Gentrification

[RAM]

Because of a recent South Park episode criticizing it, my summer visit to Boulder, CO, and my current city of residence, I have been thinking a lot about gentrification lately.

On paper it really should not be a bad thing; what's wrong with an area inhabited by wealthy, cultured, young professionals? It turns out that the answer seems to be a lot, and quite often gentrification is used with negative connotations. The recent South Park episodes have really emphasized this. When the process occurs, the result is often a group of inauthentic-poseur-hipsters who drive rent prices up and displace previous residents and prior culture.

I have had a very odd experience in both my own town, and in Boulder, regarding gentrification. While I usually trust myself more when under the influence of psychedelics to have a more accurate outlook on the world, my psychedelic-self is actually greatly attracted to the kind of clean-hip aesthetic that arises. I felt more comfortable, safe, and supported in Boulder than I have anywhere else, and I felt like I was surrounded by like-minded people with regard to physical fitness and psychedelic usage/acceptance. My current town is almost as gentrified, I'd say, and I definitely felt the attraction during a recent LSD trip.

However, I know on a rational level that much of these positive feelings arise from myself being included in the homogeneous mass (a young white liberal person with some disposable income) and that there are very negative effects that result from gentrification, mainly focused around displacement, homelessness, and wealth consolidation.

What are your thoughts on gentrification? Do you live in a gentrified area? If you look critically at your situation, are you in fact a gentrifier?

 

[AcaciaConfusedYah]

I guess it all depends on perspective. I wouldn't say that gentrification is a good or a bad thing. Nothing is without consequence.

I live in a town that is being gentrified in areas. Two perspectives most voiced: the people who are being pushed out of their homes, and the people looking to "modernize or restore" the areas.

I prefer to stay out of it. It's bigger than my little brain can adequately conceptualize in order to form an educated, well thought-out opinion - one which actually offers some kind of proposal of resolution.

The sociological and psychological dynamics that surround the human experience transcend an easy answer. Ideally a means of compromise would be nice.... but that seems like it is not on anyone's agenda, these days.


I, personally, don't reap the rewards of any type of gentrification. I live amongst the "lower" classes, and most certainly don't have a trust fund, or disposable income...

but, if some big developer offered me a check for my house, you bet your ass I'd sell....

 

[Nitegazer]

I think of gentrification as the flipside of urban decay. Both are exogenous change in a community that disrupts the familiar and historic attributes of the place. Gentrification is a good thing IF it happens slowly enough, and if there is enough diversity.

Most people would be happy to have a high-end coffee bar in their neighborhood, but not if rising rents put the local diner out of business. Rising house prices help long-time residents, but not if they accelerate to the point that seniors can't afford the property taxes. Gentrification works only as much as it benefits a large number of existing residents.

 

[Muskogee Herbman]

Gentrification also applies to when farms are turned into suburbs. If I had some more time I'd contribute a bit to this... Imo I think its pretty bad, and designers such as myself should work really hard to not destroy the cultures that made that place interesting to begin with.
In almost all cases of gentrification in my city, Young Urban Professionals CAN NOT afford these places. They are for the rich exclusively.

 

[jamie]

"What are your thoughts on gentrification? Do you live in a gentrified area? If you look critically at your situation, are you in fact a gentrifier?"

Yeah I live a couple blocks off mainstreet in vancouver, which is an area of the city being heavily gentrified as more well off yuppies are drawn to the creative expression that was instilled here by relatively poor folk..many of whom cannot afford to live here anymore, or are at least drawn farther and farther up the hill away from the center of it. It happens over and over in urban areas. Older, cheaper more run down areas then sort of become the next up and coming trendy place to live, and for a while there is a lot of true authentic expression and room for movement..until too much money is drawn to the place and the cycle repeats.

I don't make enough money to participate in gentrification.

Welcome to capitalism.

I love the city, but without my friends this place would be hell. It's the people that bring me here. Among all the money in such a trendy city there is still a lot of cool culture happening.

 

[skoobysnax]

"What are your thoughts on gentrification? Do you live in a gentrified area? If you look critically at your situation, are you in fact a gentrifier?"

Yeah I live a couple blocks off mainstreet in vancouver, which is an area of the city being heavily gentrified as more well off yuppies are drawn to the creative expression that was instilled here by relatively poor folk..many of whom cannot afford to live here anymore, or are at least drawn farther and farther up the hill away from the center of it. It happens over and over in urban areas. Older, cheaper more run down areas then sort of become the next up and coming trendy place to live, and for a while there is a lot of true authentic expression and room for movement..until too much money is drawn to the place and the cycle repeats.

I don't make enough money to participate in gentrification.

Welcome to capitalism.

I love the city, but without my friends this place would be hell. It's the people that bring me here. Among all the money in such a trendy city there is still a lot of cool culture happening.

Artists are often the engine for these things and they in turn are moved out by rising rents. There is a good documentary about this in Berlin on vimeo Watch Children of the Wall Online | Vimeo On Demand

 

[anne halonium]

gentrification.....

when new money cant afford to live like old money,
they just invade some convenient poor people.

soils the real money AND the poor alike.......
its appalling.

 

[Koornut]

It certainly makes eating a lot easier for the artists and gypsies with skills.

 

[Nitegazer]

From Wikipedia:

"Early "gentrifiers" may belong to low income artists or boheme communities.."

So, I say down with low income artists! You trouble makers.

Trouble is, drawing too hard a line to outside investment can hurt neighborhoods, too. All neighborhoods change, alternately gaining and loosing wealth. Restricting wealth inflows means that neighborhoods can only move in one direction... down.

I've seen both the good and bad of gentrification in NYC. Long-time residents are sometimes ok with the departure of 99c stores and check cashing businesses-- if the replacements are grocery stores and needed services. Other times, like with the 'whiting' of Harlem, the changes are really troubling.

 

[null24]

There has been a lot of hullabaloo in the local media regarding my cities " housing crisis". A perfect storm of stagnant wages, few jobs, something called the Urban Growth Boundary here, developers greed, a short housing market and code that allows for no cause eviction and huge (20%) rent increases has made it happen. Last summer an emergency session was called and all they came up with was the possible opening of new shelters for those pushed from their homes.

I watched this occur in east Atlanta, working witha contractor who would buy a home on a lot in a " blighted" area for around 15,000$ then build up to four new homes there, selling each for upwards of 250,000. That was 20 years ago.

Here we are seeing an influx of out of state relocaters bringing cash but no opportunity going up homes and pricing locals out. State agencies are stretched beyond their ability to help and there is a real crisis going on.

I just made it off the streets and don't know how else I could have done it without the kindness if a stranger. It's terrifying to be out there knowing that without personal support you're just going to languish there.

It's a sad state if affairs that I feel in some ways we brought on ourselves here. This town has a diehard DIY don't sell out ethic that saw a lot of us deny things like success I the name of artistic integrity. We didn't realize that we were smashing our own heads on the punk rock and ensuring our own poverty. At the same time, the new guard of restauranteurs and other empire builders rush to sell their company names to out-of-state investment firms. Every time I walk by a Stumptown coffee and see all the bearded hipsters in there on their laptops sit in their freaking lattes want to hock a big loogie right on the fucking window. They all have their little Oregon stickers with the green heart on the middle of it on the back of their Subaru, but glad to send all their money off to New York and LA.

Screw gentrification, screw LA screw New York and screw all thier freaking greed. Sometimes I want to burn the city down sometimes I want to just leave.

Bitter? Who, me ? Noooo. :roll:

 

[Koornut]

@null
At least you know if shit really falls apart you will be a survivor, because you've done nothing else but that for the longest time. There ain't no moustache wax in the bush, nor single source coffee beans and wifi.

 

[null24]

@null
At least you know if shit really falls apart you will be a survivor, because you've done nothing else but that for the longest time. There ain't no moustache wax in the bush, nor single source coffee beans and wifi.

Lol. There's definitely something to be said about being low maintenance.

Mustache wax? I'm sure there's a Portlandia episode about it.

For the last several years, I've made it a hobby of mine to shut down their sets whenever I see them. " oh, oops did you say quiet on the set? I thought I heard you say 'scream Fred ain't from here! ' at the top your lungs' Honestly I was just trying to help out."

 

[jamie]

oh come on..we know you have a beard....

 

[dreamer042]

Once upon a time there was a little neighborhood. It was filled with small local businesses; headshops, sexy shops, new age shops, a record store, an amazing local coffee house, lots of art spaces, this kind of thing. It was one of those places that really sits at the heart of a (sub)culture. Being such a unique, eclectic, and culturally lively space, it attracted a lot of traffic and a lot of money.

Of course big business was quick to move in. In comes Whole Foods, Barnes & Noble, Bikram Yoga, Jamba Juice, and so on. Rent prices skyrocket and all the independent local businesses are driven out of the neighborhood. The building that housed them was destroyed with plans to build condos in its place. Ironically (and expectedly) with the charm and uniqueness of the neighborhood gone, all the shoppers stopped coming and the plans for development were quickly abandoned. So for years and years what used to be the most unique and interesting neighborhood in the city became nothing but a giant hole in the ground surrounded by an endless sea of corporate logos.

After nearly a decade as an unsightly crater. Someone finally bought the property, and condos are finally going up. That whole part of town is completely yuppiefied now, all the hip low-rent folks have moved to the poorer areas on down the road and the endless cycle continues. Our city really took a big hit, both culturally and economically, with the loss of that old neighborhood.

This is the most stark example of this process I've encountered in my own experience, but this kind of thing is happening all the time all over the place. Big money loves to pick areas that are trendy, but in the process of moving into those areas they destroy the very features that made the area special in the first place. It would almost be sad or even funny if it wasn't so condign.

 

[Nathanial.Dread]

There's a reason that activists, especially those interested in racial justice issues, are so passionately opposed to gentrification.

One thing that makes me raise an eyebrow in this thread is that a lot of people are talking in a way that seems to suggest that gentrification is a problem when cool, artsy, alternative areas get taken over by corporate entities, and that's definitely a problem, but it's worth remembering that this is only the second half of gentrification.

It usually starts with artists/hipsters/entrepreneurs moving into low-income neighborhoods occupied primarily by immigrants, black folks, or other people of color. The 'cool' 'trendy' people (who, lets be real, are usually white) end up pushing out the PoC, and it's only then, once those areas of 'safe' (again read: white) that the area becomes appealing enough to the corporate Powers That Be to finish the cycle.

By the time that the hip/trendy area is established enough that it's loss is worth mourning, potentially hundreds of our society's most vulnerable people have already been displaced.

Blessings
~ND

 

[Spiralout]

hmmmm, this is capitalism and why I can't stand it.

I live in a place that used to be all farm land. Now fastworward 15 20 years and theres aobut 6 grocery stores within walking distance and tons of restaurants no one needs. Yuppies abound.. As shporange said atleast I cant eat for free if I have too.

Now down at the ocean, the non commercialized one, there are empty houses abound. Theres a huge housing development,its had these big rich looking houses thatve been sitting there for a year. No one buys em. So what do they do ? They build more and put up more signs advertising em. All sprac can do is walk up there and dismantle the signs and cut the flags down. I may go to town hall soon. Down at the commercializewd oceanfront everything is being built by swine nameed goldkey that made all his loot back in the 80s selling blow. On the way to the woods theres MOAR hosues being built. those ones are done and only one is bought, the ugly duckling, so of course theyre building more across the st.

But sprac goes out to the woods and theres signs saying i cant go in? Last time i went they were chopping moreandmore trees down to make room for the power lines. Group of old,fat or malnuirshed tiny pupil guys standing around sprac asked are you guys cutting down the trees?I said why... Sprac appeared crazy again but those ppl DID leave as he was riding his bike down the street he saw thme drive past.

Maybe I will take it to city hall soon. Im sick of this garbage. The yuppies are the worst group ive ever seen on this planet. As long as everthing is going alrgiht for me i dont care but without any damn backbone except there paycheck.. Its unreal...

Go up to my hometown and its the opposite. Full of character but now theyre pawing off all the section 8s there so its drug infested as hell. Used to be able to walk down the street smokeing a joint ( u can still cus they got biugger problems) without getting hassled, now you cant walk down the street without seeing a needle.

Rememeber how ppl used to say the US was great because of the middle class? WEll the middle class is the backbone of a good economy in a country. and its nowhere to be found anymore. Does this mean lay down and die ? No , imo it means do whatever you want and use your own common sense and morals and virtues , everyone has some, and forget about all the ridiculousness. All these money games are gunna fall apart within the next 20 years. Its just a way for the people up top to herd the sheep; once it falls it falls but in whose direction will it fall? That depends on you.. You can't eat screw or take shelter in money........

 

[DesykaLamgeenie]

I feel similar about gentrification to how I feel about invasive species - earth changes. Life changes. The things living in one area inevitably will die and give way to a new expression of the All in their place by different organisms that cocreate and inhabit a new environment, who are likewise created by that environment in a beautiful flow of beingness which will then change and become something else in time - and so on.

If I was one of the displaced people would I feel different and more strongly? I probably would...but we live our lives every day without giving much thought to the animals, insects, plants, trees, etc that are both being displaced/killed and killing/doing the displacing all over the world 24/7 in some form. It's going on all the time, and has always gone on as far as we can tell - plus mass extinctions, where nearly everything is killed and displaced.

There is yin, there is yang. There is creation and destruction. It is a force, and it just happens to have the faces of "yuppies", corporations, etc on it in this instance.

We relate to these specific situations you guys are bringing up more closely than we do with things in nature, and so they're on our mental screen, and they have people's faces on them - then we judge them, criticize them, and think we're making the call on what's valid/ok and what's not.

But this process....it's just how it is. It goes the other way, too - some nice neighborhoods gradually change and become less desirable to many when the borders between it and the ghetto begin to blur. And it happens in a zillion other ways. All the time.

But big PS: I realize that along with this process, defense by those threatened with displacement and protection of them by others who wish to help is also a natural process involved in the overall process of change and homeostasis in the world - so I wouldn't tell someone who wanted to fight it that I didn't think they should, cause I think anyone should do exactly as they're driven - it's all natural, and everyone's drives are valid...no matter how nasty they look or how 'wrong' they seem. They're all one wave of many that have been coming since the dawn of time and will continue to come indefinitely.

 

[Nathanial.Dread]

I feel similar about gentrification to how I feel about invasive species - earth changes. Life changes. The things living in one area inevitably will die and give way to a new expression of the All in their place by different organisms that cocreate and inhabit a new environment, who are likewise created by that environment in a beautiful flow of beingness which will then change and become something else in time - and so on.

If I was one of the displaced people would I feel more strongly? Perhaps, but we live our lives every day without giving much thought to the animals, insects, plants, trees, etc that are both being displaced/killed and killing/doing the displacing all over the world 24/7 in some form. It's going on all the time, and has always gone on as far as we can tell - plus mass extinctions, where nearly everything is killed and displaced.

There is yin, there is yang. There is creation and destruction. It is a force, and it just happens to have the faces of "yuppies", corporations, etc on it in this instance.

We relate to these specific situations you guys are bringing up more closely than we do with things in nature, and so they're on our mental screen, and they have people's faces on them - then we judge them, criticize them, and think we're making the call on what's valid/ok and what's not.

But this process....it's just how it is. It goes the other way, too - some nice neighborhoods gradually change and become less desirable to many. And it happens in a zillion other ways. All the time.

But big PS: I realize that along with this process, defense by those threatened with displacement and protection of them by others who wish to help is also a natural process involved in the overall process of change and homeostasis in the world - so I wouldn't tell someone who wanted to fight it that I didn't think they should, cause I think anyone should do exactly as they're driven - it's all natural, and everyone's drives are valid...no matter how nasty they look or how 'wrong' they seem. They're all one wave of many that have been coming since the dawn of time and will continue to come indefinitely.

I find that to be a frustrating position. In the cosmic sense, yes, things come, things go, we'll all wash away in the inevitable heat death of the universe.

However, I would say that compassion (which I would hope that many of us who have had profound psychedelic experiences appreciate the importance of) dictates that we be a little less blase when discussing, and living with, the racial and class-based forms of injustice that are so apparent in the modern world today.

When you talk about 'communities' growing and changing, etc, it all sounds very abstract, but think about the real human toll processes like gentrification have. I attended a talk by a woman who's family had been the victim of gentrification, and for her and her parents, it was catastrophic. Her parents were immigrants who could only get jobs as unskilled laborers, and when they finally had to leave their home, it was very difficult for her parents to find new work in their newer, more remote location. They couldn't afford a car, and so couldn't commute to their old jobs, so they lost them. Gentrification forced them out of their communities, rendered them unemployed, and potentially homeless (if they could not find new jobs in the new area).

That's not abstract big-picture change, that's real human stress and suffering. I would say that we have a duty to engage with that. It's nice, and probably less stressful, to take the 'zen' view, but you can only do that if you occupy a certain, priviledged space in society. For a lot of people, they can't look at gentrification as part of a bigger picture, because gentrification is pushing them out of their homes and into their financial difficulties.

Blessings
~ND

(I'd also say we have a duty to avoid introducing invasive species and, as a moral vegetarian of several years, apply a similar compassion-based metric to my own food choices. I don't want to self-identify as an anarcho-buddhist, but you get the idea).

 

[DesykaLamgeenie]

I find that to be a frustrating position. In the cosmic sense, yes, things come, things go, we'll all wash away in the inevitable heat death of the universe.

However, I would say that compassion (which I would hope that many of us who have had profound psychedelic experiences appreciate the importance of) dictates that we be a little less blase when discussing, and living with, the racial and class-based forms of injustice that are so apparent in the modern world today.

When you talk about 'communities' growing and changing, etc, it all sounds very abstract, but think about the real human toll processes like gentrification have. I attended a talk by a woman who's family had been the victim of gentrification, and for her and her parents, it was catastrophic. Her parents were immigrants who could only get jobs as unskilled laborers, and when they finally had to leave their home, it was very difficult for her parents to find new work in their newer, more remote location. They couldn't afford a car, and so couldn't commute to their old jobs, so they lost them. Gentrification forced them out of their communities, rendered them unemployed, and potentially homeless (if they could not find new jobs in the new area).

That's not abstract big-picture change, that's real human stress and suffering. I would say that we have a duty to engage with that. It's nice, and probably less stressful, to take the 'zen' view, but you can only do that if you occupy a certain, priviledged space in society. For a lot of people, they can't look at gentrification as part of a bigger picture, because gentrification is pushing them out of their homes and into their financial difficulties.

Blessings
~ND

I get all of that and I'm all for engaging with it. I can understand how the way my post was written might get under the skin of people who've directly experienced gentrification or who have a strong drive to engage with the issue. I have no direct experience, and have not had a strong drive to engage - nor known anything about it until fairly recently in life. So...while I experience and know compassion, I don't have strong feelings about it....similarly I know there are many people getting kidnapped, abused, and sold, and while I acknowledge how terrible that is and in a compassionate moment of deep thought about it emotions may be stirred....I wouldn't say I have a strong drive to seek out ways to engage with the issue(s) - those or any other tragic human happenings birthed out of carelessness or ill will happening all the time - directly. So while my perspective might seem despicable to someone with strong feelings about gentrification, to me it just is what it is. (my perspective I mean)

[all that with the hopefully obvious exceptions of when you have a 'chance' opportunity to engage directly with someone or some situation that could use your assistance. I'm all for helping someone who can be helped - I'm just not actively pursuing engagement with anything, though I applaud those who do]

(I'd also say we have a duty to avoid introducing invasive species and, as a moral vegetarian of several years, apply a similar compassion-based metric to my own food choices. I don't want to self-identify as an anarcho-buddhist, but you get the idea).

Well....I wouldn't introduce invasive species on purpose. I was more talking about the general fight against invasive species in some areas. To me the land is just changing. Things encroach on others' boundaries all the time. That's one of the big ways Earth and life change/evolve. Preserving portions of the earth in one state - holding on to an idea of how things should be because of how they've been for a part of our life seems to me like working against the flow of nature.

 

[DesykaLamgeenie]

And...

However, I would say that compassion (which I would hope that many of us who have had profound psychedelic experiences appreciate the importance of) dictates that we be a little less blase when discussing, and living with, the racial and class-based forms of injustice that are so apparent in the modern world today.

Compassion doesn't necessarily dictate anything. Compassion is not a mental thing in my book. It is felt, and could be acted upon. I feel compassionate when I think of any living thing struggling, suffering, or otherwise enduring hardship. But I also see the same being behind every single face, whether it be a 'bad guy', a 'good guy', an ex-girlfriend, an insect, plant or tree (though I know that we are all individual on some level and having our own experience; I'm not pretending to only see things from some high and mighty enlightened state, cause that's not the case I'm trying to make) - but so when something is enduring hardship, I don't see the thing creating the hardship as a 'bad' thing - I see it as a force to be danced with as best as we can - something to interact with while preserving ourselves and the things important to us as best as we can. Sometimes, these interactions will end in pain, suffering, hardship and possibly death. That's just how it is. Projecting a sense of compassion in our communication out of a sense of duty isn't my cup of tea. And yet, if I was faced with someone in hardship I would absolutely feel compassion and do whatever I could to assist them.

Many animals birth far more offspring than will survive, and it's just how it is - many will die, falling prey to predators, hunger, thirst etc. I feel for them when I think of that sort of thing...but at the same time, would it be wise to run out and save all the baby bunnies that would otherwise naturally die in the first few months of their lives? I know, I know - many would say they're bunnies, not people and so it's totally different. But the principle is similar if not the same. Many people will die, be pushed out of their communities, lose their jobs, and/or ultimately end up in a terrible situation for their well-being somehow whether it's gentrification or one of a thousand other processes - and if you can help one/some of those people, by all means go for it. I would do the same. But the OP asked for our perspectives on gentrification - and what you call the "zen" view is no more or less valid than any other.