The album cover for MGK’s General Admission album released on October 9th, 2012 depicts notable Cleveland city buildings in gold to the right. MGK born in Cleveland Drawing attention to the character sitting on the edge of a cliff looking away from the city along with a tree highlighted by the spotlight shining on him or her. Just below that a mushroom cloud of smoke, possibly from a bomb, grabs attention from the contrasting surrounding blue sky. The whole city of Cleveland is atop a unappealing gray land. It has various objects like, cogs, pipes, and sewage coming out from underneath it. The sky around has a surprisingly untainted blue, with fluffy clouds. MGK himself being from Cleveland attempts to convey a message that Cleveland is unstable, …show more content…
The media bashes Cleveland for this everyone knows it. MGK attempts portrays the status of Cleveland through his album cover of General Admission. Even in the overall negative tone the media puts on the city, MGK expresses the value of the city by portraying the buildings in gold. He sees through the bad parts of the city and acknowledges its potential worth. The city, painted in gold, sits on small chunks of land that holds it up, seeming like it could fall any minute. This shows the cities roots makes everything unstable. Although there are no experts on Cleveland’s history or its roots in the room. We must take into account MGK’s credibility of growing up on the streets and understanding the city from his point of view tells us a lot. He wants Cleveland it be a great city, a city where everyone wants to take a vacation to. Additionally, MGK also shows how the profitable and the rich, in their ivory gold towers are far from the ugly gray ground and are surrounded by gold. This leaves the rich unaffected by the drab environment they are not exposed to, therefore they make no effort to change that
Anderson makes a strong case for the inevitability of ghetto life--in other words, once "ghettoization" begins, it continues its course without regard to a neighborhood's tentative and transitory movement toward gentrification. The middle class and well-heeled whites and minority cultures who move into regenerating urban communities are attracted to city life for its vibrancy and "charm," yet they ultimately are playing with fire when it comes to sharing the same neighborhood which was formerly the turf of gangs, prostitutes, drug dealers, and other societal deviants. Such areas are frequently called "colorful," when they are, in fact, dangerous. Charm and color quickly turn to fear and suspicion after more than enough reports of car break-ins, gang retaliations, and drug deals gone bad fill the local news. As Anderson (1990) points out in his conclusion:
The board game Monopoly is played amongst a group of 2-8 players. Each player roles his or her dice and move around the board landing on properties, railroads, or utilities. The properties typically raise in value the further along a player moves around the board. The thought of Boardwalk’s value depreciating to Mediterranean Avenue is unheard of in the board game of Monopoly. However, in the real life game of Monopoly, a major city in America (Detroit, Michigan) had experienced a catastrophic depreciation in value that ultimately led to the city filing for chapter 9 bankruptcy. This writing assignment will evaluate the components that led to the rise and fall of a major city in America. First, it is important to examine the components that led to the growth and prosperity of Detroit, Michigan.
The admission requirements for University of Southern California are rigorous, fastidious, and highly competitive. The admission process takes into a consideration of factors. In addition, only 18.02% of student applications are accepted out of 51920 each school year. Surprisingly USC doesn’t have a preferred GPA range for their applicants but, their average GPA is 3.8 (Naviance). Many students who applied to USC were in the top 10% or at least top 20% of their high school class. Thus, concerning SAT scores, the lowest combined score was a 1910 with the highest being a 2225, and lowest combined score for the ACT was a 29 with the highest being 33 (Naviance). Among other things, an essay is required to be admitted, something that can be taken very serious because it can make or break if you are accepted or not (USC). Along with doing essays, you also need letter of recommendations, its best to get them from
Does the sound of the city ring a bell as a place filled with violence and gruesome stories? That’s what I have always noticed with the reports involving the city of Oakland. To news media everything has to have just the right amount of darkness to it in order for that news channel to have a good amount of viewers. Like it or not we all have that little dark side within us that is more curious and interested to see something terrible happen in news reports; because for some reason it’s entertaining to us. During my critical thinking class with my professor Larry Salomon, I learned that this is why most news channels like to show gruesome and tragic stories more often, because we as human beings find some sort of interest and satisfaction hearing about these stories; and this makes work for news channels more easier to gain more viewers. Some people are more eager to learn about a tragic story unlike the other reports that have a more hopeful and cheerful description. How is this linked to violence in Oakland? News reporters know that Oakland is the place to go when you need a story that will help you get viewers. I have talked to some residents in my community of Oakland and they stated that they were tired of being the notebook of bad stories to be told on live television; the only reason why violence seems to continue in this community is because reporters always point the finger at the city as being a place filled with
In the constantly changing economy of cities, the growth of city housing is oftentimes neglected. In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification” Timothy Williams recounts how gentrification has evolved over the years. Mentioning how cities have changed in order to appease the younger professionals, Williams shows how the city itself is in jeopardy due to the tax increases. Slowly loosing their faithful residents as well as historic culture cities face a big deal. Williams gives quotes from faithful residents, “…long time homeowners are victims of the success story”, (Williams 346). In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification”, Williams uses his credible quotes and modern statistics to generate the reader’s emotions, with desire to change how city officials go about gentrification in culturally infused cities.
Imagine the home you lived in for decades, being knocked down for a football stadium, shopping center, or new housing. That is gentrification. Webster’s dictionary defines gentrification as “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste” (“Gentrification”). Gentrification is not a new subject, as it has been occurring for centuries, dating back to medieval times, constructing forts over villages. Today, gentrification typically occurs in urban settings where buildings are vacant, and most of the residents live in poverty. Gentrification can destroy families, communities, and history. This topic is often at the center of debate for politics and town gossip, as developers are disrupting the current residents that reside in the vicinity. Gentrification occurs all around us, having pros and cons for each project. How is it ethical to kick individuals out of their home, and community for another’s benefit? Questions arise as the development and takeover of land often displaces individuals, their entire families, and livelihood. Temple University is a prime example of gentrification as well as other wealthy organizations, including football teams from the National Football League. The practice of gentrification comes to symbolize the new development and demolition of individual’s lives while trying to benefit the parties involved.
Over the years, gentrification has been given many definitions from simply referring to, “…instances of new arrivals who were buying and bidding up old housing stock”, (Sanneh, 2016) to, “…disinvested areas of the city that are now experiencing rapid and significant increases in land and real estate values” (Jennings, Terrell, Douglas, Barnett & Harding, 2016, pg. 9) and many more. As noted previously gentrification is occurring throughout the world and the Midwest is not immune. The process of gentrification tends to go like so: visitors stumble upon a disinvested area that they take an interest in. Whether because the rent is cheap or the area is vibrant, they fall in love and decide to pack up their home and relocate. This scenario, from one point of view, can be seen as a story of a person deciding to broaden their horizon and see what other parts of the world has to offer. While the other point of view may see this as a possible financial burden, a cause for the major changes in the place they call their home and the likelihood of displacement.
Before diving into the relevant action steps, it is important to understand the history that led to this crisis. Thompson (2010), states that after World War II, cities were highly valued and popular until conflict, poverty, and distress led to the demise of these cities; thus increasing the value of suburban
Zukin, an avid advocate for authenticity, discussed in detail how cities are losing their authenticity. Zukin described authenticity as “a continuous process of living and working, a gradual buildup of everyday experience.” The issue is many cities are that people are now coming and going all the time to the point where everyone stays a stranger to one another, shops are always being closed and changed, and nothing is ever around long enough to create a culture that leads to authenticity. Gentrification is taking away many neighborhoods authenticity as many corporate leaders and politicians look to “clean up” areas which usually has to deal with people of color that are poor. Authenticity and racial diversity are traded for capital. This leads to segregation of less fortunate individuals and families of color. When governments or businesses try and gentrify different neighborhoods they rely on laws, pressure, and lie in order to remove the people who live in these areas.
Through the generosity of Cleveland families, including the Gund Family, have generously donated money for the betterment of the city. Foundations work together to support institutions to make Cleveland a more vibrant and lively city; they give money to the art and cultural of the city but also the school and hospitals. The Families and Foundations don’t give money to the city because they have to, they give money because they believed that the City of Cleveland is a part of their universe of obligations. The citizens in Cleveland are responsible for one another and with that mentality we work together towards the improvement of the city we live
The Chicago Chicago was famous for was the filthy, disease-riddles, crime-filled, black Chicago, while the fair created a different Chicago: the white city, a place of beauty, wonder, history, and all the good parts of a city one should have. “Some wept at its beauty” (5). The white city was beautiful, with its exotic exhibits from all over the world. The fair was more than anyone could have dreamed, filled with whole villages imported from numerous countries, extotic dancers, a theatre, new foods, the backdrop of the lake, flowers, and island Olmstead worked so hard to make perfect, and many exhibit halls in beautiful buildings. The people of the world loved the Chicago World fair, and didn’t want it to end. Probably some of the most important parts of the white city were its’ pure water, clean public restrooms, electric lights, a sewer processing system, and an ambulance service (247). The white city ended up showing the world what a real city should provide for its’ people. In severe contrast, the black city was dirty and dangerous. There were “unlit alleys that smelled of rotted fruit” (31), and the bodies of horses, cats, rats, and various animals laying around, bursting in the summer and occasionally poisoning the water. Chicago suffered an outbreak of cholera and typhoid that killed ten percent of the population due to unclean, foul water (109). At the same time, the rest of the black
When someone who isn’t from Philadelphia is asked to picture Philadelphia, they probably picture historic things like the Liberty Bell and the place where our nation's constitution was drafted. Then they’ll probably mention places like South Street and Old City, the more historic and nicer places that Philly is known for. What these people don’t know is that there are many internal problems that encompass the city that are constantly overlooked. These places like West Philadelphia and Northern Liberties have been in constant deterioration for the past couple of years, turning into neighborhoods with low economic standards, leaving them crime infested and in some case abandoned. Now, you ask a person from Philadelphia to describe their city,
The Cleveland Policy Planning Report was implemented on a smaller scale in the sense that its main focus was addressing the mass inequity in the city. Other problems like considering solutions to the failing economy were discussed yet, they were addressed through an equity lens. To elaborate, one aspect of the plan was not just to bring jobs to Cleveland but instead to bring jobs to Cleveland that were targeted for a specific demographic. The Connecting Cleveland 2020 Citywide Plan on the other hand, was much broader in this subject and had a grander vision for Cleveland. Issues of equity were included in its description in addition to other pressing subjects absent from the Cleveland Policy Planning Report such as environment, arts/culture, sustainability and
Spike Lee asked in his rant “why does it take an influx of [wealthy] white New Yorkers … for the facilities to get better?” Communities that have not gentrified have poor facilities and services for the resident living there, but when people with wealth move in, the city government wants to turn its attention onto the community to make it better. In San Francisco, the Fillmore district was one of the worst places in the city to be in. Crime flourished throughout this neighborhood. Now with the influx of stores and wealthy residents coming in, the city turned one of the worst neighbors into one of the best neighborhoods. Julia Wong accurately described a situation about the lasting effect gentrification had on the community. In San Francisco, it became a new hub for tech companies and many of the wealthy tech employees were moving into immigrant neighborhoods. Landlords were driving up the cost of rent because of increased incentives to evict longtime tenants. Some tech workers paid a fee to have the soccer field for an hour and got into an argument with the neighborhoods kids because they followed a different set of rules; rules that were in place for years in the community. She stated that the government was renting out parks and quoted Mark Buell who said “it’s a way of trying to provide a service to the community”. Why does it take money to provide a free
Detroit is a very well-known and diverse city. “Somewhere behind its neglected, graffiti covered skyscrapers are charming reminders of a city that was once among the world’s wealthiest” (Gray). This city has been through a lot. Detroit was first founded by the French in 1701 and then used as a fur trade post. Jumping a little in the future, it has had riots and protest for equal rights among its busy streets. Detroit is also known as the Motor City. “By the mid-twentieth century one in every six working Americans was employed directly or indirectly by the automotive industry” (Sugrue). Yet after everything this city has endured Detroit is thought of as a place of fear. It has a lot of history and has a lot to offer if people would let