Gentrified: pt One

Imagine receiving a letter from city officials about exciting new neighborhood enhancements that are coming to your area. This correspondence vaguely details the upcoming improvements. They speak of repaving roads & sidewalks, planting new grass & shrubs & installing more lights for safety & security. Fresh paint is said to cover the once graffiti filled walls & the vacant buildings are to be newly occupied with healthier eating choices. Once the construction, new life is being pumped into the neighborhood & these are exciting times for everyone. It appears that the city finally took time out of their day to add a face lift to the “hood” and improve everyone’s quality of living.

You decide to take a stroll around the block once the work is nearly completed. You notice every abandoned building has been magically transformed into a new place of business that offers new goods & services thats never been available before. They even introduced better waste management systems so the air has a cleaner smell. Refreshing thoughts flood your mind as you complete your walk. Everyone seems so ecstatic about the new developments. Everything is so clean, well lit, safe and renewed. We will get back to the stroll in a moment.

The gentrification process is a visually lovely thing. All of the fixing up raises value in our neighborhoods & increases the quality of life for us. Safer neighborhoods equates to safer schools for our youth & better schools creates an increase of salaries to pay more qualified teachers and staff. This always creates lower crime rates & means more tourist & visitors will feel safe when they come to spend money with the newly born businesses in the area. This gentrification thing is like the citizenry of our hood as hit the lottery. What could be better than a community being gentrified?