Some years ago Main Street was declared dead, but those doomsayers need to visit New Jersey. From north to south, in all the 21 counties, Main Street is flourishing. I've visited Main Streets in 178 cities, in 14 countries, and counting. What I learned is that WE and Main Street are intertwined and interdependent. Our lives are linked in an infinite number of ways.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
YIKES! My neighborhood is gentrifying!
Thanks to Khemani Gibson for passing along this article from The Root, Eleven Signs Your Neighborhood Is Being Gentrified. He mentioned it as we were driving by the new 7-Eleven, which opened right opposite the well-established and beloved Krauszer's. Once you look at the list, it's impossible not to check off others -- "Yup, we have that, we have that. We don't have that." Happily, the interminable recession has given us time to rethink the whole convert-the-factories-to-lofts-and-become-a-suburb thing. An urban design firm, Designing the We, has been working with us to consider how we do economic development, including putting some of those old factories back to work as, well, factories. Somebody wants to make something that could easily be made in Orange, NJ. Doesn't "Made in Orange" kind of make you just feel good? Orange -- great color, great fruit, great drink -- all healthy. Let's NOT gentrify and say we did. Let's PEEL OFF (ha ha) and go in another direction. What do you think?
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