Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
One of the reasons why New York City has been so successful is because poverty wasn't so concentrated like it was in Chicago.
We need to mix affordable housing with market rate housing.
But on the same token, the "keep Woodlawn black" people are just as toxic. No, if we want this "civilization" thing to work, then all parties have to agree that people of various incomes are welcome within a neighborhood, as long as they pay the damn rent
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It is weird here, but there have also been massively failed public housing projects here just like Chicago and other cities that didn't do well - big time in the Bronx for example. Actually, some of my direct ancestors used to own a ton of property in South Bronx starting from the late 1860s (back when it wasn't even part of NYC), which was taken basically by eminent domain decades ago to construct public housing. Thanks Robert Moses.. I'm not sour
Literal wealth being taken away. But there were a lot of other policies instituted in the last few decades in NYC. There is definitely a crisis here though in a way, I'd say it's worse than Chicago for sure. Things are just stupid expensive here and a lot of people really can't afford it. Very complex. But there's also a reason why you have streets in the Bronx, Queens, etc that are thriving with business even though the income levels aren't even close to high. And a lot of this is because these places are actually walkable and there were other policies instituted so people could actually open businesses there.
Ultimately though, diversity which goes down to mixed income is a great thing as long as people are willing to actually work together and talk to one another, understand each other, learn from one another, etc. What's important though is still keeping an identity without having to result to racism or bigotry. Being in an echo chamber of sorts doesn't really make one progress as much in life IMO.
Also the argument about those in other neighborhoods not wanting "others" to come in. Segregation is never a good thing, but also they do have a right to fear being priced out. If that's their argument then that's great. Once the argument goes down to race though is when it becomes less valid IMO. I was reading the comments on an Instagram post about a black-owned business in Lincoln Park being targeted. Kind of a complex subject, but some of the comments were talking about how they should just go to the south side to support themselves. At the same time though, people should be able to open up a business wherever they want as long as they go through the proper channels and have it set up to operate. It was an interesting debate to read. There were definitely people calling BS on the argument and saying they should be allowed to operate wherever they want. It's good to have identity but also it just harkens back to previous racist policies of "you can only own in THIS area!"
Anyway, home ownership is (or at least used to be) one of the greatest bases to actually build wealth. There's a reason why racist policies attacked this and made it so it was hard for some people to even own property (i.e. Bronzeville being literally the only area in the city where black people could own property for a long time). I don't think it's a bad thing that people want to stay in the neighborhoods they've lived in for a long time (moving sucks - everyone knows it). The argument though should be setting up frameworks for people to be able to actually own property and also if they want to open a business, make it easier for them. If that can happen and these neighborhoods do get gentrified, then they're basically building wealth from not only their home but from an influx of business in that same neighborhood. Unfortunately people are so divided that they just resort to having some sort of racial argument instead of actually debating real points or coming up with real ideas.
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Yes, that's depressing.
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