In an interview headlined Toward Being a Better Gentrifier, CityLab's Brentin Mock interviewed the (out of NYC) academics (two white, one black) who wrote the new book Gentrifier about their experiences. And the interview complicates some easy bromides.
"The problem isn't gentrification: It's that my neighbors are getting locked up, or they are being over-policed, or there aren't any schools, or there’s lead poisoning in the neighborhood, or there aren’t any long-term rentals anymore," says Jason Patch. Those are things to organize about. (Or, I'd suggest, any social action that leads to solidarity and more civic and communal resources.)
"Evictions can happen due to disinvestment in a neighborhood, and [they can also] happen because of over-investment," says John Joe Schlichtman. " Eviction happens because of disconnection from the rest of the city and a neighborhood’s reconnection to the rest of the city. Militarized policing can happen due to the containment and isolation of a disinvested neighborhood, or it can happen because a neighborhood is being reinvested in..."
What does the newcomer do?
Mock asks what the incoming gentrifier should do. Patch savvily notes that people can move into a neighborhood but be more connected, thanks to social media, with people elsewhere, so their obligations may change.
Schlichtman sets out a taxonomy: "There are newcomers who want a relationship with the longtime residents of a neighborhood, and, as we say in the book, there are newcomers who only want a relationship with [fellow newcomers]. And there are the gentrifiers who are the curators, who only want a relationship with old neighbors because they want to be the last ones [moving into the neighborhood]. Each one of these has their own strengths and weaknesses."
The affordability issue
Patch suggests--quoting, if not explicitly, Jane Jacobs--that "[i]If middle-class people are moving where there’s cheaper housing, that lets you know that there’s not enough middle-class housing in your city in the first place. It doesn’t hurt to build middle-class condos or upscale apartments while you’re also building low-income affordable housing."
Is that an argument for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park? There would be 900 low-income units of 6,430 apartments, but the low-income affordable units are actually behind schedule, while the middle-income affordable ones are ahead of schedule.
Schlichtman points to the tension between resistance to affordable housing in higher-income neighborhoods and insistence that it be built in low-income ones. He also points to channeling such housing through existing nonprofit organizations, which implies a resistance to major developers.
What to do in NYC
Neil deMause, in his 8/25/15 Village Voice article, The Gentrifier’s Guide to Not Being an Asshole (which appears, in different form, in his book The Brooklyn Wars), wrote:
"The problem isn't gentrification: It's that my neighbors are getting locked up, or they are being over-policed, or there aren't any schools, or there’s lead poisoning in the neighborhood, or there aren’t any long-term rentals anymore," says Jason Patch. Those are things to organize about. (Or, I'd suggest, any social action that leads to solidarity and more civic and communal resources.)
"Evictions can happen due to disinvestment in a neighborhood, and [they can also] happen because of over-investment," says John Joe Schlichtman. " Eviction happens because of disconnection from the rest of the city and a neighborhood’s reconnection to the rest of the city. Militarized policing can happen due to the containment and isolation of a disinvested neighborhood, or it can happen because a neighborhood is being reinvested in..."
What does the newcomer do?
Mock asks what the incoming gentrifier should do. Patch savvily notes that people can move into a neighborhood but be more connected, thanks to social media, with people elsewhere, so their obligations may change.
Schlichtman sets out a taxonomy: "There are newcomers who want a relationship with the longtime residents of a neighborhood, and, as we say in the book, there are newcomers who only want a relationship with [fellow newcomers]. And there are the gentrifiers who are the curators, who only want a relationship with old neighbors because they want to be the last ones [moving into the neighborhood]. Each one of these has their own strengths and weaknesses."
The affordability issue
Patch suggests--quoting, if not explicitly, Jane Jacobs--that "[i]If middle-class people are moving where there’s cheaper housing, that lets you know that there’s not enough middle-class housing in your city in the first place. It doesn’t hurt to build middle-class condos or upscale apartments while you’re also building low-income affordable housing."
Is that an argument for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park? There would be 900 low-income units of 6,430 apartments, but the low-income affordable units are actually behind schedule, while the middle-income affordable ones are ahead of schedule.
Schlichtman points to the tension between resistance to affordable housing in higher-income neighborhoods and insistence that it be built in low-income ones. He also points to channeling such housing through existing nonprofit organizations, which implies a resistance to major developers.
What to do in NYC
Neil deMause, in his 8/25/15 Village Voice article, The Gentrifier’s Guide to Not Being an Asshole (which appears, in different form, in his book The Brooklyn Wars), wrote:
And once newcomers arrive in a neighborhood, they tend to snowball. This is not just because they tell their friends about their new discovery, but, rather, due to the problematic racial calculus of neighborhood desirability — their very presence makes it seem safe for others of their ethnicity and/or artistic bent...His advice includes:
Brigette Blood, who moved to Bushwick after graduating from college in 2003, readily acknowledges that as much as she’s thrown herself into fighting the runaway gentrification of her adoptive home through her work with the North West Bushwick Community Group, she can’t entirely mitigate her own ripple effect on housing demand. “When the landlord next door comes to show his apartment and there’s a white lady sitting out front, that’s a kind of power that I can’t deny,” she says. “A white lady sitting out front drinking tea has a different cultural reading for a lot of people than the very wonderful Puerto Rican men who hang out on my street all day.”
- "Don’t assume a blank slate." In other words, learn some history, and "and not to act like Columbus on the beach."
- "Think locally, shop locally." In other words, not just coffee bars.
- "Do your homework." Research your building and landlord, especially the issue of preferential rents, which can lead to future increases.
- "Talk to your neighbors." That requires common ground, places to meet, such as building and community meetings.
- "Shut your mouth when necessary." Elizabeth Yeampierre of UPROSE, originally the United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park, warns about newcomers hijacking meetings.
- "Be aware of your own role." That includes trying to influence public policy.
No one even pretends to believe that gentrification can be stopped — not, that is, without starting to reduce the gap in spending power between the gentrifiers and the gentrified, which is probably beyond the abilities of any neighborhood organizing effort.Or, I'd say, the supply of mixed-income housing and increased investment in public transit so that more neighborhoods become desirable.
Comments
Post a Comment