Alabasata
27d ago
Working-class neighborhood here. I've heard older people in my neighborhood talk about "neighborhood character". I don't know what they're talking about.
If someone knocks on my door, 95% of the time it's a salesman. If I get mail, 95% of the time it's ads for things that do not increase my quality of life. I've lived in my house for 7 years and I still haven't talked with everyone on my block yet. Not for lack of trying.
I don't see a "neighborhood character" that's worth preserving. How do you describe a "neighborhood character" that's worth defending?
So I live in a Blue-ish neighborhood with a large immigrant population, I can point-for-point compare your predictions with what's actually happened.
We still have more churches than libraries. But our schools are closing due to lack of enrollment. If a church wants to move in, that's where the room is. And when it happens it'll probably be Black-led.
We had a titty bar about five miles west of my house. It got demolished, and a three-over-one apartment complex with wraparound services is in its place. I've never been to either - couldn't tell you what they're like.
We had a lesbian-owned bar across from the library. Mural-sized portraits of Frida Kahlo, Sandra Day O'Connor & other progressive saints were on the walls. They've since picked up and moved to a bigger location ten miles away. It wasn't a great place for me to drink, but others seemed to like it well enough.
We have an immigrant on city council. He's a Republican.
I won't go full Op-Ed and try to create a story about all this. It would create an incomplete map - and we know about the differences between maps & territories here.
None of this answers the original question: what is a "neighborhood character" that's worth defending?
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