Gentrification

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Hey All,

Posting this as it came up for me in a previous post that was sort of an amalgam of "eccentric and annoying Davis Square traits."

I realize this is a hot-button issue but I trust that people can express themselves civilly. Ok, I *hope* we can.

Gentrification. It's a big deal. People in this community talk an awful lot about how we don't want Davis to "turn into another Harvard" but in some sense the people living there now and who have populated the square over the past decade *have* turned Davis into something different from what it was.

How does one say, "I don't want Davis Square to get too gentrified" without taking responsibility for being part of the gentrification that has happened thus far? Who decides how much gentrification is too much, not enough, just right?

Maybe Davis is better, maybe it's not -- it probably depends on who you ask and what they were looking for in a neighborhood when they picked Davis.

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I basically refused to learn to drive

That's exactly what I did. First I moved from our deep suburb into downtown Rochester, NY, and then to the Boston area, landing first in Dorchester and then Davis 12 years ago. I still don't drive and probably never will.

For a long time I've toyed with idea of moving to Brooklyn, NY. But when I look around me at everything I have here, I have to ask myself why? I don't feel deprived of anything living in Davis. Whatever I want is accessible to me. In a way Davis is my dream town.

[moria923.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize you'd lived in Dorchester. What part?

thorbol and I did what you did in reverse: we started out in Somerville and ended up on Dorchester. We would have liked to stay in Somerville, but we wanted a house, and the prices were better here.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Fields Corners. Absolutely hated it. I moved up to Davis after 3 months there, and I've never been back!