There's Basically No Way Not to Be a Gentrifier (Pittsburgh: middle-class, 2014)

[PghYinzer]

Although this article is from 2014, I thought this was an interesting take on some of the conversations that sometimes pop up on this forum.


https://www.citylab.com/equity/2014/...ntrifier/8877/


It brings to light, even if you are not coming into a neighborhood with lots of money, your belief structure, lifestyle, even saying "hi" to your neighbors has an impact. You are changing the neighborhood, which in turn makes the neighborhoods more appealing to others who perhaps do have money. This helps to start the cycle that in the end could even displace yourself.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Anything that makes the neighborhood more desirable to a wider array of people gentrifies it. Only by acting against market forces can keep from pricing out those that lived and perhaps liked the narrower benefits of the previous area. If you spend money and underprice your units, you're not gentrifying...but you're basically a charity then.

[szug-bot]

The word "gentrify" has taken on a negative connotation over the years.

The way I learned it in an Urban Studies class was the resurrection (my words) of neighborhood, usually having had its heydey in a previous century, or closer to a century ago. Its character - architecture, accents, are remains from the time of its peak.

Over the years, it has come to mean "victimization" of capitalism.

My sarcastic argument a few years ago with an East Libertarian who decried the investments and flurry of activity there - "OK, lets just keep it the crime ridden, littered, partially shuttered cess pool that it has become, then".

There is a way to allow gentrification with being sensitive to older, or less economically viable residents. Some cities have had strategies for this; I've read about them, and I'm sure someone on this forum is knowledgeable about ways we can use those strategies here, if it's not too late.

There is a difference between a tough reality where people can no longer afford to reside in an area, and people being priced out because a small group has become uber wealthy using public money to lure/cater to the more upper class.

[kewlwhip]

There is a significant fallacy in the demonization of gentrifiers.
The fallacy is that the "targeted" urban neighborhoods could continue to serve as sources of affordable housing forever, if not snatched away from the virtuous poor by the insensitive urban pioneers. The truth is that most are decaying and the only salvation for the housing stock is expensive rehabs.
As someone correctly pointed out to me recently, life is not fair. Nobody is entitled to a neighborhood that never changes.

[svband76]

While it is nice to revitalize depressed neighborhoods, many gentrifiers are newcomers to this city and some have a lack of respect for the native, older limited-income folks who built this city, paid their dues, whatever. The old Yinzers, I guess. There is good and bad to it. Like szug-bot said, we need to be sensitive.

[ferraris]

I had a good eye roll at the Big Idea book store in Bloomfield with "GENTRIFICATION IS COLONIALISM" painted in huge letters on the window.

Everyone gets up in arms and demands government action about gentrification, but nobody seems to bat an eye at areas that go into decline. Places like East Liberty and Lawrenceville get lots of attention, even on a national scale. Places like Sheraden, Brightwood, and Carrick barely even garner local attention.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by kewlwhip

There is a significant fallacy in the demonization of gentrifiers.
The fallacy is that the "targeted" urban neighborhoods could continue to serve as sources of affordable housing forever, if not snatched away from the virtuous poor by the insensitive urban pioneers. The truth is that most are decaying and the only salvation for the housing stock is expensive rehabs.
As someone correctly pointed out to me recently, life is not fair. Nobody is entitled to a neighborhood that never changes.

Maybe that's true in Pittsburgh, but that's not always the case. I've seen gentrification occur in safe, middle-class neighborhoods that weren't in need of revitalization... a good deal of Chicago, New York and DC gentrification fits this bill. Instead of moving to a neighborhood that they can afford, which also fits their needs, people move into a cheaper neighborhood and reshape it to fit their needs, with zero concern for cultural norms of the neighborhood and it's extant residents. These are people who move into Harlem and call the police because the Mister Softee truck is too loud.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by gladhands

Instead of moving to a neighborhood that they can afford, which also fits their needs, people move into a cheaper neighborhood and reshape it to fit their needs, with zero concern for cultural norms of the neighborhood and it's extant residents.

Unless you are going to institute income maximums or some sort of caste system, there's no way to avoid this. Of course people are going to try to spend less money if they can.

A lot of "gentrifiers" aren't just being cheap either. They choose a neighborhood they can afford that is close enough to being the sort of place they want to live.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by ferraris

Unless you are going to institute income maximums or some sort of caste system, there's no way to avoid this. Of course people are going to try to spend less money if they can.

A lot of "gentrifiers" aren't just being cheap either. They choose a neighborhood they can afford that is close enough to being the sort of place they want to live.

And that's fine, until they start calling the police on their neighbors for looking suspicious or trying to remake the neighborhood in their own image. Respect the community you move into, and you're not a gentrified.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by gladhands

And that's fine, until they start calling the police on their neighbors for looking suspicious or trying to remake the neighborhood in their own image. Respect the community you move into, and you're not a gentrified.

Reverse the situation and you would have cries of racism and classism.