Gentrification is a process of renovation and revival of deteriorated urban neighborhoods by means of influx of more affluent residents, which results in increased property values and the displacing of lower-income families and small businesses.
The Westside area of Atlanta is in trouble and in need of your help! This area which is predominately black and low-income is in jeopardy of being gentrified (or re-colonized, if you will). This area includes: Mims Park, the Boone Corridor, English Avenue, Vine City, Booker T Washington/Ashview Heights/ Washington Park/Just Us, and the Atlanta University Center (AUC).
When I initially heard talk of there being an "uplifting" of the area that I now call home for 9/12 months in the year, I was excited. Mostly because I hoped it'd turn into a nice looking area with more to offer but soon after school began, I realized that notion was the furthest thing from the truth.
In all actuality what is happening is, the Westside Future Fund is attempting to implement the creation of the Land-Use Action Plan here in the Westside community. By doing this, they are trying to beautify this area and make it more marketable for visitors opposed to actually enhancing the living conditions and increasing the quality of life for current residents.
If you go out to the website, you will see that these gentrifiers have said all the right things to make us think they care about what is going on in the Westside, but when met with difficult questions regarding the housing and food security of the current residents they could not offer adequate answers.
There are a lot of "plans" for the Westside and just a couple include adding a Chic-Fil-A and a roundabout near the new dome to serve as place where people can walk to get food vended from food trucks. These are not bad in and of themselves but it is quite perplexing that there are plans for a fast food restaurant and food trucks when the West End doesn't even have a grocery store because, "there aren't enough heads." They are also marketing for "affordable housing" but this housing will not be affordable for most who are already living in this area. These residents will be displaced with no where to go. Often times, people who already own houses in this area sell and/rent them at exponentially high prices and way more than they are actually worth in efforts to move the current residents from these spaces in a "subtle" way.
The problem also lies in the fact that outsiders are coming in and trying to decide what is best for this area. These are people who have not attachment to this area because it is in no way significant to them other than a money in their bank account.
Essentially, it is imperative that members of the AUC as well as the outlying community come together and get involved in this process. This area deserves to keep the aspects about it that are unique and give it its character, not to be turned into the next best hipster hang out. We, members of this community, deserves basic necessities that any thriving community already has. Our voices are important and they matter in this decision making process, the Westside doesn't need to be planned, it needs to be healed.
