From Renovation to Gentrification: The Urban Renewal Fantasy

Reyna outside the site of Fulton Mall’s renovations.

Lately,Fresno has seen a number of renovation projects get going – mostly in neighborhoods near downtown, but also in the southeast and southwestern parts of the city.

Renovation is great. But what happens when a neighborhood that is home to mostly low-income families gets fxed up? Typically, those families are no longer able to aford the rise in living costs and so they are forced to move out, leaving behind homes, friends and sometimes livelihoods.

It’s the textbook defnition of gentrifcation. Social justice activists and community residents alike have long recognized residential displacement as one of the biggest negative side efects of urban renovation. During the 1950s and 60s, acts like the Federal Urban Renewal program, as well as interstate highway construction and community redevelopment eforts forcefully moved communities of color and low income families into so-called “inner city,” urban neighborhoods in large numbers.

Because of this history, civil rights activists became aware of the risks of displacement and the role that our government has often played in expediting it.

By the 1970s, the language around development and renovation began to shift. Terms like “giving back to the community” began to appear, camoufaging what in reality was continued displacement even though it was no longer by forced removal.

In 1978, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sponsored some of the frst reports highlighting the link between revitalization and neighborhood displacement. Titled “Urban Displacement: A Reconnaissance” (Grier & Grier 1978), the report listed twenty-fve reasons why residents might have to involuntarily move from their home. These reasons included; accidental fres, demolition to make way for new housing, highway or transit expansion, public building construction, or rising market prices and rents.

The report’s authors ofered up a defnition for this sort of displacement, which has been adoptedby countless researchers for decades since. “Displacement occurs when any household is forced to move from its residence by conditions which afect the dwelling or immediate surroundings, and which; are beyond the household’s reasonable ability to control or prevent, occur despite the household’s having met all previously-imposed conditions of occupancy, and make continued occupancy by that household impossible, hazardous or unafordable.”

So how big is the issue in Fresno? Big enough to land the city on a list of urban areas around the country undergoing gentrifcation.

Currently, around 11 percent of Fresno’s low-price census tracts are being gentrifed. These are neighborhoods where the median home value and median household income fell within the bottom 40th percentile of all tracts in the city at the beginning of the decade, when the last census was taken.

They include places like the west side of Fresno from Church Ave. and Elm St. to Fruit Ave. and Jensen Ave. Even my old neighborhood of Huntington Boulevard, where I grew up but no longer live, is becoming unrecognizable to me.

Displacement through gentrifcation can lead families and communities down a vicious cycle. Individuals become depressed and socially isolated. Families are left with the anxiety that comes from being driven away from their homes, schools and jobs. And there is also the corrosion of social networks and community resources.

As a young person, I believe gentrifcation also becomes a barrier to youth who would otherwise fourish, grow and develop in a neighborhood where these community pillars are left intact.

With gentrifcation, neighborhoods are no longer seen as just “homes.” Instead, they are seen as potential opportunities for proft and gain. And underlying this “urban renewal” fantasy is a more racial history of intentional and focused impoverishment.

For those who can’t aford to shield themselves, change can be a vicious and unforgiving thing.

Which is why we must take a stand against gentrifcation and work together to fnd ways to improve our city while also allowing those who live here to enjoy the benefts of that renovation. We must work together to end gentrifcation.

Dear Mother,

Mywhole life I’ve felt a distance between you and I. We have a very structured relationship and the smallest of conficts have massive consequences, both physically and emotionally.

Even though I mostly understand why you act the way you do, it still bothers me. Confict can arise from anywhere and everywhere.

You expect me to clean and you expect me to watch the children. You expect them to listen and you expect me to be held accountable anytime they don’t. I expect to have a normal life and an understanding parent. But expectations rarely match reality.

I am often confused around you and not knowing what to think or how to feel is something I’ve learned to deal with.

But suppressing my feelings because I don’t want to be threatened or hurt is something I don’t want to deal with forever. I really want a chance to put aside helping everyone else in our family and start working on myself and my future.

At home I feel very pressured to do everything. Because opportunities to get out and into the community are rare, I try to create my own opportunities.

You often say that I don’t care about anyone but myself. I know that you feel as if I’m ignoring my responsibilities at home to go outside and be a part of my community.

That’s not at all the case.

I’ve spent most of my life moving from place to place and helping out as much as I can to the point where I don’t really remember much but moving. I don’t feel as if we have any real connection and I’m almost certain you don’t really know who I am.

For years I’ve felt like I was living in the shadows, only called upon to help, do something, or go get something.

I became the little helper to you. When other relatives began to see me the same way I began to dread visiting them.

Doing my best to help others and receiving only negative feedback in exchange only enhanced the urge I have to want to get away: to college, down the street, or anywhere else. Once I’m away, even if it’s just at the park up the street, I feel like I can be myself without being judged or having hurtful comments thrown at me by the people I live with.

For you, growing up was far from easy. You often had to tend to your brothers’ and sisters’ every need with no questions asked, causing you to grow up fast.

When I hear about how you were raised I understand that we are more alike than we are diferent.

Once you started living on your own with little to no help from your parents and a new infant, you weren’t able to fnish high school. Instead, you made the decision to drop out so you could focus on taking care of yourself and my older sister.

Times were diferent when you were a child. Times were difcult for you. The heavy responsibilities you faced as a child have truly made you a strong independent woman.

At times, you can be demanding. You add responsibilities and tasks to my plate and it makes me question myself and who you really think I am.

At times it really feels like I exist only for the needs of others. I can’t help but feeling disheartened when you always say you don’t care how I feel. I feel voiceless and like I have no say.

No matter how hard I try, most of the feedback I receive is negative.

If I even try to have a voice or express my feelings, I’m immediately put through the nine stages of hell. I’ve hidden my true personality and feelings just to lessen the struggle and not be a burden.

The only time I’ve been able to fnd refuge and truly be myself is when I’m working to improve my community. It’s hard to describe why I feel so passionate about the work that I do in the community and at times that can be really frustrating. I wish I could have that conversation with you without feeling unheard, pushed away or longing for a way out.

Going to college has been advertised as a rite of passage. With life at home being really confusing, college seems like both a great way to get out and explore as well as the perfect place to spread my wings and be myself.

Once I graduate high school in 2017, I’d like to study a variety of subjects including communication, journalism, flm and physical therapy.

Aside from going to school and doing work at home, I really want to maintain a healthy relationship with my community. I don’t feel like it’s a waste of time because it helps me better my people skills and puts me in a position to meet new people, some of whom I have much in common with.

Having several other children in the house, I don’t expect you to pay or help pay for my college. I’d be proud of myself if I could pay tuition, maintain a small apartment and care for myself.

Once I graduate and leave the house I hope to leave with you proud of me and knowing everything’s going to work out just fne.