New Orleans Resident of 4 years // Minneapolis, MN Native  

 New Orleans Resident of 50+ years // New Orleans Native

PERSHING ODDS // NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 59 YEARS // NEW ORLEANS NATIVE 

“I have like a mixed emotion on this situation because it can be where if everyone in this neighborhood has an input a word, a choice, a vote, majority rules. But we cannot just let the business man make these decisions. This life that we live is not a business. Life is given to live, not endure.”  

Andrew Wallace // NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 5 YEARS // Dallas, TX Native

“I think part of the problem is intention behind coming into a neighborhood. So if you have the intention of I’m going to refurbish this house because want to move into this neighborhood because I like this neighborhood and I want to be a part of this neighborhood and maybe help this neighborhood to come back, I think that’s a good intention. But if your whole idea is I want to refurbish this house because I want to make some money off of it and then I’m leaving this neighborhood, that’s not good for any neighborhood."

Anne Nelson // NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 4 YEARS // Minneapolis, MN Native

“I get worried that some people will benefit and then property values will just rise and then rather than that creating an environment where everybody’s streets get better everybody’s parks get better, everybody has more jobs that are popping up that are closer to home, it will just be too expensive and then anybody who still needs those opportunities will just leave because they can’t afford to be here. That’s my fear.” 

Velma Smith // NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 59 YEARS // New Orelans Native

“I think gentrification in this area here is off the chain. I do. I really do. I think it’s good to see we got young white people walking around in our community. We got young black people who are really trying to do something with their lives. We got older people who’s trying to get to mingle with the younger black people and the younger white people. And beginning to be neighbors to some.”

JB Watkins // NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 8 YEARS // Chatanooga, TN Native

“So me being an African American not native to New Orleans, it adds a whole another dynamic to this gentrification thought process... Because historically speaking, most African Americans whose parents have some sort of means, even in neighborhoods like this, are telling kids to get out. And I mean I understand why that is the case... But in terms of how that affects my own personal reality, I think I am doing something on some level that I wish others, if were talking in terms of race, would do as well.”   

Emily Rhodes // NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 6 YEARS // Deerfield, IL Native

“I know that my being here makes other people feel comfortable moving in, which can have a longer term effect… I have this sort of knee-jerk reaction to not like gentrification but then I have to acknowledge that I am a part of it.”

NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 10 YEARS // Baton Rouge, LA Native

“But I think you can want and hope for gentrification to bring multiple people together from multiple ethnicities, multiple cultural experiences, different economic backgrounds so whether you’re poor, middle class, you got wealth, you’re filthy rich like those type of folks… I think that’s when a community thrives.”

NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 6 YEARS // Philadelphia, PA Native

“When I hear about the term [gentrification] or when I even think about it, it gives me a headache but I have to be able to sit down and individually take it apart. And one of the parts that I have been focused on a lot more of is economic development that helps gentrification but also helps the neighborhood as well. So I don’t feel scared about the term anymore or I don’t hate it anymore...But I feel strongly that St Roch and New Orleans can be city that can overcome it.”

NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 50+ YEARS // New Orleans Native

“Honestly, this might sound crazy, but gentrification means nothing to me. Because I’m not going to let that word frighten me or change my relationship with people I’ve come to know and love, or just in general.”

NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 18 YEARS // Georgia Native

“I guess my hope would be that as people move that they would take the time to get to know their neighbors and appreciate the culture of New Orleans and care for the people on their block and get to know them. But my fear is that this is happening so quickly that it’s going to be all newcomers to the city and there’s going to be no New Orleans culture left in the neighborhood.”

NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 25 YEARS // New Orleans Native

"The term gentrification makes me feel...it makes me want to do something. When I hear the term, I am super competitive and I want to play a part in helping locals not be displaced… In five years if our neighborhood became a middle class neighborhood, that means the poor got pushed out. There is 0% chance of reshaping, galvanizing this neighborhood and community and still keeping the less fortunate. We can already see the effects of a lot of the poor people we knew that renting houses any more because they just can’t afford it." 

NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 7 YEARS // West Virginia Native

“What advice would I give to someone moving into the neighborhood? That it’s not your neighborhood yet. That you’re a guest there until you learn who your neighbors are, how things go in your neighborhood, what’s needed and how you can help provide that.”

NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 16 YEARS // St. Paul, MN Native

“I feel confident that God is pro-beauty so when I see buildings being made more beautiful, being restored to what they are supposed to look like and not raggedy, I think that’s good. But I think Beauty also looks like having elderly folks in the neighborhood and having their wisdom, having families…” 

NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT OF 15 YEARS // NEw Orleans Native

“The lease going up and stuff like that, they had a meeting about the rent and everything going up. To be honest, its horrible but you have more meetings about it so… My reaction [if rent doubled]... I would raise money and leave. Honestly, because I’m not for it.”