Intro:
My neighborhood is going through urban gentrification and other problems that impact my neighborhood in several ways. I want to explain what gentrification is how it’s impacting my neighborhood; a place that people call home, and what the solution could be to stop it from continuing. I also want to get the perspectives of those who are long-term residents that way they can give you their take on how gentrification.
What is the goal of this project? What do you want to say and achieve?
People should understand that there are people who love our community and there are still people out there who will do whatever it takes to keep it vibrant to make sure that long-term residents can stay here for a long time. Low-income people are being forced out of a place that they call home. I live in Larimer, but most of my life revolves around Larimer and East Liberty. Both are moving away from crime, and violence because people are being replaced. When gentrification comes in violence and crime go down because they’re related to poverty. You can tell that gentrification is taking over in my community and it all starts from what has happened in East Liberty.
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People may not know, but gentrification started in East Liberty and made its way through the Larimer community. It all started with the Home Depot. The Home Depot in East Liberty wasn’t always there. What shows the gentrification is looking at Penn Ave. Penn Ave used to have a lot of things there. For instance, the High-Rise Towers are now a Target store. I remember as a kid I used to walk past there to get to the Martin Luther King Busway which is no longer there. It has been replaced by Huntington Bank, AT&T, Choolah Indian BBQ, and apartments. I remember was a business that had little black boys on it, and now it is turned into a Duo Lingo Business. The PNC Bank that used to be across the street from the East Presbyterian is now A Milk Shake Factory and Honey Grow. David’s Shoes, Ace Athletic, and Rainbow are now gone and have been made into other businesses. There are so many things that have changed within the area. One of the worst things I’ve seen is one of the Penn Ave signs has Shadyside on it as if East Liberty no longer is East Liberty. On another Larimer is going through its changes. On the border of Larimer lay East Liberty Gardens most of my friends lived in East Liberty Gardens, but were pushed out and now the apartments over there are for mixed-income folks. Right, there is where you can see how the gentrification is slowly starting to make its peak in Larimer. Another thing is many residents (Including myself) have received letters from people asking to buy houses.
Gentrification:
For me to tell this story I want to define what gentrification is According to the NRCR “Gentrification is the most common economic revitalization that occurs in the community. In the end, the community loses its identity culture, and history while the problems of poverty lack of economic resources or quality education. Urban gentrification brings a change in an urban area associated with the movement of more affluent individuals into a lower-class area”. While reading an article from Ua Hayes of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a resident said: “Gentrification is controversial because new people often see only its benefits” (Hayes). This is true because most people don’t think about how a place looked before it was gentrified and what people lived in that place before others were kicked out While reading this article it made me think about how as a community Larimer has lost its identity, culture, and history. There was so much in Larimer that it was diverse, and people could go up and down the street to get the things they needed. They didn’t exactly have to go to East Liberty. Historically, Larimer was diverse and had many cultures, people, and perspectives. Living in Larimer today affects those who live here today because of the culture and diversity that existed before gentrification As long as those with power deem neighborhoods like Larimer as unknown, abandoned, or run-down things will be lost, and the people who make the culture well known will be forced out. Being that Larimer is predominately black you can say that “Gentrification has a major threat to Black communities that have been centers for Black business/economic development, cultural and civic life for generations. Gentrification has become the watchword for the displacement of Black people and culture” (Daniels).
Railroad Industry
Larimer is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh that is well-populated and has a diverse community of over 15,000 residents. Larimer was mostly white it was well integrated, with 31% of the population black by 1940 and it was majority black already by 1960. By 1970 it lost 87% of its 1940 population as of 2010, falling from 13,338 to only 1,728.
Larimer once had an interesting history Larimer got its name from William Larimer (1809-1875). The man was born in Westmoreland County, and primarily built his fortune out west (he founded Denver, and Larimer County, Colorado is named after him). However, he also built a manor house just to the east of East Liberty. The street was originally called Larimer Lane and was later renamed Larimer Avenue. Larimer's daughter married Thomas Mellon, bringing the neighborhood under the control of the Mellon Family during its period of development. Larimer was named after William Larimer. William was a powerful railroad man who built a huge manor house to overlook his properties and benefits in and around Larimer and East Liberty. Earlier in the 1900s until the 60’s Italians & Germans were the most populated in the neighborhood. Back in the 60s and after there once were many Italian shops along the avenue. That’s because Larimer was Pittsburgh’s original Little Italy before people claimed that it was Bloomfield’s nickname” (Katz). From about the 1900’s through the 70’s, Larimer was filled with many Italian-owned businesses that included grocery stores, cigar shops, gas stations, and bars.
After a while an urban renewal project started and there started to become many large housing projects in both East Liberty and the neighboring Larimer. These housing projects caused issues within the neighborhood. They caused the railroad and steel industry to go down-hill, mortgage properties became rentals and the streets weren’t paved. They even caused the neighborhood Italians to migrate elsewhere in the 1960’s. Some white people started to move into the community and pushed the Germans and Italians out. Eventually, African-Americans moved into the rented houses owned by neighborhoods that were losing their ability to serve their residents. As Larimer started to become revitalized it started to make its new residents nervous about gentrification.
One of the residents who weren’t scared of the gentrification was Ms. Betty Lane. After A while I didn’t realize that I knew Betty Lane. I knew that she’s been part of a group that my mom serves called the Larimer Consensus Group. “Betty Lane is the face of Larimer and one of its most admired citizens. Known to all as “Ms. Betty,” she has been a consummate organizer and advocate for the community for 40 years running (Smit)”. You can say Ms. Betty is a strong advocate for our community. She misses a community meeting with the LCG and she always arrives on time. She needs to take a stand within her community and that’s why, the Larimer Consensus Group is her main focus.
When African Americans moved in by the 70s, in the 80s the Larimer Avenue Bridge closed for about a year in the early 1980-1989 while the city and a railroad company debated on who should pay for repairs. Most people will say growing up in Larimer as a kid or young adult was a dangerous place with a lot of gang activity. While interviewing many people gang activity was something that was always brought up. The problem seems was that people were hanging out on the streets which made Larimer look less of a community. This caused many people in the neighborhood to go elsewhere to shop, to work, to eat, and to socialize.
Today you can say people see Larimer as dead and or better yet a wasteland. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, currently with only about less than 2,000 people who live close to empty lots and vacant houses everywhere you go. “People may not realize but Larimer was always a multi-ethnic neighborhood. In fact, during the 19th century, African Americans farmed alongside newly arrived Germans and Irish. Families intermingled then soon moved away” (Katz).
Those who are long-term residents or community members have turned some of the vacant lots into green spaces, but no one ever takes the time to go over to those green spaces. Anytime I’m walking through the neighborhood all I see are Larimer’s few community gardens, churches, an urban farm, a basketball court, A few playgrounds, a couple of corner stores, a gas station, a lottery ticket place, a car shop, and a community center.
Gentrification started in East Liberty and expanded in Larimer
East Liberty was as desolate as Larimer and had one of the highest crime rates in the city. Then, in 2001 a Home Depot opened and kickstarted urban renewal there. A year later Whole Foods opened. Trader Joe’s came in 2006 and Target in 2011. And now East Liberty’s landscape is under constant construction.
Larimer is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh According to the city, it neighbors East Liberty Boulevard, Penn Avenue, and and Fifth Avenue. This means that technically speaking, Bakery Square is on the southern of the neighborhood.
The neighborhood made a bad shift in the 60s. East Liberty's urban renewal surely played a major role. Larimer and Homewood used to be directly connected to East Liberty. Frankstown directly intersected with Penn Avenue where Target is today. Target used to be a high rise where many residents used to live. Larimer Avenue is directly across the street from Target which means that it intersects with East Liberty. The creation of East Liberty Boulevard cuts off Larimer which results in how the streets may appear today. Many housing projects were built on the outside of the neighborhood, and many of the Italian families relocated to the suburbs.
Over the last few years, Larimer went through phases was construction of new attached housing on a few blocks around Larimer Avenue. This was because of the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority). “The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) is the City of Pittsburgh’s economic development agency, committed to creating jobs, expanding the City’s tax base, and improving the vitality of businesses and neighborhoods”. “The URA achieves their mission by assembling, preparing and conveying sites for major mixed-use development. They provide a portfolio of programs that include financing for business location, relocation and expansion, housing construction, rehabilitation, home purchases, and improvements. The URA says that they are committed to fair development, and incorporate the best practices for fairness and inclusion into its internal and external policies and activities”. Since the URA has been in the big picture many restaurants have become a close destination for people in and outside of the city limits. Also, Hotels like Hotel Indigo and the Marriot Hotel have opened.
Bakery Square is technically in Larimer, as well as other businesses between East Liberty Boulevard and Fifth Avenue on Penn, and are doing well. In addition, near Frankstown, Washington Blvd, and Hamilton Avenue there are other businesses in the area including a CrossFit location, a dance ballroom, East End Brewing Company, and offices for GTECH and Grow Pittsburgh, Hook Fish & Chicken SYNOCO, and Marathon It may look like a critical mass of businesses that might help bring others around, but most of these businesses don’t cater to everyone. Around half of the businesses along Washington Boulevard that are also technically in Larimer include the veteran’s apartments (the only residential buildings along Washington Boulevard), a couple of auto-body places, a new dog spa, a doggy daycare, and a newly opened Brewery.
One reason they are pushing for this expansion is because they want to continue to grow Bakery Square, and are unable to buy any additional property except near Hamilton Avenue. Though all of the businesses are doing ok there are appearing many houses, churches, and businesses are still being destroyed. There are still many abandoned houses and some of the rent people are paying has kicked up. Most people will say that the recent phase involving the new apartment buildings and townhouses is affordable but that isn’t necessarily true. The reason this latest phase is happening is so that most in adjacent parts of East Liberty are trying to bridge the gap that East Liberty Boulevard created and create greater neighborhood connectivity again. My mother is part of the Larimer Consensus group and said “Recently the URA Partnered with the Larimer Consensus group”. They had an agreement that the URA would touch anything else in Larimer without the group’s permission. However, that isn’t true because they recently tore down the church near the new Urban Charter School on Turret Street. Larimer property used to have a business district at the corner of Larimer Avenue and Meadow Street. There were older buildings that had storefronts but they’ve become unoccupied and abandoned. There still are a couple of corner stores in the neighborhood. There used to be one on Meadow Street but it was torn down and never rebuilt. We used to have a bakery called Stagno’s Bakery, but that also does not operate anymore.
Though there is a new investment within Larimer some of the blocks in the neighborhood are still empty houses and most of the houses are historic. At one point they were in ok shape but, they’re starting to tear down. Instead of knocking the house down, why not rebuild and sell it for an affordable price? As houses have been torn down the population has gone down. If this continues to happen in a few years Larimer will lose more people and will have to figure out a plan to restore the core of the neighborhood and its roots.
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