From Row homes to Developments

Gentrification
Fieldwork Project-Part 1

The area that I focused on for my fieldwork on gentrification was Bristol, PA, primarily historic Bristol Borough. The main areas within the town that my field observations were taken were along two main routes. From Mill St. to Radcliff then up Lincoln Ave, then along Beaver Damn Road to Pond St. Also, further north along Radcliff up to Green Lane and Wilson Ave. Gentrification is process that is widely occurring in almost all cities in America. The process in general is the “restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people.” In Bristol gentrification is widely occurring. This could be seen by new developments, restoration of existing row homes, new commerce and new businesses. This essay provides a general over view of the gentrification process in this area. The routes taken are highlighted in purple in the amove map.

Prime examples of the gentrification process can be seen at the intersection of Green Lane and Wilson Ave. and along Radcliffe St around the intersection of Green Lane. The new development along Radcliffe St. is called Villas at Riverview. These areas are where new development housing was recently built. On the Goggle map the development at the intersection Green Lane and Wilson is not built yet, which shows how new it is. These areas are highlighted green on the image above. The first thing that is observed when looking at these homes they do not have the same style of the rest of the housing in Bristol. These new homes are pre-fabed houses, and are built as a development. The rest of Bristol homes are brick row homes or duplexes. The average house in Bristol is worth approximately 80,000-120,000 dollars. These new homes are selling for between 300,000 to 500,000 dollars. People who are already living in Bristol can not afford to move into these style homes. The average income for residents in the area is only 35,000 dollars a year.

Also, a new trend is happening by which many existing homes in Bristol are being restored. This trend can be observed at various locations along Mill St and Lincoln Ave. but is not limited to these two streets, can could be seen all over Bristol. Higher income people who are not residents of the area are buying the existing homes for a relatively cheap price and restoring them. Then these homes are either sell them for higher prices then other homes around it or are renting them out. Bristol is increasingly becoming a renter community. Recently, people from New York City have found Bristol appealing. The main reason for this is that Bristol is located close to the PA Turnpike, I-95 and the Burlington Bristol Bridge. These new residents are usually more economically well off then the existing residents of the community. The average rent was around $300 a month, over the past several years this has gone up. Below is a picture of the new homes along Radcliffe St. Th average rent now is $500-$750 a month. While the new residents may be able to afford these prices, many of the existing members of the community can not. When this happens the people who are renting do not have a say in the policy or economic issues in the community, even though they are the ones who are living there

Since there is this influx of new, more higher income members of the community stores are also changing. This can be seen along Mill St. Mill St. was always the area of the community where most commerce was done. Traditionally these were Mom and Pop stores that provided services for everyday needs and affordable products for the community. Now new corporation trend shops are opening and the old stores are shutting down. For example, a coffee shop, an antique store and a designer clothing store have gone up. These services are not what the people in Bristol desire. In addition, people in the community cannot afford to shop at these stores. They now have to travel outside of their community to shop with in there price range.

I have also conducted observations at the Bristol train station, during peak hours. I have observed many businesspersons coming into Bristol to work at the new office buildings. (These new offices are usually converted from existing abananded industrial buildings. This is furthered discussed in the Industrial essay). From the attire (nice suits, well-groomed, ect.) that the jobs that they are coming to work at are white collar jobs, that make over 35,000 a year. This means that people who are living in Bristol do not have the opportunity to work these jobs and make more money to be able to afford the changes that are happening in the community.

http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Bucks_County/Bristol_Borough.html

www.bcrda.com/villas.html