Gentrification

14. The restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in displacement of lower-income people.

Recently my business partner and I for Order Experts moved our office to the “Eastside” of Austin, Texas. This traditionally lower income area of town is undergoing a renaissance of sorts bringing the artistic community, new development, and retail to an area that can hardly afford to keep the streets safe. Why did we move there? It was close to downtown, and affordable.

Like all instances of gentrification, the area is mixed with recently renovated or entirely new development, with other existing buildings that range from condemned to being perfectly suitable for a family or small business. However, this mixture of middle and lower income populations rarely coexist without friction.

At my office, our frontage is all glass and faces East Cesar Chavez Street in Austin, Texas. We are greeted daily with large snot filled collections of saliva on the glass, shouts from cars ranging from “Fuck you Yuppies!” to “Die white boy”. Last week there was a new “posting” on the light pole at the intersection of our office.

Since I have employees, I had to call it in to the Police. I was met by two officers who found the situation unremarkable, but were at least impressed that they didn’t have to explain to me the local situation. I was a little surprised when I found that both Police Officers were excited about the spread of gentrification, but I guess for them the result has a direct impact on lowered crime.

As I sit in my office tomorrow, and I watch the large collection of middle and high school aged students walk by when school lets out, I will again notice that they are all wearing either black or white because their school is too worried about gang colors to allow the personal freedom of expression. I will again notice that not a single one of them is Caucasian. And I will again watch as one of them spits on the window, or throws a rock at the sign outside our office.

While I have made no points or amazing conclusions in this post, I will say this: Gentrification brings out many problems with our communities. And while the result may improve the local area, the reason is not the new buildings, or the improved services. It’s the literal change in the local population. And that is about the worst possible solution I could envision.