The next time I spoke with my friend Ray, I brought up the matter of potential displacement due to the historic overlay. He was a bit more hesitant, if not to say pessimistic. This time we were on the top of A Mountain looking down upon the City of Tucson spread below, flowing out with street and houses like oil spilling upon an innocent sea, past the distant foothills.
“An ‘historic designation’ will protect the neighborhood from demolition, but not the residents. It is mostly a matter of money.” We could see the way Tucson had grown from what had previously been a small town. Close to us, we could see the old epicenter of Tucson, including Saint Augustine Cathedral, City Hall, and El Presidio neighborhood, the Santa Cruz River wash. Cities do change. Ray spoke more about this.
“Unless we change the way we look at things, there will not be much cultural historic memory left just around the corner of today, because the Anglo culture has eroded the Hispanic presence every chance it gets. Notice how in every town in North America that was established by the Spaniards, with the concept of its heart being the plaza, bordered by the church at the main end, government on the other, retail, and commerce in a third and municipal services in the fourth, according to King Charles V, this order has been efficiently done away with through zoning. It is accomplished by moving government buildings elsewhere, reducing the importance of the church, and encouraging commerce in other areas. But once you call something ‘historic’, then it becomes a new entity; a museum for tourists and no longer the heart and soul of a living breathing community, unless it absorbs a new mantra that incorporates people’s private lives as a positive integral part. Without incorporating this element, the cohesiveness of the previous inhabitants begins to dissolve. Hispanic heritage comes from Spain. How much of the Hispanic culture is derived from the Spanish way of thinking and doing?”
That was a wise observation, and it did not bode well for what we hoped to do for the Barrio, unless….
Ray went on, “We Anglos have our malls, parks, and community centers, but no plazas with a church at its center. We love our many churches but separate from government and commerce.”
“I had not thought about any of that.” I said, while thinking about the interactive use of spaces in a plaza, and the spaces in between within the Barrio.
Ray continued, “Without historic preservation the rising value of land in a central district of any city calls for higher density, which leads to building up, high-rises, more parking, and more traffic. (This age-old economic and value of life struggle between country and urban living affects more people than just Hispanics, the poor, or cultures in the advancement of civilizations.) Making the Barrio historic will save the physical properties, but not necessarily the people in it. They will be exposed to tours and strangers coming and going and asking questions, and if the residents are poor, they will be turned into exhibits. Investors will buy them out at cheap prices to restore and sell at a profit...” He tried to linger with his concern.
“Well, unless… well, then we must find the way to get them out of poverty.”
“Good luck! That is what Democrats have been saying for years and years, and they never do it. They need poor people to stay poor or they lose their base. That’s why they support and sponsor handouts and more taxes. You will have an uphill battle with them.”
“With Democrats? They have been the most helpful to us so far.” I didn’t like hearing him saying that.
“Really?” was all that Ray said.
We kept political discussions out of the activities of the neighborhood, although understanding politics was turning out to be crucial when it came down to CDBG Funding.
As I thought more about the pros and cons of what we were about to promote, as with Mr. Delaporte before, I bounced more ideas off from Ray and Skinner.
“The erosion of the architecture is following the erosion of the Hispanic culture, or vice versa, but if the entire Barrio is entered in the Historic Register, it’s not only the buildings and the materials utilized but also the spaces within them, in between them, and the relationship between families among those spaces created by years of cultural living where the key concept is the relationship of the family. Therefore, this entire entry in the register may be the best or the only way to help those that live here now to be able to stay longer, since it is a comfortable environment for them. It doesn’t make their culture, but it helps maintain it.”
I had just erroneously convinced myself that we were heading in the best direction possible. The error so far was not in the direction but in the incomplete accuracy of the reasoning behind it. By only contemplating the beneficial while failing to see the detrimental, I was missing deeper roots. I was missing the effects of technology. For once Ray did not say a word. Cars? Lightbulbs? The open central area used to have horses, wagons, workshops, and outhouses. Not anymore.
Critical thinking has a way of changing direction when approaching its implementation, in part because our biggest strengths are also our biggest weaknesses, or the reverse, and we may not become aware of it. For example, when does determination supplants stubbornness? Is this a note of caution in never, never give up? Will historians in the future understand this? Isn’t weakness of adobe also its biggest strength? What about the strength of empty spaces? (If any.)
The issue kept circling inside my mind. It was a big mystery to solve. The decision I would make with Delaporte would affect the lives of many for better or worse. What right did I have to be involved? It would help Kelly Rolling immensely, but I shouldn’t worry about him. He could take well care of himself, thank you. Others would not be quite as fortunate. Would this be leveling the playing field or creating an accelerated displacement and gentrification because of the shifting economics caused by historic restoration? Isabel? José? Panchita? Later, considering it retrospectively, time has ways to change the importance of certain issues. I had disrupted the traditional evolution of the one Barrio house I tried to restore. I knew less in those days than I do now.
Then a thought crossed my mind. What if we separate the Zaguan style from the Shot-Gun style and from the single housing unit adobe Victorian style? We could see that the first two styles were mostly concentrated in Barrio Libre, while El Hoyo and El Membrillo had mostly adobe Victorian or single individual units. They were all part of the Hispanic culture, and children grew up in both areas, as well as in other styled homes. My perception, poor as it was, told me that the inside of shotgun-style house had a very difficult floor plan for modern living for any culture. These houses were built before inlaid plumbing and electricity, before cars and TVs were invented. Three small living spaces in line for a family of eight was not easy in terms of today’s living. Privacy, mobility, social life, proliferation of TV, computers, washing machines, refrigerators, etc., are facts of the modern world, and the adaptation of an adobe row house to the modern world is not only expensive, but very difficult to achieve, while trying to preserve the purity of the materials and the interior floor plan in the historic style.
To the extended family social fabric, such functions as home visits, childcare, and family events, respect, mobility, and security were made easy by proximity and open spaces, no matter the looks of the house. To modernize and adapt a house required changes to the old designs. However, of interest and worth special attention, is from a solid abrupt front on the sidewalk, how the linearity flowed to the back which then opened connecting an indoor-outdoor space for eating and socializing, taking care of animals, leading to a mostly shared open courtyard conducive to connecting extended family life through the back. This lifestyle was fading. It is hard to regain family interconnectivity through empty spaces once property ownership has changed in the in-betweens and outside of family control.
One temporary forced adaptation to technology was the way in which for many years the pre-marriage male gathering often took place in the car in front of the house, where half a dozen guys would drink beer and talk all night long. While during the day, the paved front street became the common playground for kids.
Suddenly, it became clear to me that a Hispanic, like an Anglo of equal financial means, would have similar needs and equal opportunity, although expressed differently, to restore and improve a Zaguan or a Shot-Gun style adobe dwelling by expanding or interconnecting several of them. If they have the financial means and the desire to make some sacrifices, why shouldn’t they?
In addition, if the standard of living of all residents increased, and their homes secured, those now living in Barrio Libre could easily stay put or move to El Hoyo or El Membrillo and retain the traditional cultural value of use of space and time, and be part of the transformation, of their own making, while retaining the pride of heritage and family tradition of generations. They would just do it differently than the Anglo; with their own thinking, implementing their own zoning. Only one way would make this possible: Raising economic availability and improving educational accessibility, but it had to come from the inside, not as a handout.
El Hoyo and El Membrillo would not undergo the displacement and gentrification that Barrio Libre was destined to encounter, in part because of the intrinsic rigid floor plans in Barrio Libre. Since El Hoyo and El Membrillo had floorplans that could be easily updated and expanded, they offered a better fit. If after fifty years, a generation or two, the Hispanics in El Hoyo wanted to go elsewhere, more freedom to them, but as long as they should have the financial power to stay if they chose to do so. I remember my first project with Paco’s house, he was getting a handout and his personal needs, which he could not afford, were not to be considered that important to Jodi, as the government likes to do to the Indians. For a culture to survive for years to come, it became obvious to me that economics and survival were integral to each other. Because we are in America, a Hispanic, or anyone, needs to learn to produce not just for Hispanics, but for Italians, Arabs, Indians, and others, partaking while retaining the values of their own culture.
In other words, if you don’t learn that, you lose.
Survival and Economics
Survival of a Culture is Directly Related to Economic Sustainability
Later I would find two more elements besides ‘economy’ for the survival of a culture, any culture, in America. For now, the freedom of the movement of individuals into the economic and educational middle class was imperative. To sustain a population in poverty to pretend to preserve their culture is a travesty. Hint: think of some of Native American Indians on reservations, think of Hugo Chavez and Bolivarianism.
The question rises; if the two cannot coexist, what is more important; getting people out of poverty, or preserving their culture? Some people would prefer to tell them to keep their culture by remaining poor. Who has the right to determine that? The answer must be found in doing both.
The graph on the next page shows why so many people want to come to the United States. Now, I knew that going with Chris Delaporte’s recommendation to enter the entire neighborhood in the National Historic Register was the right thing to do, and it was the only thing to do. Maybe? However, it was only if and while the economic base and the frame of mind of the entire neighborhood was improved. Ha…! A minor point!!! And how do you do that? What was I getting into?
The solution remained elusive. Was I getting any closer? There are so many fibers in the tapestry that create and preserve a culture, such as the use of space, solids and hollows, sense of time, homes and language, and mystical unknowns like family bonds, and heritage links, inheritances…
Some people complained that I spent too much time drinking coffee in Café Olé, but grinding on these questions gave me much to think about.