Opinion by Brandon Alger

Often a large, generally stable group, can be guilty of a perceptual bias that subtle differences are bigger than they are, this leads to concerns that “things are changing quickly.” I see this in our community with occasional references to “gentrification” and even I am admittedly guilty of having suggested that the demographic of Berkley is “changing”; however, the reality is that it’s not. Berkley is not changing. Time is. And that’s okay. It has to be, because time can’t be stopped or slowed — well, at least not in a way we’re capable of today.

What is gentrification? Well, the word is often used in a loaded manner and it’s likely that no two people are going to agree on the exact definition. A rough definition that I will use to discuss here is a geographic area experiencing a changing of social and economic norms. This can lead to a rapidly increasing economic tax base, or it can lead to a neighborhood being unwelcoming to those who have called it home for years. I propose that neither of those things are happening in Berkely; certainly not at a scale worthy of calling gentrification. Rather, after a decade of statewide economic instability Michigan is in an economically stable place with a bright future, and the city thousands have been proud to call home for decades is slowly adjusting to be the 2019-version of the same city it has been for the last 90 years.

When a small, older home in a neighborhood is replaced by a newer, larger one – this is not gentrification, this is a neighborhood adjusting to the passing of time. The average house built in 1950 was significantly smaller than the average new house built in 2010. The average house in Berkley closely matches the average house size being built during the year it was built; whether that be 1950 or 2019.

Sources: National Association of Homebuilders; 2010 US Census

That large home being built on your block is not gentrification. It’s a city adapting to 2019.

Neighborhoods are not static, nor should they be. A new family moving in is not gentrification, it’s simply how a functional city works. As time passes a community may adjust to facilitate this, …or not. What it does is highly predictive of whether a neighborhood will remain stable, …or not. While a 983 square foot ranch may have been highly desirable for a new homeowner in 1950, chances are that unless major structural changes have been performed, such as an addition or second level, the 70 year old version of this is far less desirable to a generation which grew up in houses that were an average of 2,080 square feet and see their friends purchasing new homes in Macomb Township that are 2,392 square feet. That large home being built on your block is not gentrification. It’s a city adapting to 2019.

It’s also one less large home built in a sprawling subdivision, further taxing our underfunded statewide infrastructure, which we can’t afford to provide, or maintain. I believe that growth of outer ring suburbs is detrimental to the whole metro. The infrastructure, environmental, and social costs of sprawl hurt us all, and redevelopment in existing places helps to curb this.

“A salon replacing a transmission shop has more to do with Detroit industry building cars which regularly run 200,000 miles …”

Similar can be said of many of the businesses opening in town. Do I want a hometown grocer? Of course I do; however, whether I would shop there or not when grocery shopping of 2019 has gone primarily to super box stores like Meijer or Kroger, or even online, … that is debatable for many of us who have spent a significant part of our adult lives in the world of convenient, inexpensive box store groceries and e-commerce. While I don’t prefer this, it’s reality and we have a slow, uphill battle to get away from it. So in the near-term, one of three things can happen:

The space sits vacant and becomes blight.

An immediate cultural shift toward walking to a neighborhood grocer and spending 15-25% more on a smaller selection of groceries.

The vacant space is re-purposed as as gastropub or other more relevant use.

While I would prefer to see Option 2 happen and will continue writing about the advantages of walkable neighborhoods, again, that likely won’t be happening overnight (but stay tuned, I’ll eventually blog about why it should happen ASAP!). Until that takes place, Option 3 is far more desirable than Option 1. Patrick J’s is a great place to meet up with friends on a Friday night for a burger and a beer. This applies all across both 12 Mile and Coolidge, and beyond. A boutique store replacing a bakery is not Berkley becoming Birmingham; it’s a reflection on the desires and values of the demographic that chooses and has chosen to call Berkley home for generations. A salon replacing a transmission shop has more to do with Detroit industry building cars which regularly run 200,000 miles before major repairs than it has to do with a generation who spends too much time on instagram.

Arial view of Berkley, 1967; image from Wayne State library

Maybe I’m mistaken, and please correct me if I am, but I also often perceive that there is a hushed belief that Berkley is this quiet small town away from the noise of the big city, that it’s a real life “Pleasantville” – and maybe that was true in the 1940’s, I don’t know as I wouldn’t be around for another 40 years, but by the 1960’s that was no longer true. By then, Berkley had become a densely populated part of a metropolitan area and a major part of Oakland County. It was a quasi-urban option outside of Detroit for those who still wanted urban amenities, but 1940’s and 50’s development trends. The development, activity, and bustle today is not this great change that’s running anyone out of their home. It’s simply adapting Berkley to the 2010’s version of the same demographic which found the community desirable during the mid-century period.

Going forward, there’s a dearth of multi-family housing in our community. Modern condos and town-homes have a much stronger demand than they did even 30 years ago. The development of these is not a sign of a changing neighborhood, rather it’s a sign of a neighborhood willing to adapt to time. A new community center is not a veiled attempt to raise taxes and push people out; rather, it’s an attempt to provide the same recreation to the next generation of Berkaganders Berkleyites that prior ones were able to experience and current ones are not. Four lane roads becoming 3 lanes is not being done to force motorists off the road, it’s being done because a mountain of research shows it is safer, and makes for a more livable community corridor that fits the cultural desires of pedestrian and cyclist-friendly communities those who choose, and continue to choose, to call developed inner-ring suburbs home, in 2019.

Photo of Harvard Commons in Berkley; development by Mark Adler Custom Homes.

Berkley is not becoming Birmingham. Nor is it becoming Royal Oak. Due to the layout of the community, it literally cannot do this. This fear is entirely unfounded in reality and the idea that the “things are changing quickly…” is only used as thought-terminating cliche or an attempt to stifle the natural adaptation of a great community to the natural passage of time. Whether we like it or not progress happens; it happens methodically and outside any of our own arrogant effects to stop it. Whether we choose to embrace a community that attempts to keep pace of this beat or not is up to us. No one has the intent of changing Berkley to become what another community is, rather the desire is to keep it what it was for those who have called it home in previous generations.

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