Holly St., Marlo Heights and Austin Gentrification

BLOG POST ASSIGNMENT:  In your blog post for this week, discuss the similarities and differences between Holly Street, Marlo-Heights, and Colony Park.   Also, conduct some research on gentrification in Austin, Mueller Development in Austin, and food desert in Austin---all terms which were mentioned in the Colony Park Community Profile.   What did you learn about the terms?   How are they affecting Austin residents in these 3 communities?

Considering Colony Park is no longer a project I am just going to compare Holly Street and Marlo Heights.

Similarities: 


Differences:  


Gentrification in Austin: 
Gentrification as described by Google is: The restoration of run-down urban areas by the middle class (resulting in the displacement of low-income residents).

When researching information for my project on Holly St. and Martin Middle School, I found a website  that described the ethnicities of Martin Middle School and its neighborhood. The middle school itself has less than 1% whites while the area has far more represented in the population. This could be a result of gentrification, that most of the whites moving into the area have not had kids yet and are of a younger population since gentrification of this area is more of a recent "trend" among young professionals. I live in the Clarksville area of Austin and I know gentrification has already occurred in this area.

According to an article from the Austinist (http://austinist.com/2011/04/19/census_data_shows_significant_chang.php) the population of whites in East Austin has increased by 40%, while the population of African Americans in East Austin area have decreased by 27% and Hispanics by 10%. The concern is, where are they going?

Mueller Development in Austin:


Austin Food Desert: 
A food desert is an area where residents are living without nearby access to healthy foods, and they therefore resort to processed foods. People in East Austin might be close enough to markets or places with healthy options, but they might not be at a price affordable to the general population of the area.


I looked at the following website to read about Austin's food desert: 
http://speakupaustin.org/ideas/eliminate-food-deserts


How it affects the 3 communities: 

These areas are losing their homes and their culture because of gentrification. Many of families of this community are either moving in with relatives in the area or moving our of the area they have called home and further away from central Austin. New businesses and restaurants are popping up in this area and driving up the prices of food and other necessities of people in this area. As new businesses open up, and others are closing, people in this area are left with limited options for their every day purchases.

The food desert affects far more than what first meets the eye in East Austin. I have always had an interested in how eating healthy versus not affects our body and development. I have seen many documentaries that show the problems that Food Deserts have on child development especially when it comes to diabetes and education. Kids who are not living on a balanced diet often develop health problems and cannot focus during the day because they are not sustained on substantial, healthy calories. I am sure the schools in this area are suffering as a result of the ripple effects of the food desert.