Thursday, June 25, 2009

RONDO AND THE RAIL: STANDING FAST AGAINST GENTRIFICATION

I always thought I'd raise my kids in a middle class Black neighborhood. I've lived in the Twin Cities for 18 years and I still haven't found one. I grew up around middle class Black people, and didn’t think much about it until I moved out here and discovered how deep and real the racialized class divisions are.

A few weeks ago, the Preserve and Benefit Historic Rondo Committee (PBHRC) filed a civil rights complaint with the Federal Transportation Administration's office of civil rights against the Metropolitan Council.

Rondo is a sore subject with many Black folks and I hate seeing us still fighting over it.

PBHRC says the Central Corridor light rail project would harm minority-owned businesses and low-income residents.

A June 11th, Star Tribune editorial argued that the Central Corridor is not a Rondo redux, using the Met Council Chairman’s Blackness as an argument to support the position that the civil rights claim has no merit. Peter Bell, a self-identified Black conservative, grew up in Rondo, a member of one of the 650 families in St. Paul’s historic neighborhood that was displaced to make room for I-94. Despite this, he supports light rail, arguing that not everyone will be priced out of the neighborhoods along the route. He says that many will prosper. (See June 11 editorial).

On the Rondo side, Veronica Burt argues “Those who have stayed in the community and weathered its storms see the rail project as compounding past and even present negative impacts. The foreclosure crisis alone has begun the latest chapter of dislocating many from our community.” (June 18th Star Tribune response)

So who’s right? And to quote Roy Wilkins, the most famous former resident of Rondo, how do we remain “standing fast?’

I guess the real question is, what have we learned since the 1960s when St. Paul lost it’s most vibrant and close-knit middle class Black community? And more importantly, how do we create diverse neighborhoods for our kids that we can afford to live in?

It is easy to understand both arguments, but I’d like to hear from you which solution holds more weight, “neighborhood revitalization,” or “dislocation.” The one thing I do know was that the residents of Rondo didn’t have a say in what happened to their neighborhood 45 years ago. It’s 2009 and now people do.

Even the June 11 editorial concedes that “…members of the Rondo Committee are correct to worry about gentrification along University Avenue. In fact, they should continue to work with the Met Council and city of St. Paul on creating more affordable housing alternatives in the neighborhood.”

Now that they’ve been given permission to worry, what’s next?
Posted by at 7:22 PM
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8 comments:

  1. If there were no such thing as property tax, this would not be a problem. Have you ever asked yourself why the government is taxing you for OWNING something?
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  2. I live in Roseville - where I play the driving game - "point out as many people of color that you can find" ... Sad I know :)
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  3. Cuz , this is my 4th attempt i'll try later i am having internet problems
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  4. Thanks for tryin' cousin. Can't wait to hear what you have to say!
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  5. I mourn the loss and possibility of a middle-class black community. I now live in University housing in Northern California -- and I am trying to stay here as long as possible because I would have a pretty rough time re-creating the diversity and safety for less than what I pay now.
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  6. When I lived in Minneapolis, I lived in what's classified as "Near North." My neighborhood was predominately Black, but I wouldn't classify it as middle-class. There was a definite mixed socio-economic representation in the area. Despite the mix, I still worried at times about my safety because I was a single woman living alone. Yet I had no desire to move to the suburbs because it wasn't convenient to my downtown job and I didn't want to feel isolated from people that looked like me. I toughed it out until I got married and moved to Florida. I do wonder -- if I'd have been married, had children or both would I have been as hesitant to move to the suburbs? Thanks for posing the question. Keep the topic alive; make sure the people get an ear for their voice.
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  7. As I look at potential neighborhoods for our move,I can't help thinking what it will be like to move from a very diverse area to one more homogenous. It's so nice that the area I'm in is so evenly white, black, Hispanic, Asian and Middle-Eastern. That's what my son has seen so far. It will be odd if we move somewhere where everyone looks the same. -C.bronco
    It's been good that he never has made a distiction between looks and recognized that everyone is a bit differet in that realm; he only notices who is nice and who is not.
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  8. I have lived in an all black community and an all white community. My preference is for a multi-ethnic community. That is a difficult balance to achieve not accomplished in many neighborhoods.

    Currently I live in my grandfather's old house which at one time was surrounded by displaced Rondonians. Many whom have aged out of their homes or passed on. My mother grew up in the Rondo neighborhood. The experience is something she treasures and she would hope the same for her own children. Rondo was not a middle class neighborhood but a black class neighborhood with a smattering of Jewish people. You could be middle class or poor, educated or lack education.

    I do lament that their is not a place or a neighborhood like Harlem where you can go and it feels like home. Harlem is not even Harlem anymore, there is gentrification everywhere. Maybe the "neighborhood" is becoming extinct. I have to drive half way across town to find a close friend or go to church.
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