Gentrification is a term I was not familiar with. After reading an article, “Flag Wars”, by Benjamin Grant, it would seem like a great idea to bring money to neighborhoods that need money invested in them. Run down homes and factories are getting torn down for new condos, commercial properties, and art studios. When a neighborhood starts bringing in more money, they can start investing it back into the neighborhood. Who wouldn’t want better city services like plowed streets and more police on the force to bring crime down? Well it’s easy to see how this will create a better area but is it really fixing an issue? What happens to all the people that are now being forced out of their homes or forced to pay more money for rent? I think the cons out way the pros when dealing with gentrification.
I don’t believe gentrification is fixing a situation, but displacing it. As people are forced out by rising rent cost they need to find similar living cost to survive. This could possibly cause more crime to if the person is put in a bad situation and needs to survive. The areas people might be forced to move to might cause the opposite reaction. House values might start to go down and now you are just creating a similar city in a new area.
The wealthy moving in are changing the character of the neighborhood. Mom and pop shops and local restaurants might be shutting down for a chain or something more desirable. This is taking away from the culture of the city and the roots it was built on. Not everyone wants a Starbucks on every corner and a tower of matching condos. Historical buildings are being destroyed like in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. We need to preserve our society’s that were built on the working class of this country.
Strong neighborhoods that are built in their roots can be hard to change. When genericity starts to change it people will try to stand up and keep their city from changing. Conflicts can arise between residents and newcomers. You can have racial issues and conflicts between the wealthy and rich. Crime and vandalism might start on the new structures