Posted by When I walked the streets of Troy, New York for the fist time many years ago, I was tremendously impressed with small business culture and vibrant revitalization effort. I was told the small city once had the highest per-capita income in the country, mostly due to the proximity to the Hudson River and New York City.
But like nearly all Rust Belt cities, Troy fell on hard times for several decades between the 1970s and early 2000s. This time led to the narrative I was familiar with being from Rochester, just a few hundred miles away, that Troy was an urban wasteland.
So why was I walking the streets of a small city with great bones that was seeing such a renaissance? Why was I perusing one of the largest farmers markets in New York State? Why were so many people confident that their city was this amazing secret they were happy to keep? How could decades of stagnation suddenly explode into a place of tremendous investment AND local pride?
The answer is probably very nuanced, but seemingly every business owner I spoke with gave at least some of the downtown revitalization credit to one man, Vic Christopher, who bought a building that was in bad shape, only to turn it into an equal parts grocer, restaurant and cocktail bar. Moreover, Mr. Christopher was cited as an engine in actively encouraging investment in Troy’s downtown. I was told over and over that 7 years prior to my visit, none of the vibrant small business culture existed in downtown Troy. The belief is that one man’s influence helped spark a downtown district revival in less than a decade.
On the other hand, I spoke to many that day who claimed that the “gentrification’ of Troy led to the displacement of many due to rising housing costs. This is the ever-common and unfortunate result of urban revitalization… more investment, higher prices, less approachability.
Let’s look at a place where the opposite narrative is true. The stretch of Monroe Avenue just south of downtown Rochester, New York was a diverse neighborhood where approachable restaurants and niche small businesses were plentiful just a few years ago.
This seemed to be one of the rare places where urban neighborhood vibrancy was coupled with financial approachability and a wide range of diversity and socioeconomic statuses. But for a variety of reasons, this neighborhood has really struggled in the last 5-7 years, to the point where a recent survey of residents showed that only 15% felt safe there. Increased crime and homelessness has become more prevalent. While the area is still teaming with small business activity, residents and business owners are seeing the change as many retail storefronts are beginning to empty.
My statements above are not supportive or unsupportive, but rather examples of how quickly neighborhoods, districts, and streets can change within a city. Very few areas in cities have remained the same for the existence of that city, with many having changed multiple times. This change can drastically evolve over less then a decade, and it is the nature of dense collections of people who are influenced by public or private investment, artists, creators and makers, entrepreneurs… or in many cases the lack thereof. Not to say that this can’t happen in suburban or rural communities, but it looks different and often takes longer to evolve. The generally faster pace of investment, disinvestment, neighborhood migration and even social trends that cities tend to generate and are also affected by makes urban transformation faster and more extreme.
As in most cases, the fewer resources a person has in an urban area, the more violently they are affected by the tides of urban change. The harsh reality is that the frequent shifting of financial forces in our cities cause widespread migration by creating pockets of gentrification and exclusivity that predominantly impact underserved populations.
I write a great deal about investment in our downtowns and neighborhoods. But I also write about equity and inclusion in our cities. But these two rarely meet at the same apex. And quite honestly, I’m not smart enough to suggest how to solve this problem. Creating more affordable housing in areas of growth is a big part of the strategy, but as the cost of building materials increases, all kinds of housing becomes more and more expensive. A conscious mission of a city and community must be undertaken to seek public funding for these projects and incentivize developers to produce low rent solutions in areas that are receiving large amounts of private investment. And even if the funds are able to keep up, affordable housing is always met with NIMBY community contention, regardless of political demographics. Furthermore, we are experiencing a quickly-changing Federal Government direction that is slashing funding for nearly all public assistance activities.
We must accept, at least for now, that cities are fluid institutions, constantly changing and transitioning, and prepare like Hell to stay light on our feet. In cities, change can present itself at the drop of a hat, and my guess is that this pace is only going to hasten.
***I am an urbanist influencer and do not have a formal degree in urban planning. While I am deeply passionate about urban design, trends, issues and topics, I believe in this time of undisciplined media to be honest and transparent regarding my lack of any kind of formal journalism or urban planning education. I still believe in my ability to present my viewpoints on interesting topics, but I fully admit that I have not been trained in the higher-educational rigors of expertise on such perspectives. My goal is to challenge people to think differently, not to be the the cited source of unquestionable truth. This footer will now accompany every Urban Phoenix piece, and I am proud to offer this transparency in a time when opinion is often coveted over rigorously-tested fact.***