 13th and Monroe.)
I have mixed feelings about this gentrification. I am sometimes irritated at the number of BMWs I see on the street these days, and often think, "What the heck are they doing here?" I think it's terrible that people who have lived in this neighborhood for decades, maybe their whole lives, have been forced out by rising costs. I mourn the increasingly scarce parking, as condos go up and people with more cars (not all BMWs) move in. I worry that some of the smaller businesses that I like may not be able to compete with the new chains coming in, and rob the neighborhood of its character. I am concerned that the changes overall are making the neighborhood less diverse. And I am painfully aware that living on a border like this, where the rich are pushing the poor out, puts me at the "epicenter of crime" for DC.
But I also love the new grocery store just two blocks from my apartment. I am delighted by the fact that there are three really good independent coffee shops within a two-block radius of my place (and go one block further if you really, for some reason, want a Starbucks). I am hopeful that these changes will mean that the old crack dealer's place next to mine will soon be sold, and renovated. Maybe there will be a little less trash in my front yard. The article points out that this is far better than the desolation that the 60s riots left behind. And I predict that I will be shopping at Target within a week of its opening.
I think, on balance, that I like the changes. But I feel a bit confused, and sometimes like a bit of a hypocrite. And maybe it's just life, but it's weird to feel like you've moved to an entirely different neighborhood, when really, it's just that the neighborhood's completely changed, around you.
I have mixed feelings about this gentrification. I am sometimes irritated at the number of BMWs I see on the street these days, and often think, "What the heck are they doing here?" I think it's terrible that people who have lived in this neighborhood for decades, maybe their whole lives, have been forced out by rising costs. I mourn the increasingly scarce parking, as condos go up and people with more cars (not all BMWs) move in. I worry that some of the smaller businesses that I like may not be able to compete with the new chains coming in, and rob the neighborhood of its character. I am concerned that the changes overall are making the neighborhood less diverse. And I am painfully aware that living on a border like this, where the rich are pushing the poor out, puts me at the "epicenter of crime" for DC.
But I also love the new grocery store just two blocks from my apartment. I am delighted by the fact that there are three really good independent coffee shops within a two-block radius of my place (and go one block further if you really, for some reason, want a Starbucks). I am hopeful that these changes will mean that the old crack dealer's place next to mine will soon be sold, and renovated. Maybe there will be a little less trash in my front yard. The article points out that this is far better than the desolation that the 60s riots left behind. And I predict that I will be shopping at Target within a week of its opening.
I think, on balance, that I like the changes. But I feel a bit confused, and sometimes like a bit of a hypocrite. And maybe it's just life, but it's weird to feel like you've moved to an entirely different neighborhood, when really, it's just that the neighborhood's completely changed, around you.
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Date: 2008-03-04 04:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-04 06:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-04 07:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-04 08:41 pm (UTC)Gentrification
Date: 2008-03-06 12:24 am (UTC)The more I think about it, the less idea I have whether there even is a right answer, let alone what it is. Can we somehow let it happen halfway and then leave it like that? Is there even a theoretically reasonable solution?
2 cents from a slightly different view point.
Date: 2008-03-06 01:43 am (UTC)I can understand how you could feel guilty, but at the same time I don't. I would assume that you moved to this area because it was convenient to a metro stop, had rent that you could afford and wasn't so unsafe that you couldn't stomach living there. That retail and development popped up is cool. It provides jobs and easy access to shops like Target those without cars who would have to travel outside the city to get those services. From the article you linked to it seems like the city council had a good idea of what they wanted and what was needed. It strikes me that they balanced it as best they could. It brought jobs to the area and it will likely help clean out crime. I firmly believe that no one should have to put up with drug dealers next door and most anything that helps with that is good in my book, it sounds like the powers that be there are working in that direction in your neighborhood.
No one could see half a generation into the future and when people try you get articles like the one in this months Atlantic that argues that suburbs are the next slums. That lack of deity like forsight factors into the part where I don't understand why you are agonizing over your guilt. Is that really productive? I would think that it would make more sense to see these developments as positive and use it to fuel energy for other things. Like having your new neighbors work in the surrounding community to make it even more vibrant.
As to the BMW's (especially the M5's) are wonderful to drive. I'm more likely to look at Beemers and think "I hope you know how to drive that." or "Why are you bothering with an inferior grade BMW?" The long and the short of it is I look at them as performance driving machines and the status symbol portion of the equation is secondary. I would like nothing better to have a last gen M5 (the current gen has a hideous arse and the weird Idrive system that would befuddle me) but we don't have one because maintenance is expensive and we would rather put our money to other things. So we drive Honda's, we never have more than one which isn't totally paid for (because that just wouldn't be fiscally appropriate) and DH, bless his automotive prowess, finds us 1800 dollar Honda's that can go 25000 miles in a year with only routine maintenance.
It sounds like BMW's set off a negative bell in your head. Nothing wrong with that. However, I expect that half the reason you see Beemers there is that DC (and I assume most east coast cities) is exceptionally status conscious and more importantly status conscience about flashy things, like Beemers. I tend to think that this is stupid, which is why I am likely to be happier in Midwestern cities where the wealth isn't so bloody ostentatious.
That having been said, I end up on the side of not being guilty of what I have and hoping and encouraging those with material goods to enjoy what they have responsibly, help where they can and try not to be paralyzed by guilt because guilt is ultimately less powerful than hope and works in my book.