A different way to ask this question is “Which areas of Newark will never be nice enough for people who don’t live here now to choose to live here in the future?” I don’t like that kind of thinking.

We should be pushing for all areas of the city to be nicer, safer, cleaner, and more attractive. And we should be pushing and implementing policies that allow for people who live here now to stay here. That’s inclusionary zoning through income-restricted units in new developments. That’s rent control for older units. That’s some of the programs Invest Newark is rolling out to turn Section 8 vouchers into down payments. That’s job training and opportunities for current residents to increase their income.

If people want to move out because they got a better job and want to move to a nicer neighborhood, good for them. The problem is when people get pushed out of their neighborhood because they can’t afford the rent or some other crisis. That’s what we need to solve for.

The mindset that X neighborhood is poor and should stay poor so the poor people can keep living in poor housing is bad. I know that’s not what people explicitly mean when they argue against “gentrification” but in practice that’s what it means.

We need investment without displacement. We need new people from NJ, the rest of the country and the rest of the world. We need to have housing and job opportunities for everyone. And we need to work hard as we can so that anyone who moves out of their neighborhood is doing it because they WANT to and not because they HAVE to.

End of rant.