GENTRIFICATION : the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.
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Do you think "gentrification" will be good or bad for River East?
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9 Comments:
honestly, some place Need gentrification. if there is as much non-income diversity as there is in Ward 8, we need more gentry.
might sound crass but it is true.
not crass at all DG-rad,we do need more gentrification, but we need more diverse type of gentrification than we have seen in other parts of the city.
The challenge will be getting the business community to follow suit and invest in the area if that type of gentrification happens. Many of the affluent areas in Prince Georges County, despite their wealth, demographics and density cannot seem to attract goods and services commensurate with their wealth..so it will be interesting to see what "kind" of "gentrification" we get East of the River and how business will respond.
The problem with Gentrification, as stated in the definition, is Displacement. As in Washington D.C., when we talk displacement of the poor, we mean Blacks and Hispanics, the majority of the minorities in the District.
My thing is that being poor, was never an excuse for anything. If anything being poor was motivation. Being poor is never an excuse not to go to college, or to start selling drugs, or committing crimes in your community.
Sure there are stats that link Income to SAT Scores, Graduation Rates, and crime. But Family and a core upbringing can also link those same stats.
Nothing can replace a good solid family, not gentrification, nor income. We must continue to push for families with two parents, where Grandparents are involved in the upbringing of their kid's kids. Today more than ever, it sounds cliche but it truly does, takes a village to raise a child.
We don't need gentrification to invest in our future, the need for better schools, community centers, and better infrastructure (housing, and roads), is something we all can push for today.
We must not wait for someone else to fix our problems. We must act with a sense of urgency, that small problems today, become larger problems tomorrow.
We need it! Like I stated in my past blog posts..the DC government makes it EASY for all low income residence to own a home. PPL have to want better for thier selves. We deserve better!
Gentrification is bad for any area unless the city steps in to control the displacement. Many cities do not and DC definitely won't - based on its history.
No one in Southeast should every leave. They should stay and be poor in Southeast and just deal with it. They should never expect to have jobs, better homes or shopping options. They should just get used to having nothing, making no progress and should not infringe on other productive Wards with their laziness, ignorance and poverty. Better still let's just put up a fence around River East and lock everyone up inside and away from the good people of the District of Columbia.
Sounds insane doesn't it? I don't believe that of course but when I hear people argue against "gentrification" (btw hate that word) I always want to ask "what is your solution - your real hard facts with specifics solution not just some PC, we are the world type of crap."
Do I think that at a point through "gentrification" that at least one poor person may be displaced? Possibly. Do I think people are being displaced every day in River East through poverty, unemployment, murder, poor health, lack of healthcare, 2nd rate education - ABSOFREAKINLUTLEY. That is what worries me. The present day people who are being disenfranchised, ignored and through poor or the lack of a productive action plan are being tossed aside.
It's time for some straight talk people. Weather you call it gentrification, transformation, economic development or the reestablishment of a middle class it is going to be what it is going to take to really address the major issues the River East wards are facing. Personally I think the word gentrification is a loaded word. I think it has way more to do with race than class. I think opponents to "gentrification" are far less worried about the poor people being moved out than the white people they think will be moving in (that's right I said it). We are so worried about what white people may or may not be doing that we are missing what is happening in our own community and we are not holding ourselves and our community leaders accountable. I think that in Ward 8 certain community leaders have been able to hold onto some shred of political power by trading in racial scare tactics, scaring poor, disenfranisced black people into submission by telling them the "big bad white man" is going to come and throw you out of your house. Take Barry for example. I think everyone (including his supporters) can agree that he really hasn't accomplished much as of late but according to him he is the last thing standing between them and the "establishment".
Guess what? "Gentrification" or whatever the heck you want to call it, IS happening and has been happening for quite some time and the vast majority of folks who are moving in (and usually living in what was once vacant and/or nuisance properties) are BLACK PEOPLE JUST LIKE ME - working/semi-middle class blacks. I am sick and tired of this presumption that there is no such thing of educated,working class blacks who are realizing the dream of homeownership. People like myself, people like my neighbors. We did not all grow up in rich families with silver spoons in our mouths either. Many (if not most) grew up in working class or P-O-O-R families. I remember when times were hard my mom would go without food so that my sisters and I could eat, I also remember my mom reading to us every night and checking our homework. What she may have lacked in finances she more than made up for by instilling hard work and an importance in education in her children.
Through hard work, sacrafice, education and yes luck we (the new faces) were able to break the cycle of poverty in our families. I'm 32 and many of the people in my graduation class at Howard were the first people to earn a college degree in their family. We are not strangers to struggle - all the more reason why we want better for River East just like we want better for ourselves and we realize that we need to HELP EACH OTHER TO ACCOMPLISH THAT.
For reals. For all the lip service that gentrification is bad and that the community needs to fix their own problems I have two points.
1) Like it our not new people who move and/or purchase homes in the River East community are of the community and they should have a say. I have said it once and I will say it again a big reason that Ward 8 politics has been such a failure (that's right I said it) is because it is so homogonous and frankly STALE.
2) Let's get real hear. For all the yelling, passion and racial accusations the current "leadership" in Ward 8 hasn't really been able to effect much progress and change in the community. They are so busy fighting each other (or the new people who move in) or SCAMMING or WASTING tax payer funds for bogus non profits that nothing is being accomplished. Don't just be mad at gentrification get pissed off at fake ass community leaders who are sacraficing poor residents for their own financial gain. That pisses me off. If the best that Ward 8 has to offer is Marion Barry and Mary Cuthbert then I say we need new capable and vital leaders and weather they just moved here yesterday or lived here their whole life I want to hear what they have to say and what they are ready to do.
Not to diminish anyone who has been working hard for Ward 8 all these years but I know that speaking for me, the only folks I have really seen "out there" really putting their money, time and butts on the line with some positive results have been new residents. I know that might make some folks mad but it needs to be said. I see it in the blogs (the vast majority which have been created by new arrivals) and in new organizations like r.e.e.l. Chalk it up to youth, or enthusiasm or the excitement of being a first time homebuyer but that is who I see effectig some real change FROM WITHIN.
The "gentrification" of River East has already begun and if anyone doesn't realize that they are two days late and $50 short. We are not going to be able to stop new development, new retail options, job opportunities, etc. What CAN happen is if we work together NEW and OLD, black and white, poor and middle class residents we can all have a voice in shaping our collective future and hopefully minimize (because you can't eliminate) the displacement of poorer residents. Hopefully in the long wrong more residents (including the poor) will benefit more than they will not.
We are in a time where there are actaully uniformed people in the country, in the District who avoid East of the River like the plague for no other reason than what they have seen on the evening news. I don't think we are in a place to discourage or alienate the good people who have decided to find out on their own what a great place River East is to live and make a life long committment by buying a home here. They have clearly put their money where their mouth is and that is "gentrification" that I can live with.
I said it once and I will say it again - LET'S STOP BEING CRABS AND FIND A REAL SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS!
I think we are seeing people from within River East taking ownership, bringing awareness and yes holding folks accountable so that we can foster growth and improvement from within. It is only natural that businesses and economic development should follow - and in some cases yes it will proceed but hopefully there will be more of a collaboration and less of a takeover.
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