Field Report: Gentrification

Second Street in Northern Liberties is the perfect example of intensive gentrification with Tower Investment Corp. at the helm. The things that stand out for me in a landscape in the process of gentrification are real estate signs, dumpsters, and port-a-potties. Wherever I saw a dumpster, I could expect to find a house under rehab. Another sign of gentrification in this historic neighborhood was houses with garages and driveways. On my short walk on 2nd, Girard, Brown and Orianna (with a quick jaunt to 3rd) I saw no fewer than 26 for sale signs. And some of these signs were for multiple units. I also saw 5 dumpsters. The area that I walked for this field exercise was the smallest area of all of the exercises. The growth in this neighborhood is immense. It seems as though Tower Investments has a sign at every major development on 2nd Street. They have signs at Girard, George, and Poplar. Their developments in the area include Boone Lofts, Liberties Walk, 1000 N. Hancock, and the list goes on. They tout themselves as “Aggressive, Creative, Urban.” Tower is not the only developer in the area, they are just the most prominent.

I really can’t tell you what I think of this group. We have heard both sides of the coin for gentrification. It is bad because it pushes out the residents who were living in the area that can’t afford to stay. It is good because it creates new jobs, housing, and boosts the economy. From what I can see, the good things about Tower Investments are that it creates mixed residential and retail areas. I think that America needs to start planning in this fashion, instead of continuing to sprawl all over the place, creating longer commutes, more pollution, etc. However, I also think that a requirement of new development should be mixed income housing. I cannot afford to buy or rent from Tower Investments.

I am an educated, resourceful person. What about the people who do not have a choice or access to the same resources that I do? In addition, I love the historical integrity of Northern Liberties. As I admitted before, I do not know much about architecture, and I haven’t researched the neighborhood’s history as much as I would have liked; but I do know this… I think that Tower Investment properties are ugly. They don’t fit in with the landscape, or the historic architecture of the neighborhood. Others may disagree, which is fine.

Tower Investments has a “master plan” for Northern Liberties as well as other neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area. But I think that there needs to be a master plan that includes the poor. The rich continue a tradition in American cities of pushing the poor around. If the rich want to live in the suburbs, they push the poor into the cities. Now that suburbanites want to move back into the city, where will the poor go? I took a class where the professor told us that measuring poorness was about measuring choice. The fewer choices you have available, the poorer you are.

This has been a struggle for me. I am a rural gal. I moved into the city. Many of my friends are doing the same. That means that in part, I am one of the people spurring gentrification. I had the choice to move here. I sometimes get the feeling, when I walk north of Girard that people are staring at me and wondering what I’m doing in “their neighborhood.” I think people have every right to feel skeptical or concerned or mad about my presence. They don’t know me. And history hasn’t exactly proved that my race or class should be trusted. But I don’t know how to interpret this uncomfortable feeling I have. Should I feel this? Is it good that I’m aware?

Gentrification deals with economic revitalization. We see the government supporting the revitalization with paved roads, new sidewalks, and tax breaks. But what choices are they providing for the poor? The Philadelphia City Paper ran an issue dealing with gentrification during the week of January 26 – February 2, 2006. They talked about artists paving the way for vulturous developers. The developers track where the artists go and then they follow them and create lofts out of warehouses, and end up pushing out the artists who can no longer afford to live in the area. This makes me wonder about the parameters of gentrification… don’t these artists, don’t I, have more education, and therefore more choice? I suppose that is why gentrification is considered cyclical.

All photos by Bri Crowley. Map courtesy of Google Earth.