Reflection of the Past Week

This past week in class was informative. On Tuesday we had Jazmin Simmons who resides near Station North come in and talk about the area. She gave us some background as to the many places she has worked and has seen first hand how the tensions between business and locals living there have made it difficult for integration. I was definitely curious when she described the Vietnamese place she worked at and how gradually it changed from a posh restaurant were local elites could eat to a regular places where the locals within that neighborhood could join in. It did make me a little sad when she described the gaps between the residents and business owners. I could tell that she has a genuine heart for the people within the community and wants everyone to feel welcome within a certain place. If we had more time, I would have liked to have asked her what her vision would have been for the places of her employment. In class we also got in our groups and discussed our projects. I think that my group has some interesting ideas and some really good contacts that can give us a diverse background into Station North. We don't want residents to feel as if they need to give us glowing remarks but rather their honest opinion. I worked with Marissa and Gaby into making sure that the flyer we would be handing out to residents and local business sounded professional but also courteous. Our goal again is to get a real and honest opinions and in order to do so I realized that some of the wording within the flyer would need to be switched around. I'm excited to start interviewing people and transcribing what is said and heard in order to give people a glimpse into what Station North really is.

Station North Save the City?

Station North is located in Baltimore and was the first area to receive the states designation as an Arts & Entertainment District in 2002. Station North is nestled among the neighborhoods of Charles North, Greenmount West and Barclay. This area has a vast array of artist live work spaces, and business. While Station North is a thriving area, many people have concerns in regards to the people who are relocating in that district and if Station North in of itself can save the city.

There seems to be a lot of opinions that are floating around about whether or not Station North is itself has people being involved. On the March Steiner show, there was a lot of talk about whether or not there was enough investment in the area itself. One of the main points that I noticed that was hit on a lot was about investing in this area/project. People are nervous to invest money because they fear that they will be priced out lets say by developers who want to build something in that area or that they will be a disinvestment in the sense that they won't bring money in. This goes without saying about the type of people who are investing money into Station North and its surrounding areas are predominately white and that there isn't many African American/black people investing in this area. If there are more white people investing, than the ratio of white to black will be a misrepresentation of the history surrounding Station North.

One of my questions to Ben Stone would be is there a way to get the black community to feel that if they make an investment that it will be worth it. I think that if city leaders and the community actually have a sit down talk about it, the tensions that are there would be lessened and there would be a better understanding. Another one of my questions would be what type of structures does Station North need in order to get more people to participate. During the interview, it was said that having structures would be a must so I'm curious as to what they are doing to ensure that this happens. My last question for Ben Stone would be to explain creative trust a little more in detail. It was touched upon slightly during the interview and I would like to know more about what that exactly entails.

Blog 1

The term "community" holds a couple of different viewpoints for me. When I think of the word community the first few phrases that come to me are unity, togetherness and connection to select a few. Community by the definition that I've always held in my mind is a group of people where one can be themselves and are accepted regardless of race, religion or ethnicity. I belong to plenty of communities in which I am minority but regardless of that I consider it home. The word "community" doesn't just pertain to a physical location but also community that can be a virtual space. I hadn't really considered visual community  until I actually sat back and began to realize that through social media there are plenty of communities that I am involved in. 

Gentrification is a term that I had never heard of before taking an American Studies class and I never noticed just how much of it I've surrounded myself in. The term gentrification to me means an upsurge in the amount of people who lived in a specific area at a specific time but that displaced. During the displacement, new people moved in which causes a clash between long time members of the community and new members of the community. When thinking about gentrification I play around the scenario of a new couple moving into a suburban neighborhood where all the neighbors know each other but the new couple stands out. That scenario is how I see gentrification in action.

Station North in of itself seems to be an interesting place. I'm excited to see what it has to offer but the one thing I'm really looking forward to knowing is why the physical boundaries of Station North are set up the way that they are. When looking at the map, the boundaries aren't exactly a particular shape, more like lines that cut through different streets in the city. For my project pertaining to Station North I'm looking into hearing the different voices of people who live in that area, whether they've been living there for years or maybe a couple of months. Along with that I'm thinking into taking pictures and capturing their essence of the place as to grab a emotional outlook into Station North. In that way I can grab their voices along with a more physical representation.