Penns status as the largest employer in Philadelphia, its large endowment and the socioeconomic position of its students and staff complicates its existence in West Philadelphia. For the March episode of Philly Liberation Radio, co-hosts Adiah Hicks and Jasper Saah are joined by Talia Giles, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and member of West Philly Neighbors for Healthy Community . Each of the next five decennial censuses (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010) would show the steadily increasing, dominant share of West Philadelphia's population represented by blacks. During the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, newly built suburbs outside of Center City intensified these divisions. The protesters, including students, chanted "Save UC Townhomes" and "stop Penn-trification." Residents say Magill has ducked meeting requests for months. There is a stereotype that gentrification refers to low-income African Americans being pushed out by rich whites, but this is not the case in many of the areas in Philly where gentrification is occurring. The University bought the land and the building and now uses it as an incubator for local startups and student research. For years, the extant Black, Polish, and Jewish communities had mobilized to thwart the plan. Specifically, in the case of the UC Townhomes, the struggle exposes the purported and well-defended right of members of an elite property-owning class to make exorbitant profits (some have estimated a sale price of $100 million) from the sale of units that have stood as subsidized housing for 40 years. Penn also offers incentives for its faculty to reside in nearby West Philadelphia. Colonial row houses, they believed, were a stark contrast to the stultifying sameness of the suburbs. The Dock Street Market, the citys principal food market since the late eighteenth century, was razed to make way for three I.M. Economic Insights While gentrification's effects are widely studied and debated, less attention is paid to what drives gentrification itself. And no one can question the rapidity with which its occurring. A neighborhood group in Philadelphia is asking opponents of a proposed apartment building to mail in poop samples as part of a study on how gentrification impacts cancer rates. 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). The University City Townhomes has provided affordable housing for nearly 40 years. Smith, Neil. Penns expansion originally centered on Locust Walk. As more creative class consumers moved to the neighborhood, they were followed by cafes and bars that catered to their bohemian tastes. From 1970 to 1990, Philadelphia lost over 18 percent of its remaining residents, its population falling to nearly a half a million people below its postwar peak. Many native West Philadelphians declare, often on bumper stickers: This is West Philly. Housing activists and UC Townhomes residents fight gentrification in West Philadelphia Housing activists, university students, and residents have staged protests and encampments to defend low-income housing in UC Townhomes by Jared Ware October 7th, 2022 The concept of gentrification is a muddled one. In a plan for a safer, vibrant 52nd Street, worried West Philly neighbors see gentrification looming Angst is roiling minority neighborhoods as they struggle to balance the opportunities and the threats created by gentrification. 1. Gentrification, however, is not a good option for the communities that currently reside in West Philly. In the ensuing decades, Society Hill became a touchstone for supporters and detractors of gentrification. The city had the power to seize land under eminent domainwhich allowed them to dice the community with the aim of making West Philly a satisfactory residential community and helping it to fulfill its potential as a center of private research.. The gentrification of drug blocks specifically, as opposed to all gentrifying blocks in Philadelphia, accounted for roughly 2,400 additional shootings during the 10 years of his study. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Beginning in the late 1960s, the neighborhood began to change as some white middle-class pioneers were lured to the area by the promise of affordable housing near Center City. In their wake, others moved to the newly-dubbed neighborhood for reasons that were cultural as much as financial. I was deeply saddened. Its now down to 42,000. Developers met the demand, refashioning old factories into spacious lofts. This initiative froze tax increases for residents who had occupied their homes for more than ten years and faced higher assessments as a result of skyrocketing property values. Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Gentrification Takes Off: 1990s and 2000s. As in Society Hill and Queen Village, the gentrification of Graduate Hospital triggered striking demographic changes. Rents rise, and residents like Clare Finn, who grew up in West Philly and lives there now as an adult, are priced out of their own neighborhoods.. In 1970, the neighborhood had only 90 housing units; by 1990, it had 1,665. In 2014, Philadelphia City Council enacted the Longtime Owner Occupants Program (LOOP). Penn is still displacing people, plain and simple, Casey Lynch (C 18), who has been involved with the Netter Center for four years, said. Yet by the turn of the twenty-first century, things were changing rapidly in DuBois Seventh Ward. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter In doing so, it prompted the mass displacement of the neighborhoods poorer residents. Using an income-based definition of gentrification, only 15 of Philadelphia's 372 residential census tracts were found to have gentrified from 2000 to 2014. They also converted spacious industrial spaces into arts and music venues. With their artistic connotations, these post-industrial spaces attracted white-collar workers looking for a taste of bohemian lifestyle. Notice that many of the suburban and industrial areas were ineligible to gentrify because they had too few people or were too wealthy. Portland's Susceptibility to Gentrification Model. Eastwick is, as he says, super residential, replete with rowhomes and momandpop shops. In recent years, a number of Philadelphia neighborhoods have undergone significant transformation, with higher-income residents moving in, real estate prices rising, new businesses . By the late 1960s, middle-class newcomers joined their fight. Manayunk (/ m n j k / MAN--yunk) is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania.Located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Wissahickon and also on the banks of the Schuylkill River, Manayunk contains the first canal begun in the United States (although not the first completed, due to budget problems). 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. Black Citymakers: How The Philadelphia Negro Changed Urban America. 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. In a few short years, the once-conservative immigrant neighborhood had become a hotbed of hip nightlife. 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. Does it push long-time residents out in favor of the highest bidder? Churches and synagogues, relics of the neighborhoods immigrant past, were converted to market-rate lofts. Opened in 1973, NewMarket was constructed in the middle of the block bounded by Front, Lombard, Pine, and Second Streets, which left some row houses around the block standing, like the one in the background of this 1978 image of the shopping center. Phyllis Jones Carter owns a business in West Philadelphia and is a longtime . Urban renewal since 1949 Neighborhood improvement in Philadelphia has been the result of two factors: formal government projects and informal redevelopment in the form of gentrification. The month-long encampment in the Townhomes courtyard by residents and supporters was one of the watershed moments in the fight. The North Philadelphia neighborhood, which straddles Germantown Avenue just west of Broad Street and Erie Avenue, has seen its population rise 4 percent (above the city's 1 percent increase), its housing prices rose 11 percent again above the citywide average. Even as Philadelphia experienced deindustrialization and decline in the 1970s, a handful of neighborhoods began to experience a phenomenon known as gentrificationa process where affluent individuals settled in lower-income areas. Rising housing costs in gentrifying neighborhoods exact real costs in the lives of Philadelphia families. As a result of these secular changes, more formerly depressed neighborhoods saw increased investment. Phyllis Dennis (C 76), then a PVDA employee, recalls the meeting, saying that Penns representatives brought in a massive map covered in blue and red pins, which represented planned university development both on and offcampus. You can get a sandwich and a bag of chips for three dollars.. However, gentrification and racialized displacement have intensified in recent years as Penn has continued targeted investments. There were also cultural conflicts between old-timers and newcomers. Their city had just bombed its own people. When students go out and work in West Philly, he sees it as lacking a longlasting partnership., In his estimation, ABCS courses send some untrained, rich, and wealthy students who are not from here out into West Philadelphia, who act like they really understand the neighborhood and know what theyre doing. Gillette, Howard. Johnson notes that these actions started out small but were continuous and built up over time. A 2016 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that the city has lost roughly 20,000 lowcost rental units (rent and utilities under $750) since 2000. The Philadelphia City Council, however, failed to pass a similar measure. Affluent homesteaders also continued to rehabilitate row houses in neighborhoods closer to the urban core. At the peak of the housing bubble in 2008, the 19140 ZIP Code, which contains roughly Hunting Park and Nicetown-Tioga . Cedar Park is one of the hottest areas in the city, and housing values are spiking dramatically. By the early 2000s, it boasted scores of infill projects and row-house rehabilitations. Theres a magic in that. As the Bicentennial approached, Bacon proposed that Philadelphia host a worlds fair to coincide with the 1976 celebration. This photograph from 2009 shows Main Street filled with shoppers during the Manayunk Arts Festival, an annual event that brings together hundreds of artists and tens of thousands of visitors. Dennis witnessed one of the earliest unveilings of Penns Landscape Development Plan of 1977. By 2000, over 44 percent of Manayunks residents worked in managerial or professional positions, up from just 12 percent in 1970. Many were put off by their new neighbors perceived unfriendliness or condescension. Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community. In particular, the western stretch of this arearebranded as Graduate Hospitalsaw a dramatic influx of young, white, well-off residents, drawn by its proximity to tony Rittenhouse Square and easy accessibility to the University of Pennsylvania. Business owners constructed warehouses along Dock Creek in the late 1600s so ships could unload food, materials, and other products efficiently. A minus. This building became a commercial property in the 1980s and later a pharmacy for Society Hill residents. Along with other area institutions, it created the University City District, a nonprofit organization tasked with promoting development in the area. Many uprooted residents resettled elsewhere in the citysome moving to adjoining neighborhoods still awaiting rehabilitation, some following cheaper rents to inner-ring suburbs. This article was originally published at Prism. To many Philadelphians, neighborhood renewal represented the best hope for the citys revitalization. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel started on a pattern of development that first displaced residents of the Black Bottom. Ella Comberg, a longtime West Philadelphia resident, describes the university as a kind of silent but huge presence in [her] life.. Residential gentrification soon followed the growth in commercial activity. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel started on a pattern of. It succeeded in upgrading real estate values but also faced criticism from long-established residents. West Philly gentrification means upheaval for these longtime residents. That said, the research request raised ethical red flags for some including Councilmember. As the smoke rose from 6221 Osage Avenue, Philadelphia residents watched through their windows or television screens in a state of stunned disbelief. As the city transitioned towards a post-industrial economy in the ensuing decades, neighborhood revival became a key focus for municipal government. That doesnt happen a lot. While there are many other residents and organizers involved in the coalition at this pointincluding over 50 organizations listed as allies on their websiteAlexander and Johnson represent a core aspect of the struggle: a tight relationship between militant housing activists and fiercely committed residents fighting for their community and for the ability to defend their homes from the profiteering motive of the property owner. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991. Creating its first maps of gentrification in 2013, Portland was one of the first U.S. cities to use data visualizations in order to better understand neighborhood change and displacement. Not long ago, dilapidated warehouses, abandoned . But for many students residing in the Penn Bubble, community issues take a backseat. During the 1980s, new federal tax credits helped fund the redevelopment of other overlooked neighborhoods. This process accelerated after its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. This image from 1973 shows the house while the interior was still under construction. 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. There have been spectacular moments, but also low points: While Johnson says he always believed it could be done, he acknowledged that in the beginning of July, it didnt seem like people were going to pay attention, but thats why there was the encampment.. Disinvestment only intensified after the financial crisis of 2008, as banks tightened up loan requirements and refused to extend credit to the most blighted areas. This "process" is very dangerous as it has a notorious reputation of displacing old residents and creating terrible living situations for those it has not displaced. During the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, newly built suburbs outside of Center City intensified these divisions. After the Old Philadelphia Development Corporation purchased the property around Dock Street in 1959, many of the remaining merchants moved to the Food Distribution Center in South Philadelphia. At 78.5 percent African American in 1990, the neighborhood was less than one-third Black by 2014. I think that Penn students are complicit in Penntrification, though I think that the more significant blame lies with the institution, Casey adds. Ethnic businesseskosher wine merchants, haberdasheries, and furrierswere reincarnated as vegetarian restaurants, feminist bookstores, and hip clothing boutiques. He mentions the Pennovation Center, housed in an old DuPontowned paint factory. Newcomers cosmopolitan tastes contributed to the alienation of the neighborhoods working-class residents. On Sept. 29, just minutes into freshman convocation, Liz Magills first major speech as University of Pennsylvania president was disrupted by about 100 protesters. By 1980, the University of Pennsylvania was the citys largest private employer. Is Philadelphia a gentrification? What good are HBCUs if they mirror the anti-Blackness of the US? To him, its untouched by the tentacles of development, a community similar to West Philly 20 years ago. Callowhill, a former manufacturing district just north of Chinatown and east of Spring Garden, blossomed into the citys loft district. Members of the creative classgraphic designers, software developers, theatre performerswere drawn by its affordability, its edgy post-industrial aesthetic, and its location close to Center City. Those newcomers remade Queen Villages physical landscape. Sign up for Prisms newsletter to get first access to news and analysis that makes you thinkand act. They lost their safety, their support systems.. It was joined by the Greater Philadelphia Movement (GPM), a nonprofit organization founded in 1948 by area businessmen. By mid-century, it had fallen into disrepair and infamyacquiring a sinister nickname, the Bloody Fifth Ward. Nevertheless, Bacon hoped that middle-class buyers would be tempted there by the promise of newly refurbished colonial-era row homes. While LOOP promised some relief for homeowners, maintaining the diversity of revitalizing neighborhoods remained a challenge. Typical buzzwords but the employees seem to demand that ownership be transferred to said queer BIPOC employees because of gentrification, reparations, and harm reduction, etc. West Philadelphia's population shifted from majority-white to majority-black between 1950 and 1960. Gentrification has been intruding on low-income Black areas across the country at an alarming rate, and it has been particularly widespread in North Philadelphia during the past 15 years. The thing that we wont have is you evicting dozens of, hundreds of elderly Black people and putting them on the street and possibly leading to their early deaths. Philip Gentry, a Lea School parent and member of the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools, said that he has seen some signs of potential gentrification occurring as a result of the funding granted to the Lea School. More than 240,000 households citywide (40% of all households) are forced to spend 30% or more of their income on housing. In the 1990s, young urban professionals flocked to the area. This was the childhood church of Marian Anderson, a world-famous Black singer from South Philadelphia. After rallying at City Hall, protesters stormed the BIA networking event at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, confronting developers and public officials. ofGreaterPhiladelphia. By spurring renovation and elevating housing values, gentrification broadened the citys tax base. But neither was it entirely unwelcome. 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