Is the term “Temple Town” euphemizing gentrification in North Philadelphia? Members of the Cecil B. Moore Community seem to think so.
The Cecil B. Moore community defines itself as the city blocks that fall between Susquehanna Avenue and Girard Avenue with Broad Street serving as the eastern border and 24th Street serving as the western border. The community was named after African American civil rights activist Cecil B. Moore. Unfortunately, the very African American community that Moore represented is being pushed out of the gentrifying neighborhood.
Gentrification is the shift in an urban population that results in poorer people being pushed out of neighborhoods as wealthier people move in to take their place. In North Philadelphia, lower income African Americans are being pushed out of the area to meet the growing spatial demands of Temple University’s student body.
Recent and continuing construction projects have allowed Temple to take over much of North Philadelphia.
Construction can be seen all over Temple University’s campus. There’s median lighting being added along North Broad Street and the Science Education and Research Center has recently finished construction. Even just last year, Temple added the Montgomery Avenue Parking Garage and opened up the Morgan Hall Residential and Dining Complex.
Alumna Mary Ann Brier graduated from Temple in 1988 with a B.S. in Criminal Justice. Her daughter MaryAnn Thackrah is now a freshman at Temple studying International business. Brier explains how things have changed, since she was a student here on campus herself.
“They built the new Liacouras Center. Most of the buildings have been renovated [and] there’s so many new dorms,”said Brier.
Brier recalls campus the way it was back in the mid to late 1980s when she attended Temple.
“[There were] ten times more locals because the campus only had three dorms: Johnson, Hardwick and Peabody. There was [also] only one true restaurant on Temple’s campus, Salad Alley.”
Now even right off campus, construction continues. Housing and apartment units have been popping up for students to rent out during the school year.
The community grocery store has also now become a haven for Temple students. The Fresh Grocer opened up in 2009 in the historical Progress Plaza. Progress Plaza is America’s oldest shopping center both owned and operated by African Americans.
Temple University students have even encroached upon this bit of the community’s history. Now the shopping center is filled with students sporting their Temple gear and buying weekly groceries with their Diamond Dollars.
Students can’t help but flock to these local hotspots. While this expansion may be beneficial for Temple University, the people living in North Philadelphia year-round are encountering difficulties.
Landlords are now renting out homes to students, instead of the local Philadelphians that live in the area. And why wouldn’t they? Landlords can let a group of students rent out a house and charge each student by the room. They can make around $600 per student each month. Landlords make more money and students get cheaper rent. Everyone wins, except the people who have been living in Philadelphia their whole lives.
When these Philadelphians are able to afford a home of some sort, they can’t even fully enjoy it. Students disrupt their streets each Thursday through Saturday night. Music plays too loudly and blares through the walls. And intoxicated partygoers roam through the streets and cause commotion.
As local residents were in the very midst of dealing with the gentrifying community, the name “Temple Town” appeared on Google Maps as a way of defining the area just around Temple’s campus. The problem is that part of the area defined as “Temple Town” interfered with the Cecil B. Moore Community.
Temple University quickly distanced itself from the name, and eventually, Google removed the name from its maps. But the damage may have already been done. The housing market in North Philadelphia had already adopted the name and students have also caught wind of the term.
While “Temple Town” hasn’t yet reached the level of notoriety as University of Pennsylvania’s “University City”, it is still an indicating factor of the area’s recent gentrification. Fortunately, Temple hasn’t pushed the nickname in the hopes of driving out poverty as UPenn did with “University City” in Western Philadelphia.
The hesitancy of the University to adopt “Temple Town” leaves a slight glimmer of hope for North Philadelphia.
In the meantime, local residents have been taking their fate into their own hands. Philadelphians from all over the city gathered at Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia last March and discussed gentrification in their communities. The activists are currently planning to eventually take their case to the United Nations to appeal for the recognition of gentrification as a human-rights violation.