This is an interesting article in Mother Jones (forwarded by Brett & Hiromi):
Gentrifying Disaster: : Ethnic Cleansing, GOP-Style
I’m not sure I agree with all of its conclusions, but there are some good insights, including the notion that well-meaning planners who want to use the latest in urban-planning thinking might be unwittingly contributing to an economic “ethnic cleansing” of the region.
Gentrifying Disaster
Posted in katrina, new orleans
I need to start catching up on my gentrification reading this week. In addition to your Mother Jones column, I also came across this from Utne yesterday.
http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2005_223/news/11868-1.html
… from that link:
“The best cure for gentrification is prevention. PolicyLink, a nonprofit organization advocating economic and social equity, claims that if a community fully participates in its own revitalization, it can have a say in its own future. The group pushes a tack called commercial stabilization, which aims to tailor commercial district improvement plans to neighborhoods’ needs. But the communities have to get involved before it’s too late. For New Orleans, that means now.”