Unfortunately, what Ishmael is faced with is a combination of a somewhat convoluted permit process and not having reached out to the neighborhood. He is finding that having enough money and getting the permits isn't enough. Neighborhood organizations can be a force to reckon with. Recently a neighborhood group in the Northern Liberties area of Philadelphia stopped McDonald's from building another franchise and found another developer to build a grocery store instead - exactly what they desperately needed there. Imagine, they beat Mickey Dees. That is the power of a strong and organized neighborhood. And such a force to be reckoned with in University City District is what Ishmael ran right into. Coincidentally, during the filming, Councilwoman Blackwell held a meeting for concerned businessmen of the Baltimore Corridor, where Ishmael is building his restaurant, because of complaints that L&I (License and Inspection) folks are beaming in out of nowhere and all of a sudden businesses that have been there for years now have a staggering amount of fines or 'enhancements' they have to make. In effect, they woke up one morning, and several inspections later, they were not in compliance by sundown. Who beamed in these inspectors? Why all the interest in this street that has a variety of African businesses? The ugly 'gentrification' word is floating around along, email lists talking of 'what we don't need is another African braid shop'. Well, here is a classic case of what happens when a neighborhood goes from 'transitional' to 'attractive'. In the early 1990s, African businesses opened in the Baltimore Corridor because although somewhat dangerous, it was affordable . Through hard work, their efforts paid off over time and now it's a relatively attractive place to live and work. Combined with University of Pennsylvania's mortgage program to entice faculty and staff to purchase there, the neighborhood is changing, housing prices have easily doubled in the last 3 years alone. Are the GAP's and Starbucks getting ready to move in? Are conspirators paving the way for these giant hegemonic corporations to set up shop in West Philadelphia? If this is the case - that's surely nothing but a deliberate 'move out notice' being served to African businesses and residents in West Philadelphia, and a warning to the neighborhood organizations - African and otherwise, to organize and fight.

When Ishmael talked to Alisa from Councilwoman Blackwell's Office in the last minute of the piece, it was clear that in this case, the neighbor's complaints were concrete and there seems to be no evidence of some conspiracy or a trumped up effort to block him from opening his restaurant. He simply has to re-orient his exhaust which now faces his neighbor's property and modify his kitchen since the previous landlord went over his lot a few feet toward the sidewalk. Fortunately, Councilwoman Blackwell has had her offices easily accessible to African immigrants in West Philadelphia and as Alisa told Ishmael - he has to be part of the neighborhood. He was not known to the immediate community where the restaurant is placed, and that's where the fears came from as they always do - from the unknown. It's the evolutionary process of immigrants and immigrant communities - first they focus inward to build their base without much interaction with the larger community setting they live in, and then with time comes the integration within the larger social fabric. Ishmael in this piece makes this outward transformation for the first time.