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Statistics Show: If Hell Is Other (White) People, Then, Yes, Northern Liberties Is Hell

It would appear that this would be a bad week to be the publicist for the 19123 zip code. Even not counting the unpleasantness at PYT/the Piazza the other night — which is now resulting in the Piazza’s first-ever bout of white flight — there comes solidly uncomfortable facts reminding us that, hey, this is what gentrification looks like sometimes. This post on Next American City examines some newly crunched census data and reveals that 19123 — the NoLibs zip code — is among the top 25 fastest-gentrified zip codes in the country. For the creator of the chart — Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Mike Petrilli — “gentrification” is judged more or less on an uptick in white population; as you can imagine, he’s getting plenty of flack for that. Nevertheless, NoLib’s uptick is significant — 20.9% in just three years.

What do you get when you get an uptick like that? A few things: The kind of radical turnover in development that has rendered a neighborhood like Northern Liberties pretty much unrecognizable to its former self. And due to a persistent problem of police districting that we (and many others) have remarked upon before, in the case of NoLibs, that combined with the new influxes has basically created a perfect petri dish for crime — one that no one, other than neighbors, seems truly interested in addressing. Oh, right, and the last thing you get is a lot of people complaining and buyer’s remorse all the live-long day. And that’s… gentrification!

None of this explains the Piazza shooting the other night, though, not really. It does, however, go a long way in framing people’s reactions to it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 at 11:49 am.

  • Allan Smithee

    re: “gentrification” is judged more or less on an uptick in white population
     
    … while “ghettofication” is judged more or less on an uptick in black population.
     
    Update brought to you from an abandoned Wharehouse in Fishtown/Philadelphia/Camden & ABC News.
     
    This is IQ 106.9 FM. Home of the Republican Talker.
     
     

  • OhNo

    Holy synthetic version of Philadelphia, Batman! There are young black men killing each other in our Piazza!

    Oh wait, this happens everywhere else in the city, but isn’t reported on as it is in this mini-mall ex-ghetto that’s still surrounded by ghetto. Let’s keep ignoring other violence in the city and continue to pontificate on crimes in this area code like it’s a new thing. There were other murders in Philly this week. Why weren’t they mentioned on this site? 

    They kill each other in their own neighborhoods – fine, let it happen. But bring that violence into gentrified white land – BAD, REALLY BAD! A SOCIAL DISEASE THAT MUST BE CURED!

  • RobN

    Man, with all the time you must spend volunteering to high-risk youth, it’s a wonder you have time to even read this site. 

  • annnnnnoooo

    What’s so wrong with being angrier when violence of this nature happens in a nice area or a gentrified area than when it happens in a shitty area?  Gentrification or not, neighborhoods like this are getting nicer and nicer and safer and safer.  So when a gun goes off here, it freaks us out and outrages many on the idea that it happened in a neighborhood that is trying to become better.  Not trying to sound like a dick, but the shitty neighborhoods are prone to gun violence. happens every day, so it doesn’t shock all that much. No one condones gun violence and no one says its cool if it happens in ghettos, but when it happens in areas that are becoming nicer and safer… its just like a huge step back. It sucks.  I would love to find ways to make poor neighborhoods less violent without raising prices there and gentrifying, but that’s not the issue at hand.  Gun violence anywhere is bad… but gun violence and neighborhoods that are trying to become nicer, safer, and more livable just plain sucks.

  • steakwith

    How about the albinofication that occurs when Joey wears shorts.

  • Sir Max A Lot

    Everything that is said here is true. Bartman better watch his behind.

  • http://www.facebook.com/larrywest85 Larry West

     I’ve actually thought about that a lot lately, too, and it is irritating that something happening in some nice area like this that’s almost daily in the other 95% of the city getting so much coverage. Hopefully it means the person is likely to be caught, but at the same time more needs to be done about why people do this and how to fix it, not to mention catching the people committing these acts.

  • Nick

    I think anytime theres a shooting in a big crowed public space it makes more news than other times. If this happened in a movie theater in a bad neighborhood it would get a lot of coverage too.

  • Fishtown Warehouse

    The comments claiming to be from IQ 106.9 were not placed by anyone at Merlin Media or the radio station.