Gentrification

To whom it may concern,

The term gentrification, which was once a good thing, has become somewhat vilified in recent years by grassroots community organizations and activists. A term that was once used to explain the overall revitalization of a neighborhood now holds the connotation of all the negative consequences of such prosperity. My problem is not with the term, but with the end result. Simply put, gentrification is when a low-income neighborhood for one reason or another begins to undergo a revitalization, raising property values, and subsequently rents, taxes, and even the price of goods as new businesses move in to support a new demographic. Gentrification can make life hard for those who remain poor and retain their homes in these improving areas. They are driven out of their communities by increased costs. Usually, and unfortunately, this occurs when white people move into minority neighborhoods. From a larger perspective, what I see is the movement of white people back into the cities from the suburbs. A "white flight" back into urban neighborhoods that were sometimes originally built for the white elite or middle class. What this brings back to our inner cities is exactly what was taken out of them when suburban expansion began; a larger tax base, more political clout, and an improvement in basic services (fire, water, safety, schools, parks, transportation, and general maintenance). The one thing that is missing in this equation is income. As prices rise in an area and existing residents maintain their generally lower incomes, they are pushed out. If gentrification could also produce a mix of housing types for a mix of income levels and/or bring high paying jobs for existing residents with it, then many issues surrounding it would be mitigated. The only problem is that most gentrification has occured solely around high-end, market rate residential real estate development. So, how will your administration balance the continued growth and revitalization of our inner-cities and metropolitan areas with diverging incomes, housing affordability, and community displacement?

GUNNAR HAND, AICP