Sarasota Livin'

I participated in a very interesting walking tour of Park East Friday afternoon.. You can read the news article by Dale White (who was with us) in the Sarasota Herald Tribune

We saw one version of workforce housing ... 10 or more "workers" living in small apartments or old run down homes.

We saw what looked to me to be a "drug corner" with a group of "young men" getting ready for a busy Friday night.

We talked with "day laborers" that work building the new downtown condos for big name contractors for "cash at the end of the day" organized by contract labor companies.

We saw lots of gang "tags" on walls and junk cars.




Park East has a lot of negatives but it also has many positives. First is the people involved with the neighborhood association working to make things better.

There are really historic structures in the neighborhood like the El Patio Apartments from the 1920's

There is a new park with what should be a nice playground. The neighborhood is also full of wonderful mature trees.

Parts of the neighborhood have new streetscaping

Park East is going to change. Will it go downhill and be left to the exploitation of the area ... I don't thing so.

Will it become a solid "working class" neighborhood of home owners or will it "gentrify" and become a neighborhood that is "redeveloped" for the walk-to-downtown "urban professionals."

Either of the "good" options moves out the "exploited" class .. where do they go? Or do the people in that "stage" of development either move up to "solid working class" or just "fade away"

There are no easy answers to hard questions.