Crosstown as Example of Gentrification

Crosstown was a place that has provided some type of environment for everyone. There were very few things in Crosstown that came up short as far the expectations of it discussed in the Crosstown Intuitive article we’ve discussed in class. As far as community goes, it was very collective. It consisted of families , business owners, and creatives in that area as well as other parts of Memphis. As far as residents it ranged from regular income families to millionaires and a billionaire, further proving there is a space there for everyone.

The community came about because two people wanted to preserve three essentials: art, education, and health, three things appear to neglected in other communities, and ideally is the what makes up of Crosstown’s community. It’s welcoming environment is another factor what makes it a community because it is very spacious and welcoming.

The City Leadership organization plays a big role in Crosstown. Their overall job is to highlight and expand leadership capital and future of Memphis. Therefore, City Leadership signing a lease and leaving downtown to move their business inside this establishment and becoming tenants of Crosstown is not a surprise at all. In fact, I learned upon my second visit that the other main organizations that took a leap of faith and believed in the vision from the beginning is one of the main reasons they are able to sustain being a leader in this community. Above everyone the two Co-Founders, Todd Richardson and Chris Miner, are sure to keep their original vision alive.

In the midst of my second visit, I also learned the many ways that relationships come about. Although Crosstown is place where Anyone can come express themselves, it still has many businesses inside, so of course most people would be involved in business relationships with one another. With there being families who stay there, there are some relationships built by seeing their neighbors every day, or their kids attend the activities for children, such as the daycare and the cooking classes for children that are both located in the first floor. With the business and residents as well as commuters, there is a relation between customers and business owners.

As far as capital, crosstown is made up of social capital because of the relationships of the people who work, reside, and visit. These structures were set to create an environment for members of the community to express themselves and the preserve the three main essential mention earlier. Crosstown was able to do so making an open environment but still having certain restrictions to balance the residences and the amount of visitors that enter and leave everyday. On the trip with the class, we learned about different examples of bonding social capital such as the space for the arts on the second floor where there are many artists who come can, work on their art, have their work displayed, or come to view others work as well. Most of the residents there are middle class and majorly Christians, (referring to the Church Health part of Crosstown) so they share a bridging social capital.

Some of the challenges I learned during my second visit were very common when establishing a new idea for a community. One of the challenges that Crosstown was from the beginning that many members of the community didn’t think that it would work. Post- change challenges includes what some of the class discussed was the speculation of Crosstown being a prime example of gentrification. The biggest concern is the future generations keeping the community alive once the generation currently making up the community is long gone.

One of the biggest assets that Crosstown has is how familiar people were with that area and the history of the building in general. For the residents, the accessibility they have to all of the many resources are also good assets because there is a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants, packing, gym, etc. to where residents really wouldn’t have to leave the building to get what they need.

Did you like this example?

259

11