If gentrification is the issue, vandalizing shops is the wrong response
A meaningful response to the real issues around human displacement has to start at City Hall, not on Locke Street
When you actually try to reimagine a scenario where 30 or so black clad individuals are strolling down Locke Street hurling rocks at windows, it’s downright bizarre. Aside from a banner reading ‘we are the ungovernable’, which in itself is ironic considering their reaction to a possible confrontation with police, their purpose and intent is unclear. Perhaps the most peculiar part of this whole Saturday night fiasco, and the main reason why their message is so vague, is their chosen targets: small business entrepreneurs committed to community and the development of a local economy.
In their ire, this group of wayward radicals, who assumedly are antigovernment, globalization and gentrification, chose to neglect the one global corporate enterprise on the street, considered by most as a reckoner of neighbourhood gentrification, in favour of local, independent purveyors. Maybe we chalk it up to bad aim, misdirection, or even poor vision on account of awkwardly fitting
ski masks. Whichever it was, it really failed to ‘hit the mark’, making so little sense, it’s almost humorous.
Regardless, despite their inability to convey a coherent message, it has been assumed that at the core of their angst is their affront toward gentrification. However, acts of defiance like this one, in particular one so poorly executed, will do little to encourage any headway.
Rising rents will continue to rise, cost of living will remain unaffordable, and our valued social services will continue to stutter. In the very least, especially after the immense community support shown this weekend, we can be assured that those delicious local doughnuts aren’t going anywhere, and rightly so.
Donuts, restaurants and coffee shops aren’t the problem, and neither are the people and personalities behind them. The issue of gentrification is much bigger than that, and has been slowly growing in this town for over a decade. In Hamilton, gentrification may look different on Locke Street than it does on James, Barton or Ottawa, but it is still, and always has been some form of gentrification.
There isn’t one specific formula, esthetic or method of gentrification. Instead, much like capital, it moves along the path of least political, cultural, social and economic resistance. In the case of Hamilton, and
almost every other city in the western hemisphere, this is usually in urban areas left behind in the wake of suburbanization.
So who is to blame?
It’s impossible to point a finger, or be ‘one to cast the first stone’. There are simply too many moving parts and too many shades of grey that go far beyond the neighbourhood and local politics. The reality is, gentrification isn’t going anywhere despite the efforts of a few kids armed with some eggs and rocks. Instead, steps need to be taken toward creating an honest dialogue that will compromise and mitigate the inevitable impact of this urban shift. Such discussions must ask difficult questions, one which will force certain individuals to be self-reflective of their own, perhaps more popular visions. In doing so, it’s also possible that we encourage others, with a certain penchant for throwing, to perhaps rethink their own tact.
This doesn’t fall on the shoulders of independent owners trying to make their corner of town a viable business. Instead, such an initiative needs to start with a progressive city hall and bureaucracy determined to leave a legacy while simultaneously building a future.