Ailantha
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just thinking

1/2/2014

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        Hi again, Romaine! 
        That was a thoughful comment.  To quote you:
       "Whenever a neighborhood gets gentrified (as my own where I live now has been) I always wonder where the original occupants moved to. What is the first step to turn around a neighborhood? Does it start with a new coat of paint and a plant in the front yard? I wonder how long it takes to change a street and then a neighborhood."
        I've also wondered where people go when they leave their upwardly changing  neighborhood.  Other things I've wondered about:
         What makes a neighborhood go "downhill"?  Is it lack of money?  Or lack of caring?  Or both?                    Even if a neighborhood is "poor",  could its streets  not be kept clean and safe? 
        And wouldn't any neighborhood with clean, safe streets be a good neighborhood, no matter the economic status of the neighbors and the state of the houses?
         Or is it in reality the state of the houses that determines the state of the neighborhood?                          So, then would a new coat of paint and a plant in every yard make a difference even if the people living in the houses remained the same? 
        What if you took all the rich people and put them in the poor people's houses and then took all the poor people and put them in the rich people's houses, would the neighborhoods change? (I've actually thought about this one quite a bit)

        Just thinking is all.
 
       
        
1 Comment
Romaine
1/3/2014 02:57:56 am

Several years back I thought I would sell my house and move to a much less expensive house so that I could quit my job and find myself. Needless to say that didn't happen. However in the course of that exercise I checked out houses in all types of neighborhoods in East Portland. I was so surprised when the realtor and even friends would tell me to watch out for this neighborhood or that neighborhood because of gang activity or because it wasn't "safe". All of these unsavory neighborhoods looked perfectly fine from the outside - the lawns were taken care of and the houses were in good shape. You would never guess they were seedy or unsafe or were plagued by gangs. I was used to "bad" neighborhoods in Philadelphia - which looked like war zones - literally. I often had to drive through them on my way to the train station when I would commute to New York twice a month for my job. So I expected "bad" neighborhoods to look bad too. I'm still puzzled by it all. After having my car broken into and my Christmas decorations vandalized I'm beginning to think that I might live in a "bad" neighborhood too - yet it's considered one of the best places in the city for proximity to restaurants and shopping.
So I guess perception of what's bad is all relative.

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