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I wanna post my quick paper I wrote for my Urban Studies class on gentrification.
It is about gentrification in Dallas, but I end up going on a tangent.
For this week’s paper, I will attempt to tackle the issue of gentrification in Dallas, causes and potential solutions. Dallas is an interesting city in the aspect that it is talked about or known very little for a city of its size. Due to this, many problems grow out of control as very few media outlets report on such issues. One of these issues is gentrification. Dallas is broken up into nine main zones based upon the cardinal directions, and three enclave cities within the city limits. Generally, North and Northeast Dallas are known to be the wealthy white areas of Dallas with few exceptions. The South and Southeast Dallas are known as areas that will most likely never be gentrified. That leaves three main areas; West Dallas, East Dallas, and Oak Cliff.
West Dallas has historically been considered a no-go zone for many of Dallas’s bubble-livers. Yet, in the mid 2000s a project known as Trinity Groves began construction at the Eastern tip of West Dallas. The development transformed a quiet, family-filled, working class neighborhood into a loud, bar-filled, hipster haven that has raised the aggravated assault rate by nearly 80%. This trend of rising violent crime rates in gentrifying and gentrified neighborhoods is a common sight around the city of Dallas. In gentrifying neighborhoods such as my own, we have seen violent crime rates increase in excess of 40% from similar points in time pre-gentrification. Furthermore, the loss of residents and locally owned business creates an ever infamous process known as whitewashing. To me, the gentrified neighborhoods have become a no-go zone.
The problem with me writing this paper is that I get far too emotionally attached to the issue and begin to spout facts just to prove my point. I have lost far too much due to gentrification to write an unbiased paper. Furthermore, when researching this topic for a different assignment I came across an article that opened my eyes to a new perspective. The article is written by a person who is very similar to me. They hate the suburbs, hate corporate Amerika, love nature, and can’t afford to live in the wealthy enclaves of the city. The difference is that they were raised in a different setting than me. They are coming from the far reaches of white Amerika to live in neighborhoods like mine. But they know of the problems of gentrification, they struggle with the idea that they are the gentrifiers. They want to help the cause of ending gentrification, but they don’t know where else to live. This brings me to my main conflict in writing this essay.
I don’t know the solution to gentrification. I have no idea how to make a solution that fits everyone’s needs. If it were just me, I would go in and burn down all of the gentrifiers' new developments and spraypaint on everything. But then, where will those people go? My solution is just driving the problem away to another defenseless neighborhood. Furthermore, gentrification is technically creating diversity and who am I to dissuade from the cause. But as of now, this is the best I have. Hopeless and hopeful.
There was a pretty good article in the Dallas Morning News recently about gentrification in Mount Auburn. Talked in specifics about how property taxes were increasing for residents and many couldn't afford to live there.
I think you can write an essay and make it personal - this is a case where your format for class may have to change a bit to include that personal point of view compared to some other topics. I would even try to go more personal. .. be specific about your old neighborhood - what was there when you were a kid, what's there now. If you want to share opinions get someone else to say them - a resident having trouble paying bills, a local reporter like Robert Wilonsky or Jim Schutze, a local professor, etc.
Of course there is a good side to gentrification ... cities even want areas to gentrify. It's an impossible task. How can I encourage a "blighted" area to grow without destroying the local culture that remains ? Are there any examples where this worked ? Find out.
It’s a very wandering thesis statement to try and substantiate. If you take the tact of railing against something you personally hate, all you will generate is confirmation bias in your own mind.
Correlation does not equal causation and you may have conflated the two here.
I understand that you feel passionate about the topic, but your tone lacks maturity. When I was a college librarian, I would often have students come to me asking for help with research papers. If a student showed me that essay I would tell them to rewrite it to include a clear thesis and to adjust the tone.
I wanna post my quick paper I wrote for my Urban Studies class on gentrification.
It is about gentrification in Dallas, but I end up going on a tangent.
For this week’s paper, I will attempt to tackle the issue of gentrification in Dallas, causes and potential solutions. Dallas is an interesting city in the aspect that it is talked about or known very little for a city of its size. Due to this, many problems grow out of control as very few media outlets report on such issues. One of these issues is gentrification. Dallas is broken up into nine main zones based upon the cardinal directions, and three enclave cities within the city limits. Generally, North and Northeast Dallas are known to be the wealthy white areas of Dallas with few exceptions. The South and Southeast Dallas are known as areas that will most likely never be gentrified. That leaves three main areas; West Dallas, East Dallas, and Oak Cliff.
West Dallas has historically been considered a no-go zone for many of Dallas’s bubble-livers. Yet, in the mid 2000s a project known as Trinity Groves began construction at the Eastern tip of West Dallas. The development transformed a quiet, family-filled, working class neighborhood into a loud, bar-filled, hipster haven that has raised the aggravated assault rate by nearly 80%. This trend of rising violent crime rates in gentrifying and gentrified neighborhoods is a common sight around the city of Dallas. In gentrifying neighborhoods such as my own, we have seen violent crime rates increase in excess of 40% from similar points in time pre-gentrification. Furthermore, the loss of residents and locally owned business creates an ever infamous process known as whitewashing. To me, the gentrified neighborhoods have become a no-go zone.
The problem with me writing this paper is that I get far too emotionally attached to the issue and begin to spout facts just to prove my point. I have lost far too much due to gentrification to write an unbiased paper. Furthermore, when researching this topic for a different assignment I came across an article that opened my eyes to a new perspective. The article is written by a person who is very similar to me. They hate the suburbs, hate corporate Amerika, love nature, and can’t afford to live in the wealthy enclaves of the city. The difference is that they were raised in a different setting than me. They are coming from the far reaches of white Amerika to live in neighborhoods like mine. But they know of the problems of gentrification, they struggle with the idea that they are the gentrifiers. They want to help the cause of ending gentrification, but they don’t know where else to live. This brings me to my main conflict in writing this essay.
I don’t know the solution to gentrification. I have no idea how to make a solution that fits everyone’s needs. If it were just me, I would go in and burn down all of the gentrifiers' new developments and spraypaint on everything. But then, where will those people go? My solution is just driving the problem away to another defenseless neighborhood. Furthermore, gentrification is technically creating diversity and who am I to dissuade from the cause. But as of now, this is the best I have. Hopeless and hopeful.
Per writing.....(I'm no excellent author, however, I've written, proofed for technical content, proofread and/or graded 1,000s of economics papers/presentations/speech texts/dissertations/books).
1. Establish a simple and concise thesis statement......nearly always as the opening line.
1.1. End with a strong closing statement.....usually.
2. Support your thesis statement ruthlessly by minimizing tangents......when a tangent is required deal with it and recenter back to thesis statement support.
3. Default to narrow and specific over more broad and less specific.
4. Never make specific claims without proper sourcing. It appears likely you made a number of specific claims above with absolutely no sourcing........- your "40% increase in crime" - bit is an example.
5. Ruthlessly condense and preferably eliminate throw in language/lines such as, "in the aspect that" to "because" for example.
6. Don't self-weaken any position with language like, "I will attempt" or "to me" or "I get far too emotionally attached....."
7. Don't use contractions.......can't should be cannot etc.
8. Be congruent.......the person who wrote the article you agreed with is not, "they". That person is she, he, s/he or better "the writer" or "the author" etc.
9. Ruthlessly, minimize get, I, but etc.
10. Don't virtue signal or finger-point using terms like "Amerika" and "bubble-livers."
Rene Descartes was an early 1600s philosopher and mathematician. He developed and employed a simple four step process optimizing his math work but found that the same applied to philosophy as well. I've found his logic applies just about everywhere - even when writing.
1. Certainty - be sure of facts and content. Challenge your feelings.
2. Division - each facet of any argument, proof, experiment etc. must make sense individually.
3. Orderliness - simplify, optimize, de-clutter (establish a clear thesis point early and do nothing but support it, no throw in lines, no finger pointing, no virtue signaling).
4. Review - apply the above at least twice.
On the economics side I can speak more authoritatively.
1. Cities allow gentrification because most often A. gentrification yields more net public good than bad B. cities often have no real choice.
A. Across the world lower end neighborhoods, socioeconomically speaking, nearly always funnel towards disrepair, business exit and increased crime over time. There are thousands and thousands of supporting examples and a handful of counter examples. Gentrification tends to solve many of these issues.
B. Cities need the money. Generally and on balance poor and run down neighborhoods are cost centers. Nicer, newer or gentrified neighborhoods offer the opposite - usually. Cities will most often yield to the need for more money.
The Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan is a great example. 30/35 years ago Chelsea was a no go zone of abandoned buildings, decay, very high crime - essentially off limits at night. As so often happens gay men re-pioneered the area buying and taking care of buildings and living there. Years on it's become a super cool neighborhood with everything from art and photo galleries to shoe shops and very nice residential real estate.
Much the same has occurred across much of Queens and Harlem and now some of The Bronx etc.
There was a pretty good article in the Dallas Morning News recently about gentrification in Mount Auburn. Talked in specifics about how property taxes were increasing for residents and many couldn't afford to live there.
I think you can write an essay and make it personal - this is a case where your format for class may have to change a bit to include that personal point of view compared to some other topics. I would even try to go more personal. .. be specific about your old neighborhood - what was there when you were a kid, what's there now. If you want to share opinions get someone else to say them - a resident having trouble paying bills, a local reporter like Robert Wilonsky or Jim Schutze, a local professor, etc.
Of course there is a good side to gentrification ... cities even want areas to gentrify. It's an impossible task. How can I encourage a "blighted" area to grow without destroying the local culture that remains ? Are there any examples where this worked ? Find out.
Good luck!
I am not going to be much help to the OP with their essay, others on this thread have done a far better job than I can with that. However, I think the discussion regarding "gentrification" is very interesting.
To me, there are definite mixed messages sent by those that oppose this type of development. We often hear of the need for private investment in these areas (in addition to public development of infrastructure) and yet, that is really what gentrification is.
Beyond that, one of the issues I have seen written about frequently is the wealth disparity created by the the difference in home appreciation between different areas. Gentrification helps to drive up property values and in areas like Mount Auburn (which is more heavily populated by homeowners compared to some other lower income areas that are more rental based) that directly increases the wealth of the local population.
Overall, we need more development/infrastructure/gentrification in these areas, not less. JMO.
I am not going to be much help to the OP with their essay, others on this thread have done a far better job than I can with that. However, I think the discussion regarding "gentrification" is very interesting.
To me, there are definite mixed messages sent by those that oppose this type of development. We often hear of the need for private investment in these areas (in addition to public development of infrastructure) and yet, that is really what gentrification is.
Beyond that, one of the issues I have seen written about frequently is the wealth disparity created by the the difference in home appreciation between different areas. Gentrification helps to drive up property values and in areas like Mount Auburn (which is more heavily populated by homeowners compared to some other lower income areas that are more rental based) that directly increases the wealth of the local population.
Overall, we need more development/infrastructure/gentrification in these areas, not less. JMO.
OP, you've gotten some great feedback here that I hope you can receive and digest. Good for you for being passionate rather than complacent. Many times it is more effective to deliver your message without lapsing into emotional arguments and name calling.
10. Don't virtue signal or finger-point using terms like "Amerika" and "bubble-livers."
This is a big one.
And I strongly second (third?) the view that it is better to defend a clear, narrow point than try to take on everything at once. OP, figure out what it is you are actually trying to say, and then eliminate the tangents and tone.
2 things that can help your writing that may be available in your college.
First, I would check out the class that we used to call "Freshman Comp" or "Freshman English" which was a writing class on how to write essays and the like. I think there was even a fancy name for it at one college I attended "The Art of Expository Writing." These courses were required back in the old days but may still be available - I think they are quite worthwhile.
Second, consider journalism. Either a class or writing for a student newspaper. The editor will brutally slash and mark up your work much faster than even a teacher would.
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