Gentrification sucks

WHAT EXACTLY IS A "college town"? Possibly it is a town whose entire nature and character is determined by the presence of a college or University. A college town may in fact be a rather large city, like Austin, Texas, but this requires the presence of a huge university. Austin, Texas, everyone agrees, is a classic college town, even though it has grown enormously. A small college in a large city doth not a college town make; the city merely swallows up the school. Austin, Texas is a true college town, even though Austin has a population of nearly two million, because the University of Texas is so enormous that it shapes the character of Austin. In particular, the presence of the University of Texas turns Austin into a progressive, liberal minded, culturally diverse oasis in the midst of an otherwise staid, conservative region. Starkville, Mississippi is a college town, because the town itself is quite small; any college at all, let alone a major university, would render Starkville a true college town, due to the lack of other cultural points of light nearby. College towns are very special places. They seem so...alive. Even with UCLA and USC, Los Angels, California can never be a college town; the city is so enormous that it swallows up everything in it , and there is no one thing which shapes the character of a huge city of several million people. Among America's most personality laden college towns are Boulder, Colorado, Madison, Wisconsin, and Fayetteville, Arkiansas. These are places which cannot even be imagined without the existence of their higher education institutions. Sometimes college towns grow so much that the local populations begins to regret the growth. "Keep Austin funky", the cry goes out. When the main drag, the street where all the bars, shops, restaurants, and book stores are, starts to gentrify, the regret begins. Old, threadbare, crumbling buildings, within which are ensconced little off beat business; these are the stuff of which college towns are made. When the corporations come along, bringing plastic and glittering glass, and chain stores, the atmosphere is damaged. Gentrification sucks.