Since we watched Flag Wars in class I thought I would look into what the Near East Side of Columbus looks like today. Flag Wars came out in 2003 and it is now 2017, therefore the 'situation' has changed and evolved. I found two articles from Columbus Underground that were published in 2017 and focus on gentrification and home improvements in the Near East Side.
The first article in Columbus Underground is about a program that is being used to help the residents of neighborhoods that are gentrifying (published October 28th). PACT (Partners Achieving Community Transformation) focuses on revitalizing the neighborhoods that surround OSU Hospital East. The City of Columbus, the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority and The Ohio State University all support this program. Over the next year $200,000 will go to renovating 20 homes that has long-term area residents living in them. The article says "We looked at two criteria; we want to either be in areas already
experiencing redevelopment – in which case the program complements what
is already happening – or, we want to be catalytic"(Waren 2017). In Flag Wars there was a lot of discussion about the facades of the homes being lived in by long-term residents. This program is helping these long-term residents keep up with the new and improved facades of the gentrified homes.
http://www.columbusunderground.com/program-aims-to-help-longtime-residents-in-gentrifying-neighborhood-bw1
The second article in Columbus Underground is titled Keeping Gentrification Out of Revitalizing Communities. The article talks about the 'Big Table' meeting that was held by the Columbus Foundation and the 'Big Table' meetings held by Columbus Underground. The goal was to get all side of the problem together to discuss these problems in the area. The brought together, "neighborhood activists, leaders, decision makers, and
stakeholders to get a better understanding of food insecurity,
community-police relations, gentrification and economic segregation" (Sega 2017). There goal is to find a way to turn the low-income neighborhoods into mixed-income neighborhoods without displacing long-term, low-income residents and keeping the culture of the area intact.
http://www.columbusunderground.com/keeping-gentrification-out-of-revitalizing-communities-ls1
Based off these two articles it seems like Columbus knows they have a gentrification 'problem' and they are trying to find solutions to keep people in their homes. Getting people from all side of the problem into discussion is a step in the right direction. The second article also does a good job in drawing the line between gentrification and new development. Which is good because it seems like the 'common' people do not necessary know what gentrification fully entails. Compared to how the situation was portrayed in Flag Wars, I would say the situation in the Near East Side is improving and there are people paying attention to the low-income, long-term residents. There are people trying to help these residents improve their homes and trying to help them keep the culture of the area.
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very common problem with large cities that are in part attempting to ultimately build their cities up to be better, more succesful, and productive cities, yet at the cost of other usually minorities of individuals. Your articles reminded me of the darker parts of gentrification for some reason, and this quote from Sassen and Lipman, is a dark way to describe Columbus' overlooked gentrification due to the success of their economy. "New York is a 'paradigmatic global city', a marketplace of global finance, corporate headquarters for global capitalism, and also home to poor and working-class people of color whose exploitation contributes to the success of the new economy (338)". Upon further investigation, Columbus is only on the verge of greater themes of gentrification comparable to the larger cities of the U.S. for example L.A. and New York. I only hope that Ohio, learns for these examples and addresses and acknowledges the drivers behind gentrification, rather than just focusing on the economic benefits.