Project Wrap Up- Where did the time go?

As the semester comes comes to an end, Shandra and I have put together a scrapbook to give to Mrs. Robeldo to keep. Shandra took pictures of all their properties and I cut an overview of each home with a description. We also created a family tree that listed both their parents, their siblings, their children, grandchildren and great grand child. We included family pictures thanks to Dr. Gilbert, pictures of the neighborhood and school, a brief time line, and put it all in the memory of Mr. Robeldo. The presentation had similar information with an addition of brief overview of the 1920 Austin City Ordinance, and a definition picked by Shandra and I of what gentrification is. After our presentation was over, we took a picture with Henrietta and she thanks us for our work and even invited me over to her house sometime. I couldn't be happier with what this course brought to me and I hope to continue be involved in projects like these in the future and for the rest of my life.

Family Tree

Flyer given to me by Mrs. Robeldo

Mr. and Mrs. Henrietta getting married 50 years ago

Oral History Progress

Reflecting back to the last couple of weeks before the end of the semester, before thanksgiving break Shandra, Alex and I agreed on our parts of the project. I had an interview that I recorded using my iphone with the Robeldo family that I emailed to both Shandra and Alex. However, due to the file being too large to send over through my phone signal, it was not until the following week that I was informed that they did not received it. This caused some delay in our mutual decision to go over the interview to try to really break down the dates, names, and addresses that were left a bit unclear in the first written report of the interview. After Shandra received and confirmed getting the interview, we both came up with a brief summary of the family history and compared notes. Alex volunteered to get the scrapbook and we agreed to get started on creating the book during our following class day. Overall, I remember really enjoying my experience that far with the project. I had never given a formal interview before and actually found it a lot harder then I had imagined. I wanted to give equal time to both Mr. and Mrs. Robeldo but found it a little difficult to redirect the question to one when one of them jumped in with their thoughts about the subject. Naturally I appreciated the enthusiasm  I felt from both of them but found myself unprepared to separate their answers in the word document I had created. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I would have made a clear outline for one person and other one for the other instead of jumbling it all together and trying to clear it up afterwards. I also wished I had better understanding of what kinds of questions to ask. Before I interview them, I researched to types of questions to ask and organized a series of question that I thought followed a locally sequence and allowed for an open ended response. However, I found that these open ended response often lead to information that I would later seek and so at times my questions appeared to be redundant. The experience of interviewing however is far more useful then information I could have gathered through research and feel I've gain some insight on how to better approach interviewees. For me, it was really useful to talk to them in person instead of over the phone or through another source of communication before as cliche as it sounds, it really makes it more personal and rewarding. I was able to enter the home of this family and see how they lived for myself. I got to walk through their neighborhood and had an encounter with the people boarding at a bus stop. I got to see the process of gentrification before our scheduled class trip and it really made the project more real. Gentrification really is happening. As I walked to their house, I remember seeings what appeared to be government housing and noticed the racial demographics, and was literally shocked as I walked a block away and saw young white people coming out of juan in a million.The current integration between the new and the old residents is was very visible.

Gentification - Global

For me personally, before this course I use to think that industrializing an area in another country is a good thing and a step in helping create a more modern civilization. I thought cleaning up an area that is in great poverty came along with the construction of buildings, and in theory would benefit the residents of that area by providing them better living situations. However upon reading the articles over Gentrification in countries outside of the US, I've realized that gentrification has it negative drawbacks in our local areas and also extends globally. With the construction of new homes, apartments and businesses, the residents of these area are also being pushed out. Instead of creating opportunities for these residents they are driving them towards the outskirts of the city where they are left without any of the benefits of these modernized environments and forced to begin all over again only causing a disruption in their lives.  In fact, gentrification actually seems to be even more harmful because instead of the usually slow processes that it takes here, it is done at a more rapid pace literally kicking its residents out. Overall, I think there is some potential goodness that could come for reforming an area into a more successful  neighborhood that thrives as long as it the residents that live there are the ones that are benefiting from this new construction and not outsiders. After thinking about gentrification from a local perspective and a global perspective, I think that many people who are involved with this construction may be unaware of its consequences. As Americans, we may think helping construct better homes for those in foreign countries will directly benefit those people but it fact, we could just be building those developments for people in other countries who may be able and willing to pay to live there, and over the course of a few years, be pushing out its native residents. In gentrifying an area we must be careful to not displace  local residents or native residents in global gentrifying progress.

Gentrification-local

In the short time that I've lived in Austin, I've got to see gentrification happen without even being aware of what it was. When I first moved to riverside a little less then two years ago, it an area with businesses targeted towards a Hispanic population. A lot of taqurias, washaterias, cash loan places, and Spanish super markets. The apartments  in the area appeared to be built several years ago, and aside from student living,  and were all relatively affordable. However, in the last year and half I've noticed new construction and the formation of 3 story apartments that appear to be aiming at luxury living and upgraded commercialize businesses. Out of curiosity and because the new apartments do look beautiful, I went to ask for pricing. A one bedroom apartments was going for over a thousand dollars a month! My first initial response was these people are crazy. NOBODY WOULD PAY THAT MUCH. However, reflecting back now with my knowledge I've obtained from this class, I can see that the people that running these apartments are very much sane because they are aware that nobody would pay that much. Nobody that already lived in that area that is. This is the type of gentrification that I've seen locally. From living in riverside, to driving down Holly, Marlo Heights, and the Mueller development gentrification is happening right under our noses. 

New apartments right of riverside and I35 called "Riverview"