Don’t say NOTHING to me about GENTRIFICATION

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-06

[00:00:00]Happy Friday, y'all.

[00:00:03]So, I'm slightly on one today. First, I just passed the um new 285 interchange, and that stuff is crazy because in order for you to get on the entrance ramp to get to 285, you got to get on before you even get to Wesley Chapel.

[00:00:26]So, by the time you get between halfway between Polola Road and Wesley Chapel, you got to be over there or you going to be screwed in the game. But that's neither here nor there.

[00:00:37]Um, I didn't expect my video that I made about NH Scott pool opening to get as much attention as it has gotten, not just on Facebook, but on Instagram and also on threads. So, all I'm going to say, if you ain't on Threads, you missing out. Threads is like everything to me. You can never get me to leave Threads. I leave Facebook and Instagram before I leave Threads. Not YouTube.

[00:01:05]YouTube is my money. But anyh who, so whenever I posted the video about the pool, for the most part, everybody got a lot of, you know, positive things to say. A lot of people are excited, especially those of us who grew up in the area. you know, went to Mark Trail, hung out at Martra, played ball at Martra, cheered at Martra, cut through Mark Trail whenever you were leaving school, me going high to get home.

[00:01:33]But then you got some people who have basically brought up gentrification and since the pool had been closed for like 20 years and it was actually a black lady that is from the neighborhood who has really just stood on the cab county's neck to get the pool back open.

[00:01:56]But I hear a lot of people grumbling about gentrification. As you guys know, I've been posting a lot about, you know, the old neighborhood. You know, I've been showing videos and and and p I started showing pictures of the different houses um that was going up in the neighborhood. And then I, you know, posted some videos. There's a new apartment complex across the street from Donald Trump. It also has some um town houses with garages in um at the corner of Tilson and Second Avenue there is a senior living. The entrance is excuse me the entrance is off of Tilson but it's right there where the church used to be right before you get to um Tilson. And if you dip down over on the Fedville side where Publix is is is looking crazy over there. And then of course you know that we're getting a Publix at the corner of Second not Second Avenue the corn the corner of Glenwood and Counter Road. So yes, a lot is changing in the area. It started changing after the 1996 Olympics and I'll say within the last 10 years, it is just crazy. That being said, let's talk about gentrification.

[00:03:21]So, and my mom, my mom, oh my god, my mom, that's all she, you know, she was hot about it. She was hot hot. And then also, let's go back. Let's also throw in the fact that that Lesie J Steel or what is it? Uh, McNair Academy was on the chopping block to be closed, which really blew my mind. Old J still second Avenue. They decided it to postpone it.

[00:03:46]You know, it was enough hoo-ha about it and so they postponed it. But getting back to gentrif gentrification, I see a lot of people talking about white people don't moved into the neighborhood, white people taking over, you know, this, that, and the third, whatever.

[00:04:06]And it wasn't I I knew that, but it wasn't until I moved back into our family home, as a lot of you guys know, I moved back into the family home in in February. We have been in that house for 51 years. when we moved in their house 1975, I had just turned 5 years old.

[00:04:24]Um, as far as gentrification is concerned, I think I get a little hot. I get a little hot whenever I hear people talking about it because so many of the people who have so much to say about it are the people who sold their homes.

[00:04:47]So many of the people who talking trash about and let me say this over near over where I am Trailwood Tilson McAfee that cluster right there and on the other side where the lake is on McAfee and all the way over to Glenwood it's now 60% not us but at the same time we sold it. is you you can't talk about gentrification and saying that they coming to take over. No, they didn't take come and take over. What happened is that you sold your homes because you thought that it was better. Let's back it up. In 1970 when we moved over there, the neighborhood was was in this the late 60s, early 60s. Y'all got to remember Gordon High used to be a white school.

[00:05:39]When we moved over there in 1975, it still was a lot of white people that lived on our n on on our street. So, we moved into the area. Of course, you guys know about white flight. We moved into the area and then they moved away.

[00:05:56]So, it was actually their neighborhood first. Let's say that we started moving away in the 80s, the late 80s, the 90s, the 2000s because we felt like Stockbridge was better. We felt like Duth was better. We felt like Alpharetta was better. We felt like North Norcross was better. McDonald was rather was the better. Um Conjurs was better. We um Stone Mountain in Snailville. We felt like all of those places were better than our neighborhood. And so we moved.

[00:06:28]Our parents moved. They sold and they moved away. We sold our parents' home whenever they passed away and and and moved away. We basically gave away our homes. Over in Kirkwood, we gave away our homes. And then now that other people have come in and bought these homes, y'all don't want to fuss about gentrification. But at the same time, whenever we were having neighborhood meetings, my mom would go to neighborhood meetings and only seven people would show up.

[00:07:00]Us only seven people would show up. And this was before it became 60% what it is now. Only about seven of us will show up. I've seen videos where they've had meetings now at Mark Trail NH Scott and when I'm looking at the people that are sitting on the bleachers, 90% of the people sitting on the bleachers are not us.

[00:07:24]So, you can't talk about gentrification whenever you sold your home because you thought moving somewhere else was better. And let me also say this.

[00:07:33]I can't even count the number of times whenever people comment on my videos and they say they haven't been over here in the area. I haven't been over there in 15 20 years. I ain't been to South Carolina Mall in since since 92.

[00:07:51]I haven't ridden through that. You you you live some of you live 15 miles away and you don't even ride through your old neighborhood to see what's changed, what's going on or any of that. But then now you want to fuss.

[00:08:06]You you want to fuss from outside of the neighborhood about gentrification.

[00:08:10]And then you're not even trying to move back to the neighborhood. You're not trying to buy homes up there. You don't feel like it's worth it. You don't feel like the neighborhood is worth. You'll rather pay $300,000 somewhere else to live in a house that that starts to fall apart and decay within a matter of 10 years than to move into the houses that we had that had more land, more space between between neighbors, solid brick, hardwood floors, plaster walls.

[00:08:43]Instead of that, you rather buy houses. All those houses that was built in the 80s and 90s over in Lonia, over in um Stone Mountain, Hidden Hills, those houses are falling apart.

[00:08:58]But even now, you'll go spend $300,000 somewhere else, but you don't think that it's worth you spending $300,000 in our neighborhood, but you're still fussing about gentrification.

[00:09:09]So that's what really just blows my mind and and and really pisses me off whenever I hear you throw up gentrification. And then for the ones who are quick to say that they're pricing us out of the neighborhood, their grandmama can't afford the house, the taxes are so high, blah blah blah.

[00:09:29]When you purchase a home, do you purchase a home for it to increase in value or do you purchase a home for it to stay the same as it is?

[00:09:44]Because if you do decide to sell, wouldn't you want to sell a house that you've paid on for x amount of years that is now worth $100,000 more? Or do you want to buy a home and in 10 years it's only worth $10,000 more? Just explain it to me. Explain it to me. And then you start talking about, well, grandmama can't afford this and grandmama can't afford that. Well, you know what? Between grandmama, four children, 15 grandchildren, three great grandchildren, everybody ought to say, "You know what?

[00:10:27]Every paycheck we gonna put $50 into this account so we can keep the family home because we paying $800 a month in car note, $400 a month in car insurance. I got some $200 shoes on my feet. I got a $1,200 iPhone.

[00:10:53]I go pay $800 every six weeks to get new weave. I'm paying $50 every week, two weeks to get a haircut.

[00:11:06]I'm iced out. I got chains on my I all grandmama's taxes is on your ass. That that's that's what grandmama's taxes are. Grandmother's taxes are on your ass, your feet, your head. them them them $3,000 worth of rims and tires you got on your car. That's where grandmama taxes are. That's where your your family's um generational wealth is. It's on your car and on your ass.

[00:11:36]So, I don't want to hear else about gentrification.

[00:11:42]Am I happy about it? Hell no. They don't even they they won't even let me be in the neighborhood app. They kick my ass out the neighborhood app cuz I be getting on their racist ass cuz a lot of them are racist as freak. I wonder whenever I go to Publix on Glenwood how many of those people know who I am because I got my picture up. They hide behind cats and dogs and whatever else the hell they has have his profile picture. Facebook group in the Facebook group they left my pinned for like three four days. So you know what I said? it. I I I left the Facebook group.

[00:12:17]Um they won't let me. They they uh block me in um the neighborhood app because they feel like they can say whatever the they want to say and nobody's supposed to say anything to them. So I just left the damn group because we're not the we don't have any control over these apps.

[00:12:34]It's not us who even has any approval or anything on these apps. But I just wanted to come on here and tear a new hole in y'all asses who constantly talk about gentrification, but you won't even ride through the old damn neighborhood. Only time that y'all come to the old neighborhood is go to the Gordon High alumni picnic. And y'all don't even come through for that. Y'all get off at Gresham, come up to Second Avenue, bust that right on Tilson, and come to the park. And then y'all go home. Y'all don't even ride past your old house to see what's going on. So, I don't want to hear else about gentrification. Okay, that's all I got.

[00:13:17]I don't got to my destination, but I just wanted to um tell y'all how I feel. All right, Lee.

[00:13:24]Bye.