Should small businesses be protected in gentrifying areas?
Small businesses are a really important part of the culture of a community. One of the main reasons why small businesses are so important is that they are typically run by residents of the community who have roots in the neighborhood and understand the needs and values of the community that lives there. They provide goods and services that are tailored to the residents through what they sell, like clothes, foods, and art. But unfortunately gentrification can have a very big impact on these small businesses. Gentrification is seen as the development of urban areas in order to drive economic growth and opportunities for residents. However, this causes neighborhoods to change as money
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This clearly demonstrates how income increase due to gentrification impacts small businesses. The issue is not that the median income is increasing, but that it is directly impacting businesses in …show more content…
In a case study of Wheaton, Maryland, the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) was hired to provide technical assistance to help small businesses adjust to redevelopment. This led to the formation of the Coalition for Fair Redevelopment of Wheaton, which advocated for a small business assistance program. Council vice president Nancy Navarro introduced Bill 6-12 to establish the program, which provided grants up to $75,000 to offset increased rent burdens for affected small businesses (Coalition for Fair Redevelopment of Wheaton, 7). The reason why this was so effective is because it gave small businesses rent security so they did not have to worry about going out of business due to rent increases in the area due to increased property value. This allowed businesses to keep their place in the community and not only use the money for rent but for other advancements to technology, infrastructure, all things that are useful to be able to compete with corporate chains. People like Nancy Navarro are really important in order to maintain small businesses in gentrifying areas because she valued them and did her part as a council vice president to keep them in the community through