Diversity As Best Friend? Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's always easy.

Last Friday evening as I was scrambling around 5th St. trying to gauge how business owners really felt about closing the street during the holiday event I stumbled into a conversation I've been having more and more recently (no, not the one about the rotten economy). It goes a little something like this (not exact quotes from an actual conversation):

Me: "So you've been around here for a while...What would you say that 5th St.'s biggest strength is?

Business Owner: "I'll tell you...5th Street's biggest strength is all of the different ethnic groups that are here. That's its biggest weakness too! It's like the most diverse neighborhood in Philadelphia. I love that I can walk around the corner and get Korean food, Vietnamese food, Carribean food...it's really good eatin here on 5th Street and I think we could attract more people here just for that. People think with their stomachs. But all the groups here...we don't talk to each other. I know the people next door, but that's about it. It's not like it used to be where you felt like you got something in common with people and you can just stop in and say 'hi.'"

The idea that people of different races or ethnicities don't speak to each other at all is a little oversimplified, and, I think, not what he meant. But I've heard people talk about this before and I wonder if it's as much about a lack of continuity as it is about actual social tensions.

A few weeks ago a nonprofit leader in the neighborhood told me she calls Olney Philadelphia's "launching pad." Businesses and residents spend a little time in Olney, and if they have some success they tend to move out. But lots of folks start out in Olney.

Building community can be tough in a place with such a shifting population.

People move in and out of neighborhoods for many different reasons. If those who move out are looking for bigger houses and yards, there may not be much Olney can do about that. But if they are looking for jobs, there may be solutions. And if they are looking for community it's up to those of us who appreciate Olney's diversity to strengthen the ties between different groups.

Keeping this conversation alive is a good first step.