Unnatural sounds rise in the night
The twisting of metal on metal
Like nails on a chalkboard
Large chunks of concrete
Torn apart, falling to their demise
Crushing, scraping
Ugly sounds
Telling the story
Of many others
Gone down
Too quickly
Being replaced by
Empty, meaningless forms
Looming, threatening
Taking over
Much too rapidly
Squeezing in on all sides
While the people sleep
Hypnotized by
Money
Promises
Ignorance
Lack of vision
Not realizing
One day
They will wake
To find it all gone
This place we call home
And the people we’ve all known
Feeling overwhelmed
This story we must tell
Before it’s too late
And the Grove meets its fate
We cannot just sit by
While time flies
Look past tomorrow
We have no time to borrow
If we stall
It will all fall
And the West Grove story
Will just be history

The video below shows “the dramatic changes one small community in Miami Undergoes when Big development and rising real estate prices threatens to displace and forever change the face of a historic Bahamian Immigrant neighborhood. Residents struggle to cope with the gentrification while attempting to maintain West Grove as one of the historically oriented strongholds of African-Americans in the City of Miami.”
* Note: this was filmed several years ago with a past developer in the picture, but the situation is very similar.

West Coconut Grove: A SENSE OF PLACE from Chad Tingle on Vimeo.

Posted on November 3rd, 2011 by Laurie Cook
Filed under: News