Gentrification denial

benfell


Fig. 1. An abandoned church at Kalida Drive and Larimer Avenue in the East Liberty neighborhood, Pittsburgh. Photograph by author, May 3, 2020.

Outgoing[1] Mayor Bill Peduto is being an ass on Twitter again. In this latest, he retweeted this from East Liberty Development, a real estate development organization that emphasizes affordable housing:


To put it mildly, this is an optimistic view, that is, unless you’re among the well off whom Peduto favors, who have prospered from East Liberty neighborhood redevelopment.

Penn Plaza was an apartment complex that was razed in 2016 to make way for, among other things, a Whole Foods Market. It’s a poster child for a controversy over claims that Blacks are leaving the city of Pittsburgh[2] in part due to gentrification.[3] City Councilman Ricky Burgess clearly wants me to believe he’s on the take:

The demolition of the Penn Plaza apartments in East Liberty was “awful” but not an example of gentrification, [Ricky] Burgess said.

The only neighborhood in the city that faces the issue is Lawrenceville, Burgess said, and the reality is that Blacks and others are moving elsewhere “by choice.”[4]

Actually, and I can see this with my very own fucking eyes,

In Pittsburgh, those [gentrifying] areas include Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Garfield, Polish Hill, Downtown, and sections of the North Side and Mount Washington. According to [the National Community Reinvestment Coalition], Pittsburgh experienced three neighborhoods with Black displacement: Downtown, the Mexican War Streets in North Side, and St. Clair.[5]

Now back to our absolute lying scum:

In recent decades, no one who lives in Homewood, Larimer or other Black neighborhoods has been forced to leave because of gentrification, Burgess said.

“They chose to leave because of crime and blight,” he said.[6]

Whenever people lose their homes, as 200 did with the Penn Plaza demolition,[7] they are not choosing to leave, let alone “because of crime and blight.”[8] This is a bald-faced lie.

And the question I haven’t seen answered is what happened to those 200 people. But it’s been five years since the Penn Plaza complex came down. Unless they’re homeless, I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to uproot themselves yet again to move back, which unmasks that East Liberty Development tweet as public relations fluff.

As for the site, this entire area has been redeveloped with businesses and trendy restaurants. You have to go to the other (north) side of Penn Avenue to find glimpses of I assume the entire area used to be like. But a lot of that has been redeveloped as well.

  1. [1]Associated Press, “Pittsburgh votes out mayor in primary election,” Politico, May 18, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/18/pittsburgh-votes-out-mayor-in-primary-election-489542; Tom Davidson and Megan Guza, “How did Peduto lose Pittsburgh mayoral primary? Experts offer insight,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 19, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/how-did-peduto-lose-the-pittsburgh-mayoral-primary-experts-offer-insight/; Charlie Wolfson, “Gainey topples Peduto in primary, will be Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor barring a November challenge,” Public Source, May 18, 2021, https://www.publicsource.org/gainey-topples-peduto-in-primary-on-course-as-first-black-pittsburgh-mayor/; Charlie Wolfson and Rich Lord, “‘The rebel becomes the establishment’: Peduto and Gainey reflect on a historic election,” May 24, 2021, https://www.publicsource.org/gainey-peduto-pittsburgh-mayor-election-police-affordable-housing-covid-politics/↩
  2. [2]Bob Bauder, “Pittsburgh settles court battle over Penn Plaza Apartments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 27, 2017, https://archive.triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/pittsburgh-settles-court-battle-over-penn-plaza-apartments/; Tom Davidson, “Is there a crisis of ‘forced mass displacement’ of Black Pittsburghers? Residents, council divided on answer,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 6, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/is-there-a-crisis-of-forced-mass-displacement-of-black-pittsburghers-residents-council-divided-on-answer/↩
  3. [3]Ryan Deto, “Pittsburgh is one of the most gentrified cities in the U.S.,” Pittsburgh City Paper, April 4, 2019, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-is-one-of-the-most-gentrified-cities-in-the-us/Content?oid=14381722; Ryan Deto, “The displacement of Anthony Hardison from his Lawrenceville apartment is a microcosm of a neighborhood epidemic,” Pittsburgh City Paper, January 15, 2020, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/the-displacement-of-anthony-hardison-from-his-lawrenceville-apartment-is-a-microcosm-of-a-neighborhood-epidemic/Content?oid=16556108; Rich Lord, “House hunters: How an anti-blight law has become a tool for ambitious landlords in Allegheny County,” Public Source, November 24, 2020, https://www.publicsource.org/conservatorship-allegheny-county-wilkinsburg-east-liberty-garfield-taiani-chaney-cp-development/; Kimberly Rooney, “How rising rents and renovations have displaced Pittsburghers and added to the city’s ongoing issues with gentrification,” Pittsburgh City Paper, April 28, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/how-rising-rents-and-renovations-have-displaced-pittsburghers-and-added-to-the-citys-ongoing-issues-with-gentrification/Content?oid=19360553↩
  4. [4]Tom Davidson, “Is there a crisis of ‘forced mass displacement’ of Black Pittsburghers? Residents, council divided on answer,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 6, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/is-there-a-crisis-of-forced-mass-displacement-of-black-pittsburghers-residents-council-divided-on-answer/↩
  5. [5]Ryan Deto, “Pittsburgh is one of the most gentrified cities in the U.S.,” Pittsburgh City Paper, April 4, 2019, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-is-one-of-the-most-gentrified-cities-in-the-us/Content?oid=14381722↩
  6. [6]Tom Davidson, “Is there a crisis of ‘forced mass displacement’ of Black Pittsburghers? Residents, council divided on answer,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 6, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/is-there-a-crisis-of-forced-mass-displacement-of-black-pittsburghers-residents-council-divided-on-answer/↩
  7. [7]Bob Bauder, “Pittsburgh settles court battle over Penn Plaza Apartments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 27, 2017, https://archive.triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/pittsburgh-settles-court-battle-over-penn-plaza-apartments/↩
  8. [8]Ricky Burgess, quoted in Tom Davidson, “Is there a crisis of ‘forced mass displacement’ of Black Pittsburghers? Residents, council divided on answer,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 6, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/is-there-a-crisis-of-forced-mass-displacement-of-black-pittsburghers-residents-council-divided-on-answer/↩

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