I don’t want my hometown of New Castle, Alabama to have a “BG” — a Before Gentrification — period.
I don’t know how to save it from the inevitable. I’d buy every abandoned lot today if I could. I don’t know how to get my old neighbors and friends to get on board with coming back, tearing down, and rebuilding our old neighborhood.
There’s so much history in those crooked streets. Everything about it feels like home from the air to the sounds at night.
I try to be optimistic, but I can’t help but feel like enough of us natives won’t care until we see 4-5 acres being cleared off with a sign for “luxury apartments” where so-and so’s house used to be.
I don’t want to be disconnected from those roots. I think there would be no chance for us to build our own schools, daycares, barber shops, beauty salons, dry cleaners, and other businesses if we allow outsiders to buy up property and build homes we can’t afford to live.