Despite the decay of the left-dominated blue-city model during the past several decades, liberals and the press are not fans of many urban neighborhood improvement efforts.
One recent example found at a national media outlet is at Newsweek, where on April 2, Alexander Nazaryan, in an item headlined "WHITE CITY: THE NEW URBAN BLIGHT IS RICH PEOPLE," wrote that "gentrification ... turns cities into playgrounds for moneyed, childless whites while pushing out the poor, the working-class, immigrants, seniors and anyone else not plugged into 'the knowledge economy.'" In Cincinnati, the same tone was unfortunately present in the Cincinnati Enquirer's Sunday coverage of the situation in the city's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood 15 years after that area's race riots made national news.
People have been leaving Over-the-Rhine (OTR) for at least the past quarter-century. That trend has accelerated in the past five years, as a graphic presented by the Enquirer clearly shows:
The actual numbers are as follows:
But at the Enquirer, the biggest problem isn't the shrinking populace and the increasingly deserted landscape which accompanies that shrinkage. Instead, it's the racism of the people who are moving in, building, and rebuilding. Longtime residents feel like the area is their turf, but — unless they actually own their properties, which they rarely do — have no defensible reason for feeling that way.
If you think I exaggerate, read on, as reporter Emilie Eaton largely handed the microphone over to a person who has been a longtime community activist without disclosing her history, and to others who are more interested in complaining than they are in embracing new people who are brave enough to live and/or work there (bolds and numbered tags are mine):
What will Over-the-Rhine look like in 15 years?
On the anniversary of Timothy Thomas' death, which accelerated the urgency for development in OTR, the Enquirer examines how gentrification has changed the neighborhood and looks forward 15 years.Jai Washington has lived in Over-the-Rhine off-and-on for the last 30 years, but it stopped feeling like home a while ago.
Washington walks around and doesn’t recognize anyone. Her neighbors are gone. [1] She goes to the restaurants but doesn’t feel welcome. [2] She looks across the street and sees construction. [3]
“It feels like someone has walked into your home, hung up their coat, made dinner, kissed your husband and started playing cards with your kids without you,” Washington said. “That’s hurtful.” [2]
That’s a common narrative in Over-the-Rhine, [2] where development and gentrification have transformed the neighborhood from a primarily black community to an entertainment district and tourist destination.
... When residents look back at Over-the-Rhine 15 years ago, they say it's easy to describe the area: It was a community. Their community. [4]
It was a place where families hosted barbecues after church on Sunday and kids ran in the street during warm summer nights. Young kids swam in the pool at Washington Park, and teenagers played basketball in the courts at Ziegler Park.
"You had people who cared about each other," said Dorothy Darden, an Over-the-Rhine resident of 55 years. "It was a family place." [4]
... The neighborhood also felt safe, Darden said. Yes, there were drug dealers and crime, but those drug dealers came from other neighborhoods, and crime happens everywhere. [5]
... Sometimes, when (a volunteer and board member at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center Elizabeth) Burnside is walking down the street, people don't move out of her way as she walks. That was a common courtesy years ago. [6]
... Some say the development of businesses is good news. But they also express concerns that those businesses aren't owned by minorities or individuals originally from Over-the-Rhine. Black residents also say they don't feel welcome. [2]
"My dollar doesn't seem to matter," (14-year resident June) Alexander (a black woman) said. "This is the polite Jim Crow." [7]
Notes:
[1] — Her neighbors are largely gone because of the 2001 riots and the weak law enforcement response that followed. The federal government intervened and forced the city's police department to pull away from common-sense policing practices. OTR was the first neighborhood to suffer the deadly consequences. Other city neighborhoods have also suffered grievously. NeighborhoodScout.com rates Cincinnati on the whole as more dangerous than 97 percent of the cities in the U.S. Certain neighborhoods are far worse. OTR is one of them.
[2] (tagged four times) — "Not feeling welcome" and feeling "hurt" is a common theme here. Here's a suggestion, folks: If you want to feel welcome, don't wait for other people to approach you. Be welcoming yourself.
The negative emotions Jai Washington expressed in the Enquirer story contrast sharply with the very public and supposedly positive persona she has attempted to cultivate over the years.
Five years ago, Soapbox Cincinnati described her as "Cincinnati's Conscience." In the publication's story about her, she describes herself as "trying to be a humble humanitarian."
In late 2014, she attempted to start up a talk radio show. Cincinnati's CityBeat described her as follows:
Washington worked in sales for 20 years before restarting her life as a community advocate 10 years ago. Her work included a stint as the executive director of nonprofit InkTank and as an outreach coordinator for the historic preservation firm Gray and Pape. Washington has also appeared as a spokesperson for her Over-the-Rhine community in forums and fundraisers dealing with diverse issues like the streetcar project (she recorded a PSA for Cincinnatians for Progress) and has worked with Over-the-Rhine Community Housing on multiple projects.
Washington sees All in a Day as a culmination of this mid-life career change. It’s a forum for the “citizen celebrities” of Cincinnati, including nonprofits, businesses and the creative industry, to speak about their experiences with Washington in an engaging and professional format.
For Washington, a citizen celebrity is anyone that has a stake in community involvement.
At least on the surface, there's nothing inherently wrong with Washington's pursuits (but see Item [3]). What's wrong is that the Enquirer's Emilie Eaton disclosed none of Washington's activism, instead presenting her as if she's a typical everyday OTR resident, which just isn't so.
[3] — If there's a hint that Ms. Washington's motivations aren't purely altruistic, it's the idea that she "sees construction," and considers it a problem. Especially if it's renovating a dilapidated and abandoned building, of which there is no shortage in OTR, or tearing one down and replacing one with something new and productive, what's the problem here?
[4] (tagged twice) — The nostalgia expressed here does not reflect OTR as it was in 2000, or even in 1990. OTR has been a decaying, crime-infested, dreadfully dangerous neighborhood since at least the late-1980s, when Cincinnati Bengals coach Sam Wyche, attempting to clear his head before a home football game, drove around OTR, which is just north of downtown, saw the hordes of homeless people on the streets, and was motivated to become involved in homeless advocacy. (I'd argue that OTR's serious crime problem goes back at least to the late-1960s.)
[5] — Crime may happen everywhere, but its frequency has been far greater in OTR for decades.
[6] — Is it really a reasonable expectation that someone on a crowded sidewalk will automatically move out of someone's way as they attempt to walk through?
[7] — There you have it. Echoing the Newsweek item mentioned at the beginning of this post, gentrification is "the polite Jim Crow." Developers and entrepreneurs who take pretty big financial risks and attempt to improve communities are racists on a par with the lynch mobs, only more "polite." (To be clear, the City of Cincinnati has poured excessive and often wasteful taxpayer dollars into OTR, but after the riots, doing nothing might have led to a complete neighborhood collapse.)
Towards the end of Eaton's story, Jai Washington complains that "It feels like there are these invisible forces that will force my hand and make me move." When you know better than to cry "racism" directly, as June Alexander did above, citing strange "invisible forces" is the next-best thing.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
