Role As A Research
I am a mixed-race male. I conducted research at the Los Pinareños Fruteria situated in Little Havana. Through conducting interviews at the Fruteria, I aimed to get a better understanding of the current demographics and how they relate to gentrification in the neighborhood. One of the bigger challenges I faced was finding customers willing to participate in our study. This was due to both a language barrier and people being reluctant to take part. This however did not stop me from finding customers who were prepared to answer my questions.
Introduction
As one walks down Calle Ocho and into the Fruteria, one is able to sense the inviting and hospitable nature of Pedro as he chops away at the the coconuts and greets everyone as they enter. The smell of both coffee and freshly squeezed fruit looms in the air as one takes in the several aspects that make the Fruteria both unique and special. As I stand there taking in the fairly loud Cuban music I was able to observe and garnish a better understanding of what the clientele for the fruit stand was like. A flashy customer strides into the store, placing his designer sunglasses on the counter top and is immediately served with some Cuban Coffee. The man swiftly finishes his coffee as they both converse for what must have been the better part of a minute. As he leaves, Pedro exclaims that he was looking to buy the Fruteria, something that apparently isn’t uncommon.
This coupled with the bus load of tourists that seem to be arriving by the half hour illustrate what Calle Ocho is becoming; gentrified. I was surprised to say the least as I stood there, noticing that most of the clientele were either tourists or better yet visitors to Little Havana. This is seen and heard through ease-dropping on the guided tours and watching customers as they slowly walk around the fruit stand, unconcerned with what fruit they were selling and more with the general atmosphere and ambiance of the fruit stand. As they come and go, you quickly notice that both Little Havana and the fruit stand have become what seem to be tourist attractions.
During the conducted interviews, I attempt to gain a better understanding of the potential clientele and aim to gain a better understanding of the discrepancies between the local and outside demographic that entered. I was however met with both language barriers and hastiness, with many either in a rush or unwilling to be part of this study. This provided me with issues as I continued, resulting in me having to accept that the tourists ended up being more willing to participate, possibly due to the fact that we stemmed from the same socio-economic background. The findings however don’t only convey a tourists perspective as slowly but surely I was able to gain a few more interviews as I believe they noticed there were no ill intentions.
History/Background Gentrification In Little Havana
Gentrification is commonly observed as the process in which the wealthy, generally consisting of the middle class, move into and restore housing and business within the inner cities of a particular area. This therefore disfigures a given demographic of a particular area and results in a decline of racial minorities. Furthermore, household size declines due to the influx of young couples single people which desire to be closer in proximity to a city’s center.
From an economical standpoint, one has to mention the change in the real estate market as gentrification will increase both the housing prices and rent, further pushing out the lower class. This along with the social aspect that gentrification entails, undoubtedly alters a given area’s culture and familiar quality.
The production-side theory aims to deal with how gentrification came about through the simple relationship between money and production. Neil Smith proclaims that the historical context dates back to the days of WWII where capital shifted from inner cities to areas of low rent generally on the outskirts of larger cities. Accordingly, the population in inner cities declined whilst housing prices in suburbs increased. This along with the rent gap theory coined by Neil Smith, details the relationship between the price of land at its current value and the potential price that a plot of land could potentially reach under a “higher and better use”. The argument therefore goes; if the rent gap is of a considerable amount, developers would realize the potential profit that is available in inner city areas, This closes the rent gap, thus causing a rise in rent prices and mortgages leading to gentrification.
The displacement of long time families are threatening neighborhoods across the United States. Amid one of the districts most affected is that of Miami’s Little Havana. Coined a national treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a sustained effort has been emphasized to protect the area from developers who are remodeling Miami’s downtown and much of its surrounding boroughs. Little Havana’s signature street, Calle Ocho features several Cuban art galleries as well as small family owned businesses which carries all the cultural significance from back home. One is already able to see tourists flock in, taking selfies as they stand outside a local coffee shops sipping their Cuban coffee and taking selfies outside its famous restaurants and fruit stands.
When looking at racial politics it is important to acknowledge that the Cuban-American whites as a majority are gentrifying an area which is inhabited by predominantly dark skinned lower income Cubans, nevertheless they share the same cultural experiences and know the struggle of an immigrants experiences. What usually is seen as whites displacing non whites, the same cannot be said within Little Havana, as it is said that there is a care taking rational behind gentrification through a process of uplifting minorities. Cuban-American elites currently oversee and control both government and NGO which seem to shape the lives of those who live in the area, maintaining and augmenting their social control over those who live in Little Havana which in turn enforces and legitimizes the elites power. The process of gentrification therefore entails selling parts of Little Havana to middle class Hispanics within Miami. This was seen during our time at the Fruteria as we were told about the countless times, wealthy residents of Miami pass by to enquire about the possibility of buying up the Fruiteria.
Gentrification can however been seen as a positive as it illustrates economic growth within a city. This has the ability to improve the daily lives of citizens through developing infrastructure such as parks and the renovation of older run down buildings. This along with an increase in the potential amount of jobs, also reduces the crime rate as is seen with a 12% decrease in crime and an overall crime rate of just 3% higher than the current national average. The problem with this however is seen as the the elderly residents take away little of these economic benefits whilst the wealthier new arrivals seem to reap most of the benefits. Newly constructed housing as well as newly developed small businesses seem to only benefit these new arrivals and take away from past residents living in low income housing. A benefit to low income residents can be illustrated through cleaner and safer roads, the cost of this however is met with the erosion of their cultural identity as well as being socially disparaged.
At its worst, gentrification entails eroding the cultural identity created by the lower working class and replaced by current trends and tourism. At best, one could hope for investment into local infrastructure looking to benefit the local community. Little Havana is under multiple threats such which include the demolition of historic buildings, displacement of its residents and further decades of wear and tear.
Little Havana has become increasingly ripe for gentrification due to its proximity to downtown Miami and Coral Gables, and with the rising rents and growing demand for real estate which is currently facing the neighborhood it has already forced several small business owners to close and other residents to move out. It is said that Little Havana could soon become unrecognizable unless a preservation plan is put in place.
Like many inner city neighborhoods in America, back in the 1980s, Little Havana was plagued by crime, drugs and decay. Through the process of gentrification this has now changed. Safer streets and the influx of outside residents has helped curb crime levels in Little Havana allowing for a more secure environment.
Gentrification in terms of our statistics
With the help of our conducted research, we were able to gain a better understanding of the level of gentrification that has taken place within Little Havana. Prior to conducting research, one had expected to see lower levels of education, higher levels of low income jobs and Cubans being the dominant nationality present in the area. We also expected to see most of the Fruiteria’s clientele coming from within the neighborhood as we had the image of a small local business in mind, as well as a generally older demographic considering the historical context of both the Fruiteria and Calle Ocho as a whole.
The results however differed significantly from our expectations, emphasizing a shift in the current demographic, enabling us to understand just how deep the level of gentrification have reached in Little Havana.
As was specified earlier, with gentrification comes a younger and higher educated populous of residents, this hypothesis coincides directly with our findings. Out of the 42 participants interviewed, the highest percentage bracket of customers was seen with young adults between the ages of 36-45 resulting in 26.2%. This was closely followed by 23.8% in the age bracket between 18-25. What this tells us is that Little Havana is slowly but surely moving from an older population in those who immigrated in the 1960s-70s to a younger demographic in which two age brackets constituted of 50% of the makeup of our participants. It is particularly important to illustrate this fact as it states the polar opposite of what we believed it to be, particularly the aforementioned historical context that the Fruiteria possesses. Linking these statistics with the level of education, tells us that the demographic is shifting from an older more educated one, to a younger and highly educated community. 18 out of the 42 participants possessed a bachelors degree constituting of 42.9%. To put this in perspective, 17 participants or 40% held an associates degree or lower, allowing us to deduce an increasing level of education within Little Havana. There had been as many graduate degrees counted as with associate degrees in roughly 12% of the audience, illustrating a shift from lower levels of education to in fact high levels of education. At this point the question is, are the current residents of Little Havana reaching these levels of education or is it in fact coming from outside of the immediate area. The answer is in the latter with only 14% of participants living in the immediate neighborhood. Furthermore people coming to visit the Fruteria from anywhere outside of a five miles radius shown with a staggering 62% or 26 out of 42 participants. We can therefore infer that the majority of people visiting either the Fruteria or Little Havana come from neighboring areas and even outside the country. There were in fact more people that came from outside of the United States than those living in Little Havana projecting the notion that Little Havana is slowly but surely becoming a tourist attraction for many.
Whilst analyzing the ethnic demographics of Little Havana we are able to note that the highest percentage of people interviewed were in fact Euro Americans with 28.6%. This goes against what we initially believed, acknowledging the fact that Little Havana as a haven for immigrating Cubans. Cuban whites were found in the second highest percentage bracket at 23.8% a significant discrepancy between what one would believe and what one saw. The rest of the demographic makeup is fairly dispersed across several ethnicities with 12% being of South American dissent and another 12% registering as “other”. There were no Cuban blacks, and only 2 African Americans registered, which characterizes the current level of gentrification. To have a better understanding of the data it is important to look at cross tabulations as they illustrate a deeper perspective of what the data shows. The relationship between age and a customer’s proximity to the Fruiteria will allow us to ascertain whether young people are moving into Little Havana, or rather, if it is becoming a popular tourist destination for the outside world. Only 14% of people of all ages find themselves within the immediate neighborhood, which tells us that it not the locals that shop at the Fruiteria but rather people coming from outside areas. People living more than five miles away and in a different county and beyond account for roughly 40%. This tells us that the people who either shop or come to visit the Fruteria find themselves coming in from other neighborhoods to shop for fresh fruit. This acknowledges the gentrification hypothesis stating that as an area becomes more developed, one finds a larger percentage of people migrating from outside neighborhoods as they realize the full potential of a given area.