Penn was in search of a grant for urban renewal at the time; but the grant stipulated that the neighborhood needed to be blighted (i.e., so unsafe, uninhabitable, or dilapidated that it is a candidate for eminent domain). With the rapid loss of human and monetary resources in the central city and the expansion of wealthier, primarily white suburbs, the stage had been set for gentrification in Greater Philadelphia. In academics and activism, gentrification is understood as the displacement of a lower-income community in terms of demographic and economic changes. The struggle to preserve the UC Townhomes had humble beginnings. After decades of slow economic decline from the loss of industrial mills and manufacturing plants, Philadelphia officials offered tax incentives to small businesses and property owners in Manayunk during the 1980s to spur redevelopment and bring more middle-class residents into the area. His latest publication is Closer to Heaven: Race and Diversity in Suburban America, which will appear in the Journal of Urban History in 2015. Restoring the citys historic housing stock, Bacon reasoned, would encourage upper-income residents to move back to the citythereby stabilizing its dwindling tax base and upgrading real estate values. Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Yet such changes also came with a cost: the social disruption and displacement of existing residents. New groups and institutions inundate an area and push out those who lived there before. By the late 1960s, middle-class newcomers joined their fight. The area around Temple University in North Philadelphia also witnessed rapid changes. In 2020, Philadelphia Housing Action was part of the core of another dynamic housing struggle in the city. For the first of three mapping layers, the city's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) used . Both Alexander and Johnson attest that constant meetings and forcing the owner to extend the HUD contract multiple times has been stressful on the residents. Gentrification is nothing new, Fed economist Jeffrey Lin suggests in his paper, " Understanding Gentrification's Causes. Initially, newcomers and old-time residents found common cause, coming together to fight the long-planned Cross Town Expressway that would have leveled South Street in an effort to attract suburban commuters back to the city. The Philadelphia Housing Authoritys waiting list peaked in 2014 at around 78,000. From blocked off construction sites to high-rises and medical centers towering over generations-old brownstones, gentrification can be seen everywhere. It was joined by the Greater Philadelphia Movement (GPM), a nonprofit organization founded in 1948 by area businessmen. Penn still plans to continue building north of Market and west of 43rd. The gentrification taking place in West Philadelphia is often referred to as Penntrification. On South Street, the Theatre of the Living Arts put on avant-garde works under artistic director Andre Gregory. The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, under President Paul Steinke, often crosses paths with Penn and Drexel. Days after the protest at Penn, a large group of residents, organizers, and protesters caught the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia (BIA) by surprise. And gentrification is only now beginning to take root north of Girard Avenue, in some of the most heavily disinvested and pockmarked North Philadelphia neighborhoods (Sharswood, Brewerytown, Strawberry Mansion, Fairhill.). Instead, research from West Virginia University economist Zachary Porreca shows that when one urban WVU economist Zachary Porreca compared data on property values and shootings in Philadelphia and found that when one block gentrifies, drug crime migrates to neighboring blocks, escalati More than 240,000 households citywide (40% of all households) are forced to spend 30% or more of their income on housing. Empty buildings and older housing with little government or private investor support led to declining populations and social institutions throughout industrial neighborhoods. We had a lot of senior citizens and a lot of people with disabilities who just dont have anybody to advocate for them, said Alexander. The gentrification of University City, or "Penntrification," forces Philadelphia's already vulnerable Black population out of their homes and brings white families and students into their former neighborhoods. Where is gentrification happening the most? The signs of gentrification can be spotted throughout Philadelphia neighborhoods like Brewerytown, Kensington and West Philadelphia, among others. In a few short years, the once-conservative immigrant neighborhood had become a hotbed of hip nightlife. As in Society Hill and Queen Village, the gentrification of Graduate Hospital triggered striking demographic changes. During the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, newly built suburbs outside of Center City intensified these divisions. This image from 1914 shows the Fish Market building, an enclosed warehouse that sold fresh fish from dozens of merchants. This suggests that some 8% of Philadelphia's gun violence can be attributed to gentrification destabilizing the city's illicit drug markets. Its legacy as an epicenter of immigrant and African American life lent the area a desirable gloss of authenticitya dash of real folk in the city. Earning a national reputation during the mid-century era of urban renewal, he was featured in Time and Life magazines and was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to the White House's Conference on Recreation and Natural Beauty. (Photograph by Donald D. Groff for the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.). For every new town house built in Graduate Hospital or Queen Village, scores of crumbling row houses were demolished in Nicetown and Kensington. As more artists and young professional moved into the neighborhood, the Manayunk Development Corporation created a mixture of public programming to cater to the new audience. Developers met the demand, refashioning old factories into spacious lofts. As more creative class consumers moved to the neighborhood, they were followed by cafes and bars that catered to their bohemian tastes. The encampment also received support from organizations like Labor for Black Lives, which pulled together several local union chapters to demand Mayor Jim Kenney and city leaders preserve the Townhomes. Universities and hospitals, which could not move their operations out of the city, fueled this growth. You didn't ask this, but because of this, the upside potential right now is greater in North Philadelphia. Students started another encampment at Penn, demanding the university divest from fossil fuels, stop the eviction of Townhomes residents, and make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTS) to the school district. Across the Delaware River, Camden, New Jersey, still awaited significant revitalization. It remained to be seen if the city could enjoy the fruits of revival without obliterating its legacy of diverse and vibrant neighborhoods. Gilmores definition of racism, the state-sanctioned or extralegal production and exploitation of group-differentiated vulnerability to premature death, is also instructive in terms of what residents and organizers are fighting against. By 1980, the University of Pennsylvania was the citys largest private employer. Tang additionally suggested that state interventions needed to deal with displacement, because gentrification has been driven by the deregulation of the housing market. While she might be new to her role, her institutions legacy is inescapablelocal NPR/PBS affiliate WHYY has noted that Penn has undertaken policies that produced some of the most acute gentrification Philadelphia has ever seen.. As of 2010, the neighborhood is majority-white for the first time since 1970, a stunning reversal . But nobody could deny the effectiveness of the organizing, which has forced the property owner to extend its contract with HUD again, this time until the end of December. Pei-designed modernist residential towers. Ella suggests that gentrifiers in West Philly, including Penn students, have a huge responsibility to really engage with their neighbors, old and new, and to work to make sure the neighborhood isnt pushing more people out.. Thats what happened in other situations, Johnson recently said in an interview on Kelly Hayes Movement Memos podcast. The Plans effects were keenly felt in the Black Bottom, a primarily black and disadvantaged neighborhood that earned its name from its place at the bottom of West Philadelphia (from 32nd Street to 40th Street between Lancaster Ave and University Ave). Gentrification & Moving People Concluding Remarks References Philadelphia continues to have some of the highest rates of poverty in the United States. Restaurants, shops, barstheyve all widened the Penn bubble. Tracing Philadelphia and its environs since colonial times, Jeffrey Lin finds the same factors propelling neighborhood transformation today. As market-rate development proliferated, nearly 110,000 households remained on a waiting list for subsidized or low-cost housing. ofGreaterPhiladelphia. Galleries and restaurants followed the arriving middle class. (WHYY, December 18, 2013), Mapping gentrification in Philly by tracking permits (WHYY, February 21, 2014), 'Challenges and opportunities' of gentrification discussed at weekend forum in Germantown (WHYY, April 28, 2014), Selling gentrification to neighbors of the old West Philadelphia High School building (WHYY, June 19, 2014), Gentrifying Philadelphia (WHYY, June 8, 2015), Point Breeze neighbors, beer garden developer at 'lagerheads' over collision of old and new (WHYY, July 23, 2015), Path out of gentrifying Philly neighborhoods just as likely to lead up as down, study finds (WHYY, October 15, 2105), Philadelphia City Council votes to extend 'gentrification protection' program (WHYY, March 18, 2016), Veteran says military gave him the strength to stand up to gentrification (WHYY, August 29, 2016), Philadelphia's disappearing low-cost rental housing revealed in Fed gentrification study (PlanPhilly, December 21, 2016), Exploring the past, future of Philly neighborhoods during annual Jane's Walk (WHYY, May 6, 2017), West Philly gentrification means upheaval for these longtime residents (WHYY, May 11, 2017), Pop-up exhibit in Philly's Kensington neighborhood puts focus on gentrification (WHYY, June 6, 2017), Uncertain future as Puerto Rican community faces gentrification in Norris Square (Al Dia via WHYY, December 16, 2019), Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, The City that Might Have Been: Edmund Bacon's Philadelphia (PhillyHistory.org), Philadelphia's Changing Neighborhoods: Gentrification and other shifts since 2000 (Pew Charitable Trusts), Manayunk: A Place to Drink (PhillyHistory.org), The Problems and the Promise: Gentrification in Philadelphia (Philly.com), 50 Years of Gentrification: A Timeline (NextCity.org, December 2014), Redevelopment & Preservation (Philadelphia: The Great Experiment), Form, Design, and the City (1962) (Philadelphia Department of Records), Renewal and Gentrification in Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Great Experiment), Dock Street's Transformation Into Society Hill (Philadelphia: The Great Experiment), Uprooting Philadelphians (Philadelphia: The Great Experiment), Urban Renewal (Philadelphia: The Great Experiment), How Gentrification Can Affect Your Credit Score (Next City, October 23, 2015), Gentrification without Displacement (Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Places, Spring 2015), These 5 Neighborhood Maps Show Roots of Gentrification (Next City), Three Maps that Explain Gentrification in Philadelphia (Plan Philly). A hallmark of gentrification in Philadelphia are modest, older homes in the shadow of often modern condo complexes. 1. "West Philly is the new Africa," one resident warned at a community meeting. In the Old City section of Center City Philadelphia, H.O. Much of Spring Gardens Puerto Rican community decamped for neighborhoods farther north and east of Center City after their demands for affordable housing went unmet. Beginning in the mid-1950s, Philadelphiaunder the aegis of City Planning Commission Executive Director Edmund Bacon (1910-2005)attempted to reimagine and revive Center City as an attractive residential zone. Alexander notes that even if some residents end up leaving, she and other resident council members want to ensure the Townhomes remain for future generations of low-income families. New York: Routledge, 1996. TL;DR a "queer-friendly" inclusive coffee shop in West Philly is being destroyed by its ultra woke queer BIPOC employees. In many cases, this results in the demise of historically and culturally valuable communal institutions. Dennis witnessed one of the earliest unveilings of Penns Landscape Development Plan of 1977. The student solidarity work has drawn disciplinary proceedings by the administration. The area of the Dock Street Market in Society Hill was a place of commerce for more than two centuries before it was demolished in 1959 to allow construction of the residential Society Hill Towers. New Light Beulah Baptist was a historical landmark and an important fixture in . Philadelphia, like other Rust Belt cities, slowly started its transition from an industrial city to a postindustrial city. Revitalization efforts across the city included redeveloping older factories for new purposes. Nobody had gotten vouchers; nobody was really able to get in contact with the relocation specialist. Southwarks fortunes had begun to fade after World War II. Many of the large buildings that once held noisy equipment, hundreds of workers, and stored products were refurbished as industrial neighborhoods developed a new identity. The disruptions of convocation and the BIA meeting and Bishop Barbers gathering all led to a response from a university representative deflecting and downplaying Penns involvement in the sale. That's typical for a gentrifying city. Studies have linked gentrification to a number of health problems for longterm neighborhood residents. The concept of gentrification is a muddled one. The poverty rate in Philadelphia as of 2019 was 23.3%, 13 percentage points above the U.S. national rate of 10.5%. Penns Civic House sponsored an urban studies class (URBS 178) on universitycommunity relations that addresses the schools difficult history with its surroundings. Sandy Smith More by Jared Ware. Business owners opened smaller boutiques, restaurants, and bars that catered to youthful adults who preferred to live within walking distance of dining and other diversions. He envisioned a redevelopment of the citys waterfronts, a midway closed to automobiles on Chestnut Street, and a tram that would take visitors over the Schuylkill River into Fairmount Park, site of the successful 1876 Centennial. San Francisco, it seems, is in a later stage of its gentrification timeline than Philadelphia. Low sales forced dozens of businesses to leave the building over the years and the NewMarket formally closed in 1987. West Philly neighborhood, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PA), 19139, 19143 detailed profile These actions lasted for months and were eventually settled through an agreement by Philadelphia Housing Authority and the City of Philadelphia to hand over 50 vacant publicly owned houses to a community land trust. It also goes by another namethe Master Plan. 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