As a design, the area had to be between the crown jewel areas, as that allowed cheap services to the neighbouring up-society population. So, the businesses flourished in this area. This is like the help’s quarters to serve the better locations nearby.
As the time goes by, a pressure in the ‘crown jewel’ areas to stretch say, the shopping district, to let everyone (doesn’t mean the actual residents of Charlottesville even my mistake) could have a piece. But, as that happens, normally the suburbs come under the hammer, as have larger potential value for the real estate industry and so the local administration.
Media with its limited capacity to process and analyse, sing the same song over and over: go on repeating the story ‘sold (or rather bought)’ to them.
It happened in 1965, it’s happening now. It happens to suburbs, it happens to villages, forests.
