How can we think about preservation differently?
Fifth Avenue - Pleasant Street Historic District Gainesville, Florida
“A Neighborhood in Crisis: the institutional failures and the perpetual fight to preserve black history”
This research primarily follows the question “What are the mechanisms that lead to the displacement of preexisting residents when the ownership of historic structures is transferred from the residents to developers and/or the government?” Summary of some important findings: The separation of a singular neighborhood further disintegrated its profound strength embodied during the Civil Rights Era. It would appear that the protection and designation of the state’s first nationally significant African American neighborhood was not well received by those in power. In 1981, just 10 years after the full integration of the public school system, a few individuals decided that redevelopment for economic gain was more important than policies mandating neighborhood protection (violating important federal procedural requirements). As homes began to be destroyed, crime began to increase - approximately 12 families and their respective homes were destroyed for an axillary police station parking lot. The unjust use of eminent domain (condemnation) was used to declare private property/structures as “dangerous buildings” for simply becoming vacant and/or not secure from trespassers. In a specific case, violations that were corrected were reopened when the owners passed away - their will was seen in the local paper. The home was then demolished (imagine the profound ramifications on a family’s generational wealth). This could violate the taking’s clause of the U.S. constitution’s Fifth Amendment. A federally funded home replacement program administered by the city incorrectly identified a WWII army barrack as “over 50% uninhabitable” when the home only needed an interior renovation. Now the family is going to have to satisfy a number of requirements or the city could take their property as debt. A separate home owned by the taxpayer and to be used as affordable housing was up for demolition (with no legally bound plan for its replacement). A lack of maintenance was to blame and the cost of repairs would be less than any new construction.
