But just a week after local police shot an unarmed black man a few blocks from here, sparking a wave of riots, the scene is downright eerie. The only sign of life is the young tough slouching against the front of Bill's grocery store, which stands defiantly open and, thanks to the heavy metal gratings shielding its windows and doors, relatively unscathed. The desolation, however, is misleading. And understanding why helps explain why the city is such a racial tinderbox. By most accounts, the effort is succeeding.
Property values are on the rise, as is demand for market-rate housing.
Nowhere is the transformation more conspicuous than in the refurbished Main Street entertainment district, four blocks east of Vine, where crack houses and liquor stores have given way to art galleries and jazz clubs. Every evening, as the drug trade shifts into high gear over by Bill's, the yuppie masses descend on Main to shell out big bucks for oversize martinis and live music. The media typically gives these transformations glowing coverage. And, in many ways, they're right. Chief among the public investments is more police.