“Jazz music, soul food, and black entrepreneurship once flowed through the Five Points neighborhood as fluidly as the light rail now runs up and down Welton Street. After years of gentrification, Denver native Akiala I said she’s working to restore the neighborhood’s culture by buying back the neighborhood, block by block. “Buildings being demolished, … [Read more…]
“It’s a sign that became a flash point for a conversation that was perhaps long overdue. “Gentrification is another example of entire communities being erased,” said Katia Campbell who teaches intercultural conflict and diversity at Metropolitan State University of Denver. The now infamous sign outside Ink Coffee in Five Points read, ‘Happily gentrifying the … [Read more…]
“”In an effort to reclaim our spaces, our communities, and our history, I have made it my duty to work to regain the essence of Denver Colorado’s historically black neighborhood,” writes the author of a petition that went live on Change.org last week: “Revert The Rino District back to its historical name ‘The 5 … [Read more…]
“Mile high home prices and rising inequality have landed Denver second in the nation for gentrification. A new study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found gentrification is not only growing but impacting more neighborhoods in the city. “What we noticed in the very beginning was a racialized impact because of the way we … [Read more…]
“It’s been decades since Manning Rollerson cut the grass in front of his grandmother’s home in Freeport, a petrochemical town of about 12,000 that’s situated on the Gulf, about an hour’s drive south of Houston. But he still remembers the way the wild onion would burn his eyes as he pushed a barely functioning … [Read more…]
“When in doubt, blame gentrification. That seems to be the reflex among some who hunt for the source of urban problems that are difficult to explain. The latest example: linking gentrification to a rise in violent crime. This was the case made by an assistant professor at Metropolitan State University in The Denver Post’s … [Read more…]
“From the jazz clubs on Friday evening to the church pews on Sunday morning and all the soul food you could eat in between, Denver’s Five Points neighborhood represented the heart and the hub of the city’s black community for more than half the 20th century. In the new millennium, the place where five … [Read more…]
“Kellie Plessinger lives in Aurora now but she grew up in Denver around a notorious strip of East Colfax that, back in the day, may have inspired conservative columnist George Will’s infamous line comparing this street to a warzone. Plessinger works at the Ranch House Cafe at Colfax and Syracuse Street. In the late … [Read more…]
” Elyria-Swansea is a short bike ride from the epicenter of Denver’s brewery-hopping and co-working scene, but it feels farther away. Here modest mid-century bungalows and Victorian houses boxed in by chain-link fences press up against train tracks, Interstate 70, marijuana grow houses and a pet food factory that pumps musty smells into the … [Read more…]
“here’s a forgotten and dark history as to how the Five Points neighborhood in Denver was formed. It was called redlining. Starting in the 1930’s the Federal Housing Administration drew up maps of major metropolitan areas around the country including Denver. Entire neighborhoods of color were marked in red. The maps and policies encouraged … [Read more…]