Conclusion
Examines prospects, implications and final comparisons. Considers the challenges of neighborhood activism in Northeast LA as an older cadre of artists and activists makes way for a new generation of movement leaders who confront a shifting racial and socioeconomic landscape in the transition from suburbanization and white flight to gentrification and white return. Attention to conflicts in the Latino/a experience in Boyle Heights and Northeast L.A. and the power of processions and rituals to cope with the social trauma of eviction and displacement. The struggle to save imperiled cultural landmarks and the promise of new cultural festivals and music scenes is addressed. NELA is viewed as an illustration of going “back to the future” in regional transit policy turns away from the failures of the postwar auto-centered metropolis towards smart growth and green alternatives. Urban policy solutions are considered with respect to transit oriented development, affordable housing development and supporting tenants’ rights and programs for the homeless. Reflections are given on meanings of taking back the boulevard. The significance of looking at the neighborhood scale in metropolitan change is addressed. Addresses the book’s contribution to interpretive, public and critical sociology.