Another day, another dollar, another war, another tower
Went up where the homeless had their homes
Jewel

We walked to breakfast in the rain yesterday and I couldn't help but notice all the condos and lofts that are being or have been built in the last year or two. My first reaction is 'Why would anyone with $200,000 want to live in my neighborhood?' It's well known as one of the worst parts of Minneapolis. Cops patrol places like Downtown and Uptown but south Minneapolis? Nope - they really could care less. There's a random shooting in Uptown and it's all over the news - there's shootings in this neighborhood nearly everyday - someone was killed in a driveby in front of our building 3 weeks ago, no news coverage....
There's a homeless lady that spends her days pushing phone books around in a stroller. Stores where clerks only speak Spanish or Hmong...
Independent, ultra liberal, granola munching coffee shops and ethnic food places....
Why do upper middle class people want to live here?
The scary answer is that most of them don't. They want to invest now, with thoughts that Uptown will expand into my neighborhood - they'll have good land at a relatively decent price. Ghetto revitalized - the police are bound to patrol here now. But they forgot something...
THE POOR PEOPLE. Where will they live???
What about the lady who pushes around phone books...or the students who can't afford to live closer to the U campus?
The Somalians and Mexicans who find comfort here in a building where it always smells like some kind of ethnic food and english speakers are the minority?
My neighborhood has character that comes from people coming together in their struggle to make a life for themselves. Starbucks and Gap and Cub and Target have no place here.
Spyhouse and Evergreen and Pizza Luce and the Wedge - they belong here.
It's sickening that people's desire to have the 'American dream' is leading to a world full of cookie cutter living spaces.