I'm not sure the media does anything, people do things.

We choose to ghetto-ize communities relative to how we think of  
things (i.e., reading an article and incorporating it into our  
actions), and relative to how we consume things (i.e., buying into a  
culture which we know can be a negative thing).

We do this across infinite axes, which in terms of the media, you  
could capture under the idea that the media did something.

And banks and business will be discouraged to engage society in a  
responsible way as long as we support them through our behaviours.

So in this sense, I always ask myself not what big media and big  
business will do, but what I do to give certain social structures the  
power that they have, meaning what are the things that I do that  
support the people within such social groups and their actions.

Just my thoughts.

CQ

On 10-Apr-07, at 9:15 PM, Rahul Mediratta wrote:

> Today the Toronto Star published an article in the Toronto/GTA  
> Section entitled: Urban dream deferred
>
> http://www.thestar.com/News/article/201289 (article pasted at  
> bottom of this email)
> http://www.thestar.com/Article/201299
>
> The article identifies 13 high-risk neighbourhoods in Toronto and  
> illustrates these neighbourhoods on an aerial-view map of the city.
>
> I got to thinking...
>
> Will this article further 'ghettoize' the high-risk neighbourhoods  
> of Jane-Finch, Lawrence Heights, & Malvern? Will this article newly  
> 'ghettoize'  Steeles-L'Amoureaux (which is, ironically, where I  
> live and to be honest, my neighbourhood is not in nearly as much  
> need as other Torontonian sprawls).  Although this article brings  
> much needed attention towards neighbourhoods in dire need of public  
> investment, does such media coverage also negatively label  
> neighbourhoods as 'high risk' (aka ghetto)?
>
> Over the past two decades, segments of American society have both  
> showcased and even glamourized American ghettos (eg. Bling Bling!),  
> such as Harlem of NYC, Bronzeville of Chicago, and Detroit.  The  
> term ghetto is both a noun (referring to a neighbourhood) and is  
> now an adjective (referring to ghetto culture/identity; shaped  
> largely by the media and, in particular, media representation of  
> hip hop culture).
>
> Let us assume that the Toronto Star article does, in fact, further  
> 'ghettoize' Toronto's high-risk neighbourhoods...
>
> Can this type of media coverage discourage
> businesses/banks from setting up shop in media-hyped ghettos?
> Can this type
> of media coverage further contribute to the social exclusion of  
> high-risk
> neighbourhoods from the larger city of Toronto?
>
> I would love to hear what you all think...
>
> Rahul Mediratta
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
> ++++++++++++++
>
> They've
> lived in Regent Park, Flemingdon Park and Rexdale, and the farther  
> they
> moved away from downtown, the less connected they were to their
> neighbours.
> Community centres are farther away in the inner
> suburbs. And connections are too dependent on the car. But this, too,
> is true. Fear fuels alienation. To survive, many try to shut out the
> "bad influences" of the neighbourhood.
> Now, this family lives in a high-risk neighbourhood with one goal  
> in mind – get out as soon as possible.
> Many do. And there are tens of thousands on waiting lists to take  
> their places.
> Tonight's
> public forum – A View from the Inner Suburbs – looks at urban life in
> the communities outside downtown Toronto but inside its boundary.
> The view is murky, blurry.
> Do
> these neighbourhoods in old Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke work
> to improve or impair the lives of residents? Do traditional, downtown
> concepts of "neighbourhoods" and "communities" have traction outside
> the core?
> Are we even asking the right questions? For example,
> does it matter if you have to travel to get to a bank or the grocery
> store or doctor? Or does fear of crime trump all efforts to build
> social cohesion and connections at street level?
> And what drives
> the crime? Lack of recreation facilities? Or poverty and
> underemployment and the struggle for survival that breeds discontent,
> anger, deviance and, finally, disaster.
> Many minds and dollars
> have been focused on the issue of violence in such neighbourhoods.
> Still, as the weather warms this spring, the death toll rises.
> Tonight's forum, free to all, is co-sponsored by the Star as part  
> of its focus on poverty.
> The
> above family, having lived in two of the 13 "priority" neighbourhoods
> identified by the United Way and others (and a third, Regent Park,  
> that
> has challenges but is not on the list because of its solid stable of
> services and facilities), can't be blamed for wanting to leave.
> No
> sooner had they arrived in Flemingdon Park than one son discovered he
> wasn't welcome because he had come from another Ontario Housing
> project. It wasn't until he was stabbed that Mother grasped the  
> gravity
> of the issue and took flight.
> By the time the family arrived at
> another housing project, Mother wanted her kids away from everyone.  
> She
> did not want their name used in this story.
> "When I came here,
> I wanted nothing to do with a community centre. For one, the centre  
> was
> way down the road. Secondly, it was right beside Jamestown. And my
> thinking was, `If I can let them not know anyone in Jamestown, great.'
> I know not everyone in Jamestown is bad ... but I preferred my kids to
> go to a school out of the community and not talk to anyone.
> "Of course, it wasn't possible."
> Local
> school means local friends. There's been scrapes with the law.
> Miraculously, considering the fate of too many of her son's friends  
> and
> classmates, her children are university-bound.
> I, too, have spent
> most of my Toronto life living in or on the fringe of three of the
> city's 13 high-risk neighbourhoods. Flemingdon Park, 10 years.
> Steeles-L'Amoureaux, five years. Bathurst-Finch, 10 years.
> For
> half those years we lived in social housing, and during that time, we
> never set foot in a community centre or made use of a day camp or
> summer program.
> At first, we were immigrants so the expectations were minimal,  
> demands non-existent. I had my own room.
> Looking
> back, as the St. Lawrence Centre prepares for tonight's community  
> forum
> on what makes a good neighbourhood, we've neither been engaged with  
> nor
> connected to our neighbours.
> When we moved to Flemingdon Park,
> from Dupont and Bathurst, I felt we were going to the ends of the
> earth. Flemingdon might have been the most densely populated area of
> the city, but the TTC hadn't discovered it as yet.
> I kept going
> to Harbord Collegiate downtown. And on weekends, I was at church at
> Landsdowne and St. Clair. My friends were church friends. We played
> football at Alexandra Park in the summer. Drugs in Flemingdon Park?
> News to me.
> These homes were rest stops, temporary abodes on a journey toward  
> the urban dream of a nice, secure home.
> So,
> I went from a room in my parents' social housing apartment to a market
> apartment for my own family, to a co-op, then a purchased townhouse, a
> semi and finally, a detached bungalow on a quiet North York street.
> The
> system worked, in terms of providing a housing hand-up. It did little
> to supply social and recreational needs, but it didn't have to. Church
> and the hundreds of friends from that fellowship filled the gap
> admirably.
> And a middle-class income provided a private school
> education that took the kids away from the neighbourhood where the
> gangs were forming. In essence, we slept there, not lived there.  
> And so
> much "community spirit" is lost from such a living arrangement.
> But
> that's not the norm. Most residents in these priority neighbourhoods
> have no other housing options. Some want to stay because they like it.
> We should be ensuring that their lives are fulfilling, as safe and
> secure as possible.
> Many times we commentators and columnists go
> on about building healthy, vibrant communities where residents lean
> over the fence and share ideas on how to build neighbourhood pride.
> That's a good goal.
> A more realistic one might be, how do we
> remake the existing communities so they are healthy again – or for the
> first time. Do we throw facilities and programs there? Or provide the
> family training and help needed to make families whole again? The
> latter is most difficult. But it's an approach that may have the most
> lasting effects.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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