Comment 53159

By mystoneycreek (registered) - website | Posted December 15, 2010 at 13:08:06

From my understanding, having spoken to those whose brains are far bigger and better-functioning than mine, who understand about how 'rebirth' and 'regrowth' and 'rejuvenation' tends to work in a modern, urban world, regardless of what label you put on the process, there is an 'organic' mechanism at play in these situations. Is it 'fair' to all the players involved? Probably not. But whoever said that a free-market, capitalist system was 'fair'? (I'm tending to look to the 'Entitlement Culture' for some of what feeds this mindset...and this is coming from someone who considers himself most definitely a 'liberal' thinker who believes in the importance of creating a society in which the notion of a 'social conscience' isn't regarded as a pejorative.) I guess I'm wondering how those who turn things around in any given area...small business owners, entrepreneurs, developers...can be looked upon with such suspicion by some.

Is the root of all this the label 'gentrification' more than anything else? Is the connotation so negative...as was the one for 'yuppy' ended up being back in the day...as to so negatively tinge the discussion of 'resurrection of urban living spaces'?

And does anyone else find it intriguing that watching an area in its resurgent, ascendent phase brings on engaging, critical dialogue, while the reverse...an area at a corresponding stage of its descent...regularly doesn't generate hardly any discussion at all...? (Yeah, I know; yet another huge topic...) And no, I'm not talking about areas where clearly they're well into dormancy, such as segments of Barton Street, I'm talking about those areas whose vibrancy is just beginning to fail. (Easier to look back in retrospect, I'll admit.)

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