This week we've been talking approximately gentrification. We've heard voices from Brooklyn, where affordable housing, a shrinking middle lesson, or racial justice all come to a head. And we met Tony Coleman in West Oakland. Tony hopes to maintain the Revolution Cafe,a community hub in the neighborhood, despite the prospect of rising rents. And we've heard from many of you. One listener from New York, and New York told us: "It's gentrifying as I text this and it's very unpleasant. I was piece of the Creative lesson wave that stabilized the area but we didn't pay much either,and certainly didn't push anyone out. Now that there is so much development it is fitting increasingly newcomer-centric and insufferable. I'm thinking of selling and moving."Listener Daniel in Chico, CA says: "Gentrification in my neighborhood had been a very positive thing, and with property values going up and crime from drugs and human trafficking going down. I maintain a very positive take on that."Annette in Georgia thinks: "Gentrification is a four letter word. People that maintain lived in their communities for decades and own the property they live in but perhaps not the land are losing things they're worked so tough to maintain. I think there should be a balance between revitalizing the neighborhood and keeping people that beget the neighborhood virbrant and beautiful and whole."Rebecca Carroll,producer for special projects on race at WNYC and a reporter for the new podcast, "There Goes The Neighborhood, and " helps us decode the language and dispel the myths of gentrification. And we attempt to reply the question: What does an ideal neighborhood look like?
Source: wnyc.org