The Power Of Gentrification

Santa Fe's plaza has gentrified the surrounding neighborhood within a 15-minute walk, including, finally, even the 'Barrio de Torreón.'

1 minute read

May 31, 2005, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"Even during the 1980s — when the gentrification of Santa Fe was set on stun — the seven little streets that branch off West San Francisco Street, just west of the Plaza, remained quietly ghetto. Perhaps it was the neighborhood’s proximity to the public-housing project on West Alameda that kept gentrification away from Park Avenue, Daniel, Duran, Elena, Candelario, Quintana and Jimenez streets.

...It didn’t last. Eventually people saw past the toppled shopping carts and the tennis shoes flung over power lines... Now almost every other home on these narrow dead-end streets has been remodeled, or razed and replaced with a brand-spanking new one.

...Further gentrification seems inevitable, especially with the recent announcement that the Civic Housing Authority is considering tearing down the Villa Alegre housing projects."

Thanks to Profession of New Urbanism Listserv

Sunday, May 29, 2005 in The New Mexican

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