Revitalization attracts new people and opportunities. It always trends towards the term "gentrification". It's the natural end of the process. Watching it happen in Raleigh as well , along with living in a neighborhood from the start of the revitalization to when it gets expensive. You have people who grow with the revitalization and see the opportunity that have been part of the neighborhood all along. Then you have folks that stay the same and get priced out of the neighborhood because they have no "true" desire to grow or better there situation. This is what you see amongst the working class demographics in these neighborhoods in Raleigh.
There's some balance between revitalization and gentrification we should strive for. If gentrification is inevitable, we should be mindful of how and how fast.
Among those people you accuse of having no desire to grow or better their situations are the elderly, disabled, poor who only have a roof over their heads via inheritance, renters, single parents, people with expensive medical needs, people for whom the cost of moving is impractical, and more. In some places, they see their tax value triple in a matter of a couple years. You could be seeking to better yourself all you want, going back to school, working nights, and you're still likely to get overwhelmed by soaring property values.
Not sure where you live in Durham area wise? But as soon as you buy that old , neglected house and fix it up..... You are contributing to the eventual gentrification. Build a city farm in the neighborhood , you are slowly contributing to the gentrification. On a much smaller scale but contributing. You don't like it? Talk to your City Council
You got me pegged for fixing up an old house and farming (East Durham County). We've been in the house 22 years this fall, if there's a statute of limitations on being a colonist. And I understand the interconnectedness of it; I think it's reasonable to be more and more deliberate in how we grow.
I'm involved in our political process. I write, call, vote, show up, canvas, advocate, etc.
There also is this misconception that "Gentrification" is a product of conservative greed. Yet Raleigh has had a generally liberal city council for 15 years that has no problems rolling out the red carpet for mass density commercial construction. Allowing the character/charm of Raleigh to be altered for the all might $.
There's some greed of all political stripes, to be sure. If that usually leans conservative, so be it; I'll give you short-sighted, naive good intentions on the left.
The infrastructure development part I would be interested to hear what you mean exactly? If you mean better and more public transportation? None of these NC cities were originally designed with any of that in mind. Try to integrate that kinda of stuff is extremely tricky. I actually get people all the time from bigger cities looking to move here from somewhere with significant public transportation. Almost everyone of them says they feel like cities with less public transportation operate better from a transportation standpoint. In terms of getting around by motor vehicle.
Yeah, the Triangle was much more rural until after the automobile, so when it exploded, it was all to accommodate cars. It's like that almost everywhere but the NE and MW/Great Lakes area and scattered port cities.
A specific example would be a huge road project that takes several years, but okaying so much other construction around it that the road is obsolete before it's even done. In the meantime traffic gets way worse during the project, too.
