Usually, when we are discussing “gentrification”, it is about White People moving into Black areas, such as we are seeing in downtown Detroit, where social capital, property values, and economic activity (along with the tax base) are growing, while crime declines. Gentrification is just a growing way to Blame Whites. Here’s what’s happening in San Francisco
(NY Times) Luxury condominiums, organic ice cream stores, cafes that serve soy lattes and chocolate shops that offer samples from Ecuador and Madagascar are rapidly replacing 99-cent stores, bodegas and rent-controlled apartments in the Mission District, this city’s working-class Latino neighborhood.
As San Francisco has become the preferred bedroom community for Silicon Valley, the Mission, with its urban edginess, has become the hottest location. Close to the center of the city, it has historically been home to Mexican and Central American immigrants whose large families live in small apartments in narrow Victorians and older buildings. Taquerias, bakeries, bars and auto mechanic shops line the streets where Spanish is spoken. Like Chinatown, this distinctive neighborhood helps define San Francisco, but the gentrification — fueled by technology workers and the popularity of Airbnb — is faster and more drastic here than elsewhere.
Obviously, this is all a Bad Thing, seeing all these West Coast liberal rich folks moving in to the area. It’s evil and it must be stopped!!!!!!
Ms. Tejeda joined hundreds of other Mission residents in a demonstration this month at City Hall, where they held a sit-in in front of the office of Mayor Edwin M. Lee to protest housing prices and the evictions of longtime tenants. But the mayor was not in.
“We are here to save the heart and soul of San Francisco,†said Roberto Hernandez, a community organizer with the group Our Mission No Eviction. He spoke disparagingly of a one-bedroom house in his neighborhood that sold for “$2 million in cash to someone who invented some app.â€
Well, there is a point about this influx of money driving out long term residents.
Another complaint is that the influx of newcomers is bleaching out the Latino culture that drew them here. “People who come here say, ‘I love these murals,’†Mr. Campos said, adding, “You cannot have the art without the artists. We are losing this neighborhood.â€
And right there is the main point: they do not like Whites moving in. Despite the influx of Latinos having driven out the Whites who first settled San Francisco. Then we find, all the way at the end
Newer residents are grateful for some of the changes gentrification has brought, which include a drop in crime.
“When I moved here, this was a no-go zone,†said Matthew McGraw, founder and chief executive of Rocket Science Consulting, a design and technology company. With his wife, six children and two dogs, he lives in an airy warehouse, which by day is shared with employees.
Huh. So the crime is going down? Weird, right?
