Saturday, July 30, 2005
so today my mom and I went out to garage sales. It's something I've grown up doing, I love, and it's nice to spend time together. We decided to go up to North Portland, an area that neither of us know very well. In Portland the North and Northeast sections are diverse, but are known for being a neighborhood for African Americans. It's just known. It's their community and their home, although it is starting to change.
What is happening is a concept called "gentrification". Now, there are quite a few factors playing into this gentrification. a) the real estate market is hot right now in portland. 2) Portland is becoming more hip and trendy and those hip and trendy people need a place to live. omega) both of these items contribute to home renovation and neighborhood 'renewal'.
So there are some neighborhoods or streets in Portland that are hip and happening right now. Lower Burnside has seen a rejuvenation with the Doug Fir coming in. The Alberta neighborhood has come alive with the Alberta Arts being a contributing factor. Missippi Ave, a very short avenue indeed, now has new houses, shops and more. Inner East Division is the next place about to spring up from under us. What happens? people foresee a chance in hopping real estate. They hear murmurs and buy up that ugly 100 year old house for cheap, cheap, cheap and restore it. They do this, selling it for a lot more money, because by the time they're done restoring the neighborhood has picked up with more traffic for cool new restaurants, stores, and people.
Now this is not bad. Don't get me wrong. But the sad thing when we drove through North Portland today was that I was reminded by the article I read not long ago in the Oregonian of those whose neighborhoods are being taken over by such people. They have money to buy up houses for low cost, redo them, and then sell them for considerably more to people with a lot more money. What does this do? Drive the original community folks out of the neighborhood, and in these cases, to the suburbs, where all the richer people are moving from. Or California ;)
I don't know. It's just such an interesting issue and something that saddens me. It also saddens me that we drove down Mississippi Avenue (i had never been there before), just to see, and I thought "oo. we should come spend an afternoon here". I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about any of it.
What is happening is a concept called "gentrification". Now, there are quite a few factors playing into this gentrification. a) the real estate market is hot right now in portland. 2) Portland is becoming more hip and trendy and those hip and trendy people need a place to live. omega) both of these items contribute to home renovation and neighborhood 'renewal'.
So there are some neighborhoods or streets in Portland that are hip and happening right now. Lower Burnside has seen a rejuvenation with the Doug Fir coming in. The Alberta neighborhood has come alive with the Alberta Arts being a contributing factor. Missippi Ave, a very short avenue indeed, now has new houses, shops and more. Inner East Division is the next place about to spring up from under us. What happens? people foresee a chance in hopping real estate. They hear murmurs and buy up that ugly 100 year old house for cheap, cheap, cheap and restore it. They do this, selling it for a lot more money, because by the time they're done restoring the neighborhood has picked up with more traffic for cool new restaurants, stores, and people.
Now this is not bad. Don't get me wrong. But the sad thing when we drove through North Portland today was that I was reminded by the article I read not long ago in the Oregonian of those whose neighborhoods are being taken over by such people. They have money to buy up houses for low cost, redo them, and then sell them for considerably more to people with a lot more money. What does this do? Drive the original community folks out of the neighborhood, and in these cases, to the suburbs, where all the richer people are moving from. Or California ;)
I don't know. It's just such an interesting issue and something that saddens me. It also saddens me that we drove down Mississippi Avenue (i had never been there before), just to see, and I thought "oo. we should come spend an afternoon here". I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about any of it.
