Born and raised in Washington, D.C., currently living in Philadelphia, Megan is focused on How we use storytelling and the sharing of life expriences to effect real change

Walking the Fine Line Between Art as a Community Anchor or Fueler of Gentrification

“San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point is no stranger to harmful substances left over from some toxic industrial uses, including an old, radioactive naval shipyard, wastewater treatment plants, and metal works.

But there exists another industrial site in the city’s largely black neighborhood that now serves as a constructive example of turning a place of contention into a positive community gathering space. After years of activism from neighbors overlooking the Bay’s India Basin, Pacific Gas & Electric shut down its power plant in 2006 due to air pollution concerns. Rather than have the site sit empty during its lengthy remediation process, the utility agreed to put the 30 acres to use as an interim event space through a special program, NOW Hunters Point.

Since 2014, the program has provided opportunities for joyous community gathering like job training and coding workshops, oral history interviews conducted onsite through StoryCorps, a circus through local group Circus Bella with petting zoos, yoga days and the occasional movie night. Those dozens of events have also served as impromptu listening sessions to determine what residents actually want for the future of this space, such as establishing direct access in 2017 to a shoreline trail that includes snippets of that recorded, oral history along the way.”

Continue reading Next City here, courtesy of Ida Mojadad.

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