Lights Out! but somebody's home: art is the vanguard of gentrification

Lights Out! but somebody's home: art is the vanguard of gentrification
Originally uploaded by rllayman

One of the problems I have with the use of the word gentrification is that people are often too fast and loose with the label-term. This stencil is on a building in the Station North Arts district in Baltimore.

But this is the building. (The one in the middle.)


It's not like people in this neighborhood are being displaced by artists. As many as 50% of the buildings and/or lots are vacant.

What Baltimore's problem is comes down to sprawl. Lots of new houses were built (and continue to be built) in the suburbs, leading people to "abandon" large swaths of Baltimore, making the houses virtually worthless, with tens of thousands of vacant houses and lots as the result.

Center cities need "inward investment." And if arts and entertainment is one way (not the only way or even necessarily the best way) to do it, I say "great."

While it is a slow process, it is amazing how the creation of the Station North district is leading to significant "ground up" improvements, especially on Charles Street north of the Charles Theater (which used to be a disaster), and on North Avenue between Charles and Howard, where a number of funky arts-oriented places are opening.

Would the zealots rather the abandonment continue unabated?