I had to respond to Miss Major Substance this week and her post about gentrification because this hits close to home for me as well. Austin, TX is also going through growing pains, and to be honest, no one seems to be bothered by it. I have not frequented a lot of the areas of Washington, DC Miss Major Substance speaks about in her blog, but I can imagine they are, or once were populated by a mostly minority population. In Austin, the area East of Interstate HWY 35 was home to a predominantly African-American and Mexican-American population. Now this is not so much the case. The area's proximity to the much-loved downtown nightlife scene made the area the next logical target for expansion. Most of the minority-owned homes are now home to-pardon the phrase-trust fund hipsters. A lot of my friends rent houses in this area, and it's the cool new place live. The thing I find sad is that no one cares that the diversity is being sucked out of the city. I also think it's mildly offensive that when minorities lived in the homes there, this neighborhood was considered scary and dangerous (this is what I was told my whole life), but now, people feel free to ride their bikes and walk home intoxicated at all hours of the night. I happen to personally know people who've still had burglaries occur but the stigma overall isn't there.
This weekend, I plan to go to Brooklyn for the first time. This is another more famous example of gentrification. I think it's sad that families and history get pushed out of neighborhoods, but I'm not sure there's a way it can be avoided. Unfortunately, it always boils down to money.
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