The area around Temple University in North Philadelphia also witnessed rapid changes. Philadelphia Housing Action, for its part, has worked to decommodify housing by experimenting with collective ownership, Johnson said in an interview on the Millennials Are Killing Capitalism podcast, attempting to remove properties from the unrelenting throes of the housing market. (The late stage, at least for San Francisco, with its affordable housing crisis, isn't so desirable . Restrictions created by the Old Philadelphia Development Corporation prevented new homeowners in Society Hill from drastically altering their historic homes, but regulations for new construction were more lenient. 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. Pictured here years before his appointment as Executive Director of the Philadelphia Housing Association, Edmund Bacon is sometimes referred to as The Father of Modern Philadelphia. Born in the Philadelphia suburbs in 1910, he studied architecture at Cornell University and introduced a plan for a new civic center for Philadelphia as part of his senior thesis. The building of bridges across the Schuylkill River further promoted development, including that of hospitals and other benevolent institutions. The gentrification taking place in West Philadelphia is often referred to as Penntrification. As the Bicentennial approached, Bacon proposed that Philadelphia host a worlds fair to coincide with the 1976 celebration. Unable to meet the costs of renovation, long-term residentsmany African Americanwere forced to sell their historic properties. In doing so, it prompted the mass displacement of the neighborhoods poorer residents. Follow The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Instagram The movement that disrupted this event has become one of the most dynamic forces in Philadelphia in recent months. Black Citymakers: How The Philadelphia Negro Changed Urban America. After World War II, suburbanization exploded. A sprawling suburb, a quiet collegiate enclave, a dangerous part of town, an area of interest for developers. 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. There has been a huge uptick in gentrification since 2000. What these struggles make plain is the violence that is fundamentally intertwined with private property rights and the shadowy public-private partnerships often involved. After spending six years studying the gentrification of Philadelphia neighborhoods, a West Philadelphian has discovered a rare trend: Neighborhoods are not necessarily gentrifying in the way people think they arethey're resegregating. Thats typical for a gentrifying city. Penns expansion originally centered on Locust Walk. Restaurants, shops, barstheyve all widened the Penn bubble. The old Gothic auditorium will be turned into a coworking space and a coffee shop. And what does it say that we exist in a gentrified spaceone that our school created? 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. Philadelphia Neighborhood Map: Center City East: sketchy greyhound station , Washington Square West: Panhandlers and art students, Rittenhouse: Philly's Manhattan, Chinatown: all that and dim sum, Logan Square: Not a square at all, but a circle, Callowhill: Club Kids Vomiting, Hawthorne: Public housing and rich people, Spring Garden: My windows won't open but still nice, Old City: Where . While the pace of Philadelphia-area redevelopment lagged behind other rapidly revitalizing citiesnotably, San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C.the specter of displacement troubled government officials and longtime residents alike. West Philadelphia has been called many names over the years. These areas initially had at least 500 residents as well as below-average income and home values.. Alexander also describes the struggle, and the encampment specifically, as having generated more unity, even providing space for the children in the Townhomes to have a movie night outside, paint, dance, learn to skateboard, and become more directly involved in defending the Townhomes. 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. The resident-led struggle to defend these homes has galvanized people in Philadelphia around the defense of housing for Black, Brown, working-class, poor, elderly, and disabled residents. 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. I was deeply saddened. Artists, too, moved into vacant row houses and commercial spaces, which offered them ample space to pursue their craft. Artist Isaiah Zagar covered dozens of drab brick walls in the neighborhood with his kaleidoscopic mirror-flecked murals. At the same time, other historical features were sacrificed in the name of development. 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.. "West Philly is the new Africa," one resident warned at a community meeting. Dennis witnessed one of the earliest unveilings of Penns Landscape Development Plan of 1977. Waging a struggle against the rights of property owners seems like an uphill fight in a capitalist society, but it is not the first time that some of the organizers have been involved in such a pitched battle. 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. 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, escalating in the. 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. Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. The candy making there gave way to residential development. Soon, real estate prices began to creep upwards. As part of the renewal project for Society Hill that began in 1957, three 30-story residential buildings, the Society Hill Towers, were the tallest of the construction projects and provided 720 apartments designed to attract middle-class residents. This building became a commercial property in the 1980s and later a pharmacy for Society Hill residents. The gentrification of Queen Village and Society Hill were exceptions in a region that continued to suffer the effects of deindustrialization and decline. Even as the city government struggled to balance the costs and benefits of neighborhood revival, many areas remained untouched by the effects of gentrification. Penn, unbeknownst to renters, created the blight it needed, Dr. Palmer explained. Architect I.M. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. In 1960, the black and white shares were 52.4% and 47.2%, respectively. On . Low sales forced dozens of businesses to leave the building over the years and the NewMarket formally closed in 1987. They also converted spacious industrial spaces into arts and music venues. Urban Renewal & Gentrification Marker. Real estate prices skyrocketed, too; an abandoned row house that might have sold for $300 in the 1960s now commanded up to $30,000. During the 1980s, new federal tax credits helped fund the redevelopment of other overlooked neighborhoods. She admits that initially she and most other residents were not involved. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter In the 2010s, Philadelphia began experimenting with measures designed to stem gentrifications worst effects. By 1990, that figure had fallen to 20 percent. From blocked off construction sites to high-rises and medical centers towering over generations-old brownstones, gentrification can be seen everywhere. On Sept. 29, just minutes into freshman convocation, Liz Magills first major speech as University of Pennsylvania president was disrupted by about 100 protesters. In the 1970s, these investors sought to differentiate the area from the rest of South Philadelphia by renaming it Queen Village.. Get your copy The 5500 block of Bloyd Street in Germantown, where some homes have been renovated into affordable housing for neighborhood residents. The black population in West Philly has decreased by 29% from 2000 to 2012. Inscription. In the Old City section of Center City Philadelphia, H.O. Speculative developers rushed to build housing for Temples expanding off-campus student population in a poverty-stricken African American district west of Broad Street. That's typical for a gentrifying city. He also confirmed Penns involvement in a new mixeduse development in the 4600 block of Pine Street. Ultimately, the return of the middle and upper classes to the city was not a panacea for all of the regions ills. By spurring renovation and elevating housing values, gentrification broadened the citys tax base. During the 1980s, demand for these apartments exploded, and developers scrambled to meet it. Freddie Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switch blade knife April 12 outside the Gilmor Houses housing project on Baltimore's west side. By the late 1960s, middle-class newcomers joined their fight. One by one, local associations, congregations, and ultimately whole communities fell prey to the vicissitudes of the real estate market. Penn encourages students and faculty to explore off campus. Colonial row houses, they believed, were a stark contrast to the stultifying sameness of the suburbs. Others were more mercenary, buying and renovating abandoned shells for profit. For the city and real estate developers, it served as a hopeful model for neighborhood revitalization. An average row house costing $7,400 in the 1960s sold for over twenty times that amount in 1990. About 75 people took part in the event, held four days before a critical vote at a Zoning Board of Adjustments hearing. The Dock Street Market, the citys principal food market since the late eighteenth century, was razed to make way for three I.M. TL;DR a "queer-friendly" inclusive coffee shop in West Philly is being destroyed by its ultra woke queer BIPOC employees. Dr. Walter Palmer, a native of the Black Bottom and lecturer at the Penn Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice, went away to law school in the late 1960s. The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. Many hundreds of enterprising individuals did just that. Gentrification is nothing new, Fed economist Jeffrey Lin suggests in his paper, " Understanding Gentrification's Causes. While Temples administration tried to encourage better relations between students and residents, it did little to discourage the spread of private development around its campus. 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. This move brought with it an influx of capital and incentives for real-estate developers to create housing for well-endowed students. She is the Highbrow Editor for 34th Street. In the ensuing decades, Society Hill became a touchstone for supporters and detractors of gentrification. 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. As in Society Hill and Queen Village, the gentrification of Graduate Hospital triggered striking demographic changes. The University bought the land and the building and now uses it as an incubator for local startups and student research. I live near 40th Lancaster Avenue. 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. NewMarket had entrances on Front and Second Streets, leading to a large courtyard, a central fountain, and the entrances to many of the shops. Adams, Carolyn et al. She recalls that the value of her parents house appreciated 400% in the time they lived in Philly. Gentrification is generally good. In the Old City area just north of Society Hill, those tax incentives encouraged developers to convert abandoned workshops into stylish loft apartments. The signs of gentrification can be spotted throughout Philadelphia neighborhoods like Brewerytown, Kensington and West Philadelphia, among others. All of the new housing developments are "student housing" for students attending the University . 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. At the same time, Greater Philadelphia enjoyed an influx of foreign immigration, which helped to repopulate neighborhoods in South and West Philadelphia. But for existing communities facing the gentrification of their neighborhood, those dreams of revival were dampened by fears of displacement. Newcomers cosmopolitan tastes contributed to the alienation of the neighborhoods working-class residents. At mid-century, the area remained a bastion of Black life, teeming with blues and jazz clubs, barrooms, and Black-owned businesses. Yet such changes also came with a cost: the social disruption and displacement of existing residents. From 1960 to 1970, the neighborhoods percentage of nonwhite residents fell from 20 percent to 7 percent. In a few short years, Southwark saw a dramatic decline in its working-class population along with the conversion of its mixed-use streetscapes into expensive residential-only corridors. Developed alongside people on the frontlines of injustice, Prism will help deepen your understanding on the most pressing issues of our time. The Dock Street market diminished in size after World War II as competition from other markets and changes in distribution forced some merchants to move elsewhere. But for many students residing in the Penn Bubble, community issues take a backseat. At this point, organizers and residents both speak to a goal of preserving the Townhomes as housing for low-income residents. Business owners constructed warehouses along Dock Creek in the late 1600s so ships could unload food, materials, and other products efficiently. Annabelle Williams is a sophomore in Wharton from Chester Springs, PA, studying Management and Marketing. 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. In rapidly changing neighborhoods like Old City, minority residents often suffered the brunt of such measures. To him, its untouched by the tentacles of development, a community similar to West Philly 20 years ago. 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. Not long ago, dilapidated warehouses, abandoned . I think for now Eastwicks outside of [Penns] reach, Phil said wryly. Get 34th Street's newsletter, The Toast, delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning. Economic Insights While gentrification's effects are widely studied and debated, less attention is paid to what drives gentrification itself. In buying up properties in the Black Bottom en masse and then having landlords evict longtime residents, they made space for the nowprimarily commercial development on Market Street. By 2000, over 44 percent of Manayunks residents worked in managerial or professional positions, up from just 12 percent in 1970. What good are HBCUs if they mirror the anti-Blackness of the US? Protect Squirrel Hill, a coalition of neighbors in the Squirrel Hill area of West Philadelphia, rallied April 3 against a proposed luxury apartment building. At the peak of the housing bubble in 2008, the 19140 ZIP Code, which contains roughly Hunting Park and Nicetown-Tioga . The concept of gentrification is a muddled one. In the 1990s, young urban professionals flocked to the area. In July 2021, the owner, IBID Associates LP, announced they would allow their contract with HUD to expire and their intent to sell the property. Ultimately, this partnership succeeded in defeating the proposed expressway. Penn also offers incentives for its faculty to reside in nearby West Philadelphia. (Author information current at time of publication.). 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. Using those criteria, Nicetown has taken steps forward in the last five years. Philadelphia, in Pews 2017 State of the City study, lacks affordable or subsidized housing options. From 1982 to 1984, Philadelphia led the nation in the number of claims for such tax credits. A minus. Residential gentrification soon followed the growth in commercial activity. Revitalization efforts across the city included redeveloping older factories for new purposes. 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. 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. It garnered media attention, brought the community into the fight, and helped residents build greater connection with activists, students, and organized labor in the city. In 2013, there were still 4,000 buildings and over 10,000 lots sitting empty in Lower Northeast Philadelphia. As part of the construction process, thirty-one acres of houses and commercial buildings were razed to provide enough space for the redevelopment project, forcing hundreds of individuals and merchants to relocate. This resurgence was fueled by a demographic upheaval which found baby boomers, new immigrants, and young college graduates choosing cities over suburbs. Along with other area institutions, it created the University City District, a nonprofit organization tasked with promoting development in the area. Penn, USciences, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Presbyterian Hospital, and Drexel formed the West Philadelphia Corporation (WPC) in 1959 and began to condemn buildings across Black Bottom. 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. Ella Comberg, a longtime West Philadelphia resident, describes the university as a kind of silent but huge presence in [her] life.. The Philadelphia City Council, however, failed to pass a similar measure. May 10, 2017. Datz mentioned the newlyopened Pennovation Center, which opened last year across the river in Grays Ferry. In the 2010s, Philadelphia tried to strike an equilibrium between development and stasis, renewal and disruption, gentrification and decay. Affluent homesteaders also continued to rehabilitate row houses in neighborhoods closer to the urban core. West Philly neighborhood, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PA), 19139, 19143 detailed profile When a judge ordered the encampment evicted, the sheriff could dismantle the pallet barriers and tents but could not diffuse the energy and momentum the gathering had created. His latest publication is Closer to Heaven: Race and Diversity in Suburban America, which will appear in the Journal of Urban History in 2015. This image from 1914 shows the Fish Market building, an enclosed warehouse that sold fresh fish from dozens of merchants. The Black Bottom is a historically Black community . For the most part, Penn is now a good steward of the neighborhoods it inhabits, he explains. This suggests that some 8% of Philadelphia's gun violence can be attributed to gentrification destabilizing the city's illicit drug markets. 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. The poverty rate in Philadelphia as of 2019 was 23.3%, 13 percentage points above the U.S. national rate of 10.5%. Connecting the Past with the Present, Building Community, Creating a Legacy. What sets gentrification in Philadelphia apart is that the effected neighborhoods aren't always black. As the 2000s wore on, the revitalization of residential neighborhoods became the cornerstone of Philadelphias revivaleven as the city struggled to temper gentrifications most harmful consequences. Fighting Gentrification in West Philadelphia. Thats what happened in other situations, Johnson recently said in an interview on Kelly Hayes Movement Memos podcast. "The West Philadelphia Problem" asks listeners to problematize concepts like "safety" and "crime," and to interrogate the role academia has had in legitimizing these terms. As industrial jobs evaporated, Greater Philadelphias institutional service sector expanded. The Netter Center offers ABCS (Academically Based Community Service) courses in which students can interact with the surrounding community. The frontlines of injustice, Prism will help deepen your understanding on the most part, Penn is now good. Help deepen your understanding on the frontlines of injustice, Prism will help deepen your understanding on frontlines! 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