Is anyone else concerened about white yuppie take over? (Memphis: transplants, 2014)

[Klost]

I am concerned that what we are calling improvement in Memphis, is not improvement but instead making a safe place for upper middle class whites to socialize and live. I enjoy having cultural diversity. However when i look at the areas in midtown specifically that have been improved there is little diversity. Overton Park area has become white yuppie central. I fear we are taking areas that should be lifted up and revived but instead just promoting more segregation. I worry about the improvements of the Sears building and how that will change that area. There are lots of small businesses down Cleveland and also a very good mix of poor people. If they build up that area for upper middle class whites it will in turn destroy the small business and push out the poor people who live there. I enjoy that area because there is a mix of culture. I would hate to see it destroyed. I would like to see us build up that community instead of destroying it. I also would like to see Memphis not be so segregated in the sense of yuppie white and then the rest of Memphis. Your thoughts??

[ViolentDisasters]

Originally Posted by Klost

I am concerned that what we are calling improvement in Memphis, is not improvement but instead making a safe place for upper middle class whites to socialize and live. I enjoy having cultural diversity. However when i look at the areas in midtown specifically that have been improved there is little diversity. Overton Park area has become white yuppie central. I fear we are taking areas that should be lifted up and revived but instead just promoting more segregation. I worry about the improvements of the Sears building and how that will change that area. There are lots of small businesses down Cleveland and also a very good mix of poor people. If they build up that area for upper middle class whites it will in turn destroy the small business and push out the poor people who live there. I enjoy that area because there is a mix of culture. I would hate to see it destroyed. I would like to see us build up that community instead of destroying it. I also would like to see Memphis not be so segregated in the sense of yuppie white and then the rest of Memphis. Your thoughts??

Yes, I'm very disgusted by this change, and I'd love to see a concerted effort on the part of long-time local residents to resist gentrification.

The fact of the matter is, Memphis is the poorest large city in the nation, and these suburban transplants with dispensable incomes compound the problem, by claiming all of the livable areas for themselves, pushing those of us without a lot of money to the outskirts of the city where it becomes even more difficult to survive. In the process they're destroying the grittiness and diversity that are so important to Memphis' history and unique character.

[tigerphan]

None whatsoever. You can't claim to value diversity but single out white yuppies as being a problem.

I know yuppies are complete tools.....but they typically patronize both local businesses and chains, they usually have decent income, and if they don't have kids they'll support the local night life establishments.

What you need to worry about are the hipsters. They are the most annoying species in the gentrification cycle. If you are already seeing yuppies in your neighborhood, then the hipsters have already moved on to something else and you are probably in the clear as far as annoyances go.

In New Orleans, the old housing stock was usually upgraded by the gay and lesbian community. The hipsters try to be cutting edge, but they don't have the originality or the income to really gentrify a neighborhood so they follow the gay and lesbian communities, who eventually get disgusted when their favorite establishments are turned into an overpriced gluten free (hipsters seem to all claim to have Celiac disease....I think it's a method to conform with their peers) consignment stores so they move on. The yuppies move into the seemingly cheap and safe hipster neighborhoods and drive up rents. The hipsters quickly leave, claiming that the neighborhood is no longer cool but really because they can no longer afford it. Of course, the Yuppies eventually turn into "uppies" if they stick around. Many have kids and move to the suburbs. Where the neighborhood goes from there depends on a lot of factors. It could turn over to younger residents or decline.

Throughout this cycle, the poorest residents are pushed to the undesirable areas within the city proper. They usually end up farther away from basic city services but still within a poor performing school district. That is the casualty in this. Neighborhoods with cultural or architectural significance survive. Neighborhoods with an abundance of good paying jobs or a high performing public school district survive. The areas that offer bland housing, few jobs, high crime, and terrible public schools will decline regardless of their location.

I for one am glad your neighborhood is gentrifying. When the economy tanked, all of those hipsters lived with their parents in Collierville. It's great not having them here anymore.

[eastmemphisguy]

I don't even know what this thread is about other than a vulgar display of us vs them. Imagine if 20 years ago, somebody expressed concern about those people "taking over" Hickory Hill. Anybody worried about the Sears building being repurposed needs their head examined. It's been an enormous eyesore for decades. There's no shortage of "authentic" slums in this town. It'd be nice if one could be fixed up.

[jabogitlu]

I tend to agree with eastmemphisguy in this instance but I hope that the Asian flavor of Cleveland Street isn't lost due to rising rents.

[Klost]

I think it is great that they want to fix up the Sears building, I am not against that, I am against destroying culture and diversity to do it.

[Salmonista]

Does anyone read the I Love Memphis blog? They had a 5th birthday party celebration at Wiseacre on Sunday, and I stopped by for a bit. I noticed that the crowd was overwhelmingly white. As in, maybe 2-3% of the people there were black. Also a lot of the white people were hipster types who looked like they should be working at Hog & Hominy.

I was surprised by the crowd and mentioned to the person I came with that I thought in a city that's majority African American, there would be more diversity at a party like that. (I'm white, btw) I guess it shouldn't have been too surprising though b/c when I've gone to other events that were advertised on that same blog, the crowds have been similarly homogenous. Maybe blog audiences are segregated here...?

Please know that I am not trying to start a flame war on this thread. I've only lived here for a year, so I'm not really familiar with all the nuances and etc of Memphis. Just pointing out what I've observed.

[jabogitlu]

I saw it when I lived there (2012-2014) too. I hung out a lot in Frayser for work and many of the community activities were 85+% black. It's important to remember that many of Memphis' neighborhoods are segregated, so events in those neighborhoods will be, too.

It's sad that a party at Wiseacre would be so racially exclusive because Binghampton is one of the great mixed neighborhoods in the city.

West Memphis AR always seemed more racially mixed than Memphis to me. I attended several events in that city and the black and white folk mixed very well. Even then, the neighborhoods are very segregated by income (and thus by race) and most of the city administration are white folks.

I guess to sum up my rambling statements: Memphis is definitely stratified by income, education, and thus race. I don't think the answer is to hold back the resurgence of neighborhoods. In tandem with redevelopment of the inner-city, Memphis absolutely must focus on increasing education and opportunity for its poorest residents. Then I think you will see black people at Wiseacre.

None of this holds for the suburbs, where middle class blacks and whites mix a little more freely (though I would argue that Whitehaven is still a majority black suburban area and Collierville is a majority white suburban area).

[simcity]

Isn't this typical of all cities? As the cost of living increases, the poor get pushed to less desirable areas. There have been mass displacements of locals, tens of thousands of families that existed for generations, that were priced out of many of the rapidly growing cities in China and forced to move. It's sad for them, but that's the way of things.

I don't live or even shop in the areas being addressed, but personally, I welcome any improvements in regards to safety, affluence, prosperity, and success. I can't imagine desiring the opposite for a community.

Census data: Memphis ranks as poorest city in United States

[Dawn10am]

I'm thrilled by all of the progress Midtown is making every time I go back to Memphis. And let's be honest with ourselves, there's still plenty of places for the poor and lower middle class to live--most of the city, in fact, outside of Midtown, East Memphis, and (parts of) Cordova. Memphis needs a neighborhood that will attract the young, educated, and upwardly mobile population it desperately needs and that might as well be Midtown.