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Where Do People Go?
A Look at Gentrification in Atlanta.
Babe I’m coming through the gate.
As the buzz from the call system rings through my phone, I listen for a moment before making my way through the door. As I exit the building I look around and see a tremendously different neighborhood than the one I grew up in: Tennis courts, swimming pools, and security officers riding around in golf carts. The good life eh?
Where I live in Atlanta is an area known as East Lake. The Meadows, as it was once known, is in Southeast Atlanta. Once viewed as one of the worst housing projects in Atlanta, they herald it as one of the first concrete examples of mixed-income housing.
In the eyes of many, the onset of mixed-income housing is an example of the good things urban renewal can do. The BeltLine project in Atlanta is another instance of my city branding itself as a beacon of hope for people.
We are the city to busy to hate right? But hidden underneath the talk of altruism, is the real. Gentrification.
The G Word
Gentrification and its effects on communities have become the most renewed topic as of late in our country. The East Lake experiment and the Beltline are just a few examples of how Atlanta is attempting to brand itself as a place of opportunity and growth…
