why isn’t this much push-back being thrown towards the new Billion-dollar development in Cary?
@Drew I think that from the perspective of people who are concerned about displacement, it is often informed by the knowledge that the demographic of areas like East Durham, Southeast Raleigh, and many downtown/downtown-adjacent neighborhoods, was a direct result of discriminatory government policy through most of the 20th century. I’ve written about this here.
Cary does not have a similar history that I am aware of, nor do most suburban areas that developed in the latter part of the 20th century. By comparison – and again, I’m speaking more to my own neighborhood in Durham rather than awareness of the particular history of this part of Raleigh – we have large parts of downtown-adjacent neighborhoods with residents that have lived there for decades, or even generations, despite longstanding discrimination and neglect by the city. To me, preventing displacement is always a worthy goal, but it is of particular importance in places where there has been such a long history of blatant injustice in the form of housing policy.
And I think as @evan.j.bost pointed out earlier, identity politics and discussions of power and privilege have penetrated public consciousness in recent years in ways they haven’t ever before. People are becoming really aware and concerned about these issues. I don’t see that changing any time soon.