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Miller, Elissa
Instructor: Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
6 December 2016
The Charlotte Blue Line Extension: Bringing More Than Just Transportation
Red dirt. Yellow hard hats. Orange vests. The quintessential picture of a construction site,
just another sign of improvement on the campus of UNC Charlotte. However, this construction is
a little different than the others. It isnt a new dorm or a student health center. Its the end of the
new Charlotte Lynx Blue Line Extension, a 9.3 mile expansion of Charlottes light rail system.
The expansion will run from University City, through the neighborhood of North Davidson, and
into Uptown, where it will connect with the previous line. Charlotte has billed the extension as a
transformative piece of infrastructure, one that will provide easier access to Center City for
thousands of students and inhabitants of the area. However, is that all it will bring? Or will the
extension carry unintended effects in the form of gentrification?
To begin to understand the effects of mass transit on city development, one must first
understand the concept of gentrification. According to Dr. Stephen Sheppard, a professor of
economics at Williams College, the term was first used in 1964 to describe the movement of
middle class families into former working class areas of London. It has since become a source of
debate for scholars, city planners, and residents alike. General opinion is that gentrification is a
negative event for low income residents of the area being gentrified. For example, a study by the
Federal Reserve of Philadelphia, found that residents with low income and low credit scores
often were displaced to areas with higher crime rates, worse schools, and higher unemployment

rates. Those with higher incomes either did not move or moved to wealthier areas of town
(Owens). However, some argue that it may have both beneficial and negative effects.
Sheppard believes that while gentrification moves out residents, it may not necessarily
move them to worse off areas of town. He instead argues that gentrification causes
neighborhoods to be less likely to engage in community improvement activities and build
relationships due to the high turnover rates of residents. For example, if one were a homeowner
believing oneself about to be pushed out of a neighborhood, one would not find benefits in
contributing to a long term community improvement program. This in turn hurts the
neighborhood as a whole and stunts improvements.
In contrast, Patrick Gillespie of CNN Money believes that gentrification may have
positive effects on those living in the area being gentrified. He cites a study by Lance Freeman of
Columbia University that shows evidence of gentrification being linked to new job opportunities
and declines in neighborhood crime. While these may be true, much of this research is specific to
the town of Philadelphia. Gillespie then notes that gentrification still has negative effects. Lower
income residents are also more likely to move out of gentrifying neighborhoods. Once the area is
gentrified, it is highly unlikely they will ever be able to move back. Also, residents that move out
of the neighborhood often see their credit scores decline. This correlation has yet to be explained
by research.
Due to wide variances in opinion, I have come to the conclusion that gentrification is an
issue with only two universal truths. One, for gentrification to occur a group of people must be
pushed out of an area. Two, this must be an event with negative effects on the people or the
community. The degree to which it negatively impacts the area depends on the city and
circumstances of the development. Thus, to predict how gentrification will affect one specific

city, such as Charlotte with the Blue Line Extension, one must look at areas and cities similar to
it.
The largest mass transit system in the world resides in New York City and is run by the
Metropolitan Transit Authority, or MTA. The city is noted for its low personal automobile
ownership and various different types of public transport. There are busses, a ferry to Staten
Island, the subway, and various railroads. It is also the second oldest mass transit system in the
Americas(Perman). A record by Clifton Hood of the Historic American Engineering Record
chronicles the effects of the first subway in New York City, the IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit),
after its opening in 1904. Hood asserts that the introduction of the IRT helped lead to the rise of
tenement buildings, many of which didnt comply with safety standards and developed into
slums. Hood also states that the IRT played a major role in the growth of Times Square and its
theater district as well as other various areas around subway stops. Development was common
around these areas which, in turn, brought more condensed pedestrian traffic to an area and rising
property values. This development probably pushed poorer residents out and gave the rapidly
growing tenements mentioned above a market to expand.
Even recently, debate and concern over gentrification and mass transit issues have
continued in New York City. Journalist Gustavo Solis chronicled the story of residents of the El
Barrio Neighborhood, also known as Spanish Harlem, who were extremely fearful of a subway
expansion set to run through the area. This was due to the effects of the construction of the
subway during its first phase in a nearby neighborhood. The extended construction time lead to
closure of many smaller stores along the line. Residents thus feared the same would happen to
them, especially as a majority of stores in the neighborhood were locally owned and run by

families. This makes them more vulnerable to change. Of course, this is not a widespread fear of
gentrification, but rather an effect of building the subway in itself.
Another large East Coast city with an extensive public transport system is the City of
Atlanta. It shares a southern background with Charlotte and thus faces a similar spread of race
issues that simply arent as prevalent in a Northern city such as New York. Its public transport
system is the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA. It contains both busses
and a rail system connecting the outer areas with Atlantas downtown. In March, legislation
passed approving a light rail extension of the system called the BeltLine (Simmons). The city has
already started building parks along the intended line. Tensions over whether or not this will lead
to gentrification are high.
This is largely due to the fact that Atlanta has historically shown a tendency for
displacing low income people, especially African Americans. When Atlanta built its interstate
highways in the 1950s, it destroyed many homes belonging to working class families
(Cummings). The area still suffers from homelessness. Later, during the 1996 Olympics there,
approximately 30,000 people (disproportionately African American) were forced from their
homes due to rising rent costs (Beaty). Dr. Alex Sayf Cummings, a professor of history at
Georgia State University, argues against the BeltLine in his essay Atlantas BeltLine Meets the
Voters. He explains that the BeltLine is predicted to run through communities that are
traditionally working class and African American but have begun experiencing gentrification.
Thus, the addition of the BeltLine will speed up a process already occurring. However, his real
issue is with the funding of the BeltLine. It is being paid for by a tax mechanism called the TAD
(tax allocation district) which depends on the rising property values of houses near the system to

pay for the BeltLine. This takes money directly away from Atlantas public schools, which are
typically paid for by property taxes.
Strangely, the city closest to Charlottes demographics along the Blue Line Extension
isnt even in the United States. Its the city of Vancouver, Canada. Vancouvers mass transit
system, the SkyTrain, first opened in 1986. This is fairly recent for a transit system; it is newer
than both New York and Atlantas. Professor David Ley and graduate student Craig E. Jones of
the University of British Columbia published their research on Vancouvers SkyTrain in
February of 2016. They found that the SkyTrain runs directly along high concentrations of low
income residents, many of which are minorities and immigrants that have settled there after
experiencing displacement elsewhere. These areas, despite poor housing conditions, have
become havens and allowed residents to build a sense of community and support. Many residents
cannot afford cars and thus the SkyTrain provides them with necessary transportation services.
However, Ley and Jones argue that the SkyTrain is also having harmful effects on the
residents in the form of gentrification. A policy called S-zoning removed legal protections of
low income apartments and has lead to a sharp increase in more expensive condominium towers
in the area. Residents have begun to refer to the reshaping of the area as the attack of the high
rises. Fears of displacement run high and many believe the supportive community of
immigrants will be destroyed by the influx of new residents. Low income residents also noticed
that their landlords no longer felt the need to keep up maintenance in their towers due to the new
development.
The area where Charlotte is building the Lynx Blue Line extension strongly mirrors the
low income minority corridor being displaced in Vancouver. Charlotte has become an extremely
popular city for immigrants, especially those of Latino descent. Charlotte and the City of Atlanta

top the Nielsen list of fastest growing Latino metropolitan areas in the nation with growth up
400% since 2000 (NUEVOlution!). According to Brenda Tindal, historian at Levine Museum
of the New South, many of these immigrants have settled along the North Tryon Corridor, upon
which the Blue Line Extension will run, and some in the University City area. The area is also
home to a large African American population. In fact, data from the organization University City
Partners shows that a majority of the University City neighborhood is actually non white.
University City Partners has been an active supporter of the light rail expansion into the
University City area, as chronicled by journalist Ely Portillo in the article Can Light Rail Turn
University City into a Walkable Downtown? The group seeks to turn the area turned into a
dense, mixed use development centered around light rail stations. Executive director of the
group, Darlene Heater, has placed special emphasis on creating a main street, while other
proponents aim to create bike paths and expand sidewalks. Many of these are trademarks of TOD
(transit oriented development) criticized by Professor David Ley and graduate student Craig E
Jones. However, the organization has not acknowledged the possibility of gentrification or
displacement occurring along the line.
It is much easier to ignore an issue than to confront and deal with the negative effects of
something one supports. The Lynx train will likely provide opportunities to residents of
University City and speed their connection to Center City. Still, the developers of the plan and
Center City Partners should have considered with the possibility of gentrification when the plans
were created and the negative effects their plans could have current residents of the area. They
could have begun to plan around it and aimed to prevent it from happening or, at the very least,
aimed to minimize its effects.

How would one do so? Is there a way to legislate against or control gentrification? There
are some interesting ideas and theories, some of which seem to be working better than others.
The most popular idea centers around requiring affordable housing in mixed use developments.
In this way, areas can continue to acquire amenities while still providing housing for the original
inhabitants of the area. This would allow the pre existing culture of the area to continue despite
being mixed with the cultures of various new inhabitants.
However, the City of Charlottes government continues to struggle with the idea of
requiring affordable housing. Officials push the idea, yet city residents have fought against
proposals. The organization PlanCharlotte reported that along the first phase of the Blue Line,
the nonprofit Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership built the only mixed income
development near a light rail station. However, some progress was made in 2014, when the city
council approved a policy promoting assisted multi family housing along the original Lynx Blue
Line. Unfortunately, this policy specifically exempts the new Blue Line extension (and the
proposed but unfunded Silver Line Extension). The policy also allows the low income housing to
only be located in a single building, as opposed to mixed throughout the development. This could
lead to a concentration of low income housing that could easily become slum-like or isolated.
A way to encourage affordable housing along the line without requiring it would be
through the use of incentives. The most common of these is known as a density bonus. A density
bonus allows developers to build at a greater density level than allowed in the original zoning of
an area. In exchange, the developer is required to provide something to the city, oftentimes an
amenity or expansion of access to a public source, such as a waterway. However, affordable
housing units have also been used (Density Bonuses). Considering University City Partners goal
of transforming the area into a dense, mixed use community, this incentive seems to be a good

fit. In the 1990s, the City of Napa, California adopted an even more extreme version of this rule.
Builders could choose to either construct affordable housing or pay a fee. Building affordable
housing qualified the developer for density bonuses and other incentives ("Court Says City of
Napa Ordinance Advances a Government Interest - CP&DR."). In this way, the city did not
directly write a law requiring affordable housing. It simply encouraged developers to create
housing through incentives. Since Charlottes residents have fought against mandatory proposals,
this may be an option for city lawmakers looking to push back against gentrification.
One of the most unique theories about how to prevent gentrification through law focuses
on the City of Miami, Florida. Here, the ethnic neighborhoods of Little Havana and Overton
exist directly next to the wealthy banking district of Bricknell. Bricknell continues to experience
growth, doubling its population in the last fifteen years. Still, the banking class has yet to spill
over into these ethnic neighborhoods. Home values in Little Havana and Overton continue to be
low and the population of those neighborhoods remains 95% minority. Why is this? Journalist
Scott Beyer believes it to be because of Miamis lack of regulation over building heights. Instead
of expanding out into ethnic neighborhoods and displacing residents, developers have built up.
This has kept development in those areas where it already exists. Its an interesting concept,
though it has yet to be tested in many other large cities due to strict height regulation. Charlotte
has a number of regulations on building height that would need to be thrown out if this were
considered as a possibility for the area.
There are a number of amenities that will predictably come with the Charlotte Blue Line
Extension. Studies, such as the one referenced by Gillespie, show that crime could decrease,
credit scores of residents will likely go up, and there will be environmental benefits caused by
less reliability on cars. However, as the city struggles to create strong legislation and policies

requiring or promoting affordable housing, opportunities for gentrification along the Blue Line
Extension grow considerably. Based on the effects of mass transit systems in other cities,
specifically Vancouver, it is quite possible that the University City area may become a more
popular space for developers and experience a similar attack of the high rises. While the full
transformation of the area suggested by University City Partners may take years to occur, these
developments will likely push out the community of immigrants and minorities that have found
refuge in the University City and North Tryon corridor. As thousands of students at UNC
Charlotte prepare for the excitement of being easily connected to Center City, it is important to
remember that when it comes to mass transit systems, there is more than meets the eye.

Works Cited
Beaty, Anita. Atlantas Olympic Legacy. Geneva: Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions. Web.
05 Nov. 2016.
Beyer, Scott. "How Miami Fought Gentrification and Won (for Now)." Governing. Governing
Magazine, July 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.
"Court Says City of Napa Ordinance Advances a Government Interest - CP&DR." CP&DR.
California Planning and Development Report, 01 July 2001. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.
Density Bonuses. Rep. University of Florida. University of Florida, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2016.

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Gillespie, Patrick. "How Gentrification May Benefit the Poor." CNN Money.
Cable News Network. 12 Nov. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.
Israel, Mae. "Affordable Housing near Charlotte Light Rail? Still a Challenge."
PlanCharlotte.org. UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.
Jones, Craig E., and David Ley. "Transit-oriented Development and Gentrification along
Metro Vancouver's Low-income SkyTrain Corridor." The Canadian Geographer / Le
Geographe Canadien 60.1 (2016): 9-22. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
"LYNX Blue Line Extension." University City Partners. University City Partners, n.d. Web. 05
Nov. 2016.
Owens, Cassie. "How Gentrification Can Affect Your Credit Score." Next City. Next City, 23
Oct. 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.
Perman, David. "Nyc Subway: Main Page." Nycsubway.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
Portillo, Ely. "Can Light Rail Turn University City into a Walkable Downtown?" The Charlotte
Observer. The Charlotte Observer, 20 May 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Sheppard, Stephen. Why is Gentrification a Problem? Williamstown: Center for Creative
Community Development. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
Simmons, Andria. "Atlanta MARTA Expansion Bill Scores Victory in Legislature." MyAJC. The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 24 Mar. 2016. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.
Solis, Gustavo. "El Barrio Residents Fear Subway Expansion Will 'Rip Apart' Local Businesses."
DNAinfo New York. DNAinfo, 2015. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.
Tindal, Brenda. Personal interview. 17 Sept. 2016.
"NUEVOlution! Latinos and the New South." Exhibits. Levine Museum of the New South, n.d.
Web. 05 Nov. 2016.

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