This story originally appeared on PlanPhilly.

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If you feed them, they will come.

On Thursday night, hundreds of hungry people braved the rain for a first-of-its-kind Night Market on Point Breeze Avenue. As lines for banh mi, barbeque and other food truck-made delicacies snaked down the packed street, PlanPhilly took out a microphone and talked to area residents about life in one of the city’s fastest- gentrifying neighborhoods.

Though concerns about displacement and racial tension tend to dominate conversations about what happens when higher-income people begin moving into a working-class area like Point Breeze, residents who visited the pop-up food market organized by The Food Trust spoke of strong community bonds and optimism for what was once one of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods.

Renee Allen, 46, has lived in the Point Breeze for 12 years. She spoke of faster response times from police, and an improvement in quality-of-life issues. “I’ve seen a lot of changes for the better,” Allen said. “We had a nuisance bar across the street from my house they’re no longer there.”