I moved to Gottingen Street because I wanted to be in the middle of a neighbourhood that was alive. Having spent most of my life in Fairview and a number of years in the residential west end, I longed for the foot traffic and noises of a busy street. Gottingen Street has always had a certain allure to me— it was always the place my parents told me never to go, it was rough, it was gritty, crime-ridden and unsafe. I loved it. So I moved into one of the new condo buildings that have sprung up over the last five years and I have relished every moment. I am one of those evil gentrifiers who over the last 20 years have moved into the old north end, bought low and sold high, meanwhile driving longer-term residents out of the neighbourhood. I rent so I’m not a true gentrifier, but I fit the description otherwise. The difference between me and the stereotypical agent of gentrification is that I believe I have a responsibility as a resident of this brand new building to get out into my new neighbourhood and be a part of it.
I moved to Gottingen Street because it was alive, not because it had a boutique furniture store or restaurant. I moved to Gottingen Street because of the drunk people who walk by my window on Friday and Saturday nights talking loudly. I moved to Gottingen Street because it is the home to such diverse groups of people, it’s one of the few streets where people work and live in the same building. I moved to Gottingen Street because of Direction 180, the Salvation Army, the Mic Mac Friendship Centre and the North End Community Health Clinic. I moved to Gottingen Street because of Uniacke Square.
In 2011 my condo corporation joined neighbouring condo corps in an unfortunately successful effort to prevent Reflections from transferring its cabaret license to the former Marquee building. Say what you will about Reflections as a bar and the underlying issues of homophobia in Halifax, the core of their argument was noise pollution and decreased property values—my condo corp was claiming that a cabaret-licensed bar would not “fit” in what was essentially a residential neighbourhood.
My first love outside of politics is history and I have spent the better part of 15 years researching my family and the city they lived in—Halifax—in all aspects. One of the responsibilities as a resident of any neighbourhood is to understand how it developed and why it is the way it is today. Gottingen Street, and the entire old north end for that matter, has had its ups and downs, but anything it is not—or has ever been—is just a residential neighbourhood. The old north end has always been a mixed-use community where shop owners lived above their stores, where every corner had a convenience store, where the sounds of the waterfront, the dockyard, permeated the night air. Today’s population of predominately single, middle class office workers in no way represents what this community is or ever was.
I feel it is my responsibility as someone with the ability to spend hours in archives and libraries doing research and with skills in writing and website publishing to contribute to my neighbourhood by telling its history. That’s why I started my blog The Old North End—reminding my neighbours, who care to know, that the neighbourhood they bought into, the place where they live and the people who make up this community have a rich, long and established history, and that their property values are never going to be negatively affected by a community that is alive. People will always want to move here.
I moved to Gottingen Street because it is a street that is over-spilling with life. We must ensure that we protect long-term residents from the effects of gentrification. That is our responsibility as neighbours. We must continue to foster growth and encourage change. At the same time we must also take a minute to step back and appreciate the history of our community.
Nathaniel Smith is the owner of the blog The Old North End, an executive member of the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia and a librarian by training, but works during the day as a political aide to a provincial cabinet minister.
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This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2013.
White Man Saves Town With Benevolent Presence.
Bra, put down the hula hoop and lets do some slacklining, later we’ll play some ultimate on the commons, eh?
I don’t understand the thrust of either of the readers’ comments. Are political aides notorious Ultimate players? Should white folk stay the hell out of the North End?
Just having fun wit y’all.
“I moved to Gottingen Street because of Uniacke Square…. In 2011 my condo corporation joined neighbouring condo corps”
This seems a tough one
http://i.qkme.me/3v089i.jpg
Sound familiar?
“I moved to Gottingen Street because its residents are too criminalized and marginalized to stop their neighbourhood being a playground for my rebellion against my parents.”
I hate so much about the things that you choose to be.
I hope they use this as your eulogy after you get shot/stabbed/mugged/swarmed in your beloved new neighbourhood. Why do you think they put the police HQ close to Gottingen street, like any successful enterprise, it pays to be close to your customer base? It’s home to a “diverse group of people” pimps/swarmers/dopers/artsy fartsies (AKA victims). Sometimes, Mother really does know best.
i am fixing up an abandoned for 25 years place on buddy daye since february… I bought it from Graham Prevost. he symbolizes what the north end is built on. He is 87 and recycles most of the beams and insulation that I replaced in his old building. The building was previously used as a single unit family and was rotten from the face back Some nights in Feburary minus15 and we would make a pile of wood outside reframing the termite mess inside and the very next morning he would have a pile denailed ready for his cousin to take over to his yard. On sunny days in March I would see him taking a break in the pile of debris…resting in the sun…hard worker like no other. One night he went till 5am and was back for 9am again. He uses a mountain bike for a walker…and my friend call him the beekeeper for his amazing helmet made of ductt tape. His mittens and boots covered in shopping bags to protect them from moisture. Graham is the North End…and incredible guy. He loves living the humble life. He could live fancy..but prefers to live the way he does.
..this neighborhood has a lot of characters and there is a sense of community unlike other parts of town. The people with free time on their hands is incredible. In the winter it is a wasteland. i met a random guy with his broom and bucket on wheels sweeping the streets all day for free…..i gave him a 20..and I only had 20. ..he said random people give him money….i wish the city would pay him. In the summer it seems so alive with activity. The sex worker women walk by and talk of their problems. The guys that used to do drugs outnumber the ones that are on the drugs. Most are just trying to make a go out of life on the way to the food bank. We had one issue with a guy named Dean…even the badass guys do not like him…I was told he was in trouble in Toronto…and would steal your eyeballs if you blinked. There is a community garden in my backyard…an amazing garage next door….and Yes I have an alarm hooked up. Yes I enjoy this neighborhood! 99% of the neignborhood treat you with respect if you do the same.
What you are doing there is fantastic.. Mike Tompkins …I commend you for stepping up to the plate and for making the decision to invest your time talent and money in the community…. keep up the good work… preservation and restoration is key to revitalizing these downtown urban walkable neighbourhoods and as one writer posted here if you happen to get shot/stabbed/mugged/swarmed in the process of your worthy efforts helping to revitalize your beloved new neighbourhood…I think that would be a wonderful and fitting tribute for your eulogy….however I think that is unlikely to happen… so the mean time just ignore the warnings from the doom and gloomers and mealy-mouthed spokespersons who have never done or even attempted to try what you are doing in the mean time keep up the good work and keep on building a better community….
So, you’re living it up in your condo, on the “bad” side of town, pretending to be a rebel against your parents, and feeling like a badass, and being a hipster.
I’ve never seen a more clear example of a white guy coming into town, and saying ‘OMG it’s so fashionable here in the poor side of town’, with the homeless and crack heads that are always up and down the streets, and the murders, and stabbings. You ignorant shithead.
You write about the shops that are currently here, then you claim to know all about the community, and what it’s about? How about you go to the original people who lived there, and still do, in the square, and ask them what they think about white people like who, who know nothing about the history of the community, speaking on their behalf, and saying VERY ignorant things like “Today’s population of predominately single, middle class office workers in no way represents what this community is or ever was.” I’m an anthropologist, I specialize in these topics. Trust me, you should leave representing the community to the people who LIVE there, not the people who JUST got a condo in the area.
I hope they use this article as your ecology after you get shot or mugged. They call it got a gun Street for a reason. Also this article makes you sound like a hipster douche having a rebellion against his parents
This Nathaniel Smith bes touched; cause when I visited my friends there it was a place that police were not good too its people! Gottingen Street was supposedly the bad side of town, bad is more of what people consider, The Bad Side Of Town; it’s a crime ta steal, what’s the MLA’s names in / of Halifax, who have not learned either…as in PEI, that is take from people, giving nothing in return! Me was told it’s okay (1975) they know your with me, and I thought he was kidding; coming out later, the car up a block was on ground and tires gone! People would fight for no reason; it has changed Nathaniel Smith!
Water St. in Summerside PEI, looks like A want – to – be Gottingen Street in Halifax 40 plus years ago…Take care of citizens, and their future was not Halifax’s intention then and it is by no means Summerside’s mayor, Bill Martins! Build Price Edward Island…
This Nathaniel Smith bes touched; cause when I visited my friends there it was a place that police were not good too its people! Gottingen Street was supposedly the bad side of town, bad is more of what people consider, The Bad Side Of Town; it’s a crime ta steal, what’s the MLA’s names in / of Halifax, who have not learned either…as in PEI, that is take from people, giving nothing in return! Me was told it’s okay (1975) they know your with me, and I thought he was kidding; coming out later, the car up a block was on ground and tires gone! People would fight for no reason; it has changed Nathaniel Smith!
Gottingen Street, and the entire old north end for that matter, has had its ups and downs, but anything it is not—or has ever been—is just a residential neighbourhood. Gottingen Street was (1975) supposedly the bad side of town, bad is more what people consider, The Bad Side Of Town; the poor trying to get by, make ends meet and Nathaniel Smith moves in for what, cheap rent and a story?