Cooper-Young Gentrification

And without fail, urban social problems once again presents a frustrating problem that I wish had a simple all encompassing answer to, but I that's why this class even exists. Gentrification is an issue that I have been intrigued with ever since moving to Memphis. My first encounter with this phenomenon was while visiting the Cooper-Young area with my parents a few years ago. My parents went to Rhodes in the late 80's and their experience with this area was a lot different than mine is today. They told me that it was a pretty run down impoverished area where no Rhodes students really cared to venture. They were bewildered to see the amount of gentrification that has taken place just in the last 30 years.

The first month that I moved here to Memphis I began wandering around the Cooper-Young area and began to envision myself living there one day. The houses seemed nice and homey, but not too big. There seemed to be a great lively community feel about the area as well.  As I explored the area more I began to realize that the further south I went, the less gentrified the area was. I don't have any specifics on this or home ownership costs but judging by my parents description of the neighborhood 30 years ago, I would venture to say that the value of homes has skyrocketed over the last 30 years north of the Cooper-Young intersection. Will this slow creeping of gentrification take over more of south Cooper? How long will it last and how far will it travel?

 Like Brown-Saracino, I too noticed gentrification before knowing exactly how to term it. Gradually learning about the negative affects of gentrification have darkened my naive innocence of living in this neighborhood one day, but the descriptions about social preservationists give me hope. I think social preservationists have the right idea but I'm not sure how successful they are in stopping the negative aspects of gentrification. Is it even possible to move into an area such as Cooper-Young and not impact the original neighborhood in detrimental ways?