UN-JUSTIFICATION OF GENTRIFICATION
I remember running through the back alley with all the other neighborhood kids. We would play basketball, go to each others houses, and prank one another. There was the one house at the end of the street that we would creep us all. We would pass on urban legends about certain neighbors. This was my neighborhood growing up. That is what neighborhoods should be like, a community that is raised organically through the experiences of the people that live in it. This idea is in danger of going extinct. Gentrification is to blame for this.
The Bay Area has always been a place with rich with culture, thanks in part to all the different ethnicities that have made a home for themselves here. Different neighborhoods have their own unique feeling to offer. From the Mission District in San Francisco to the Little Saigon in East San Jose. This is why the Bay Area is popular tourist destination. But what happens when those tourist become residents
This blame is not exclusive to tourist. Many of the new people that our flooding into the Bay Area are employees to huge tech companies. This is part of what causes gentrification. What is gentrification you ask? Gentrification is the process of the revitalization of low-incoming, and historically minority neighborhoods. How is this a problem you ask? It is the way the neighborhood is revitalized that is the problem. These tech companies have employees that make high salaries and these employees move into the inner-city, poor neighborhoods.
One of the prime factors that causes these tech workers to move into the inner-city is the easy access to public transportation. This includes bus stops, Bart stops, and even bike lanes. Some tech companies are located in downtown, making public transportation a good alternative to driving a car in crowed city streets. Another factor that causes tech workers to move into these poor neighborhoods is the low cost of rent (at least low in the beginning). This would attract anyone, and these tech workers to full advantage.
Gentrification causes the culture to change in these ethnic neighborhoods. For example, the Mission District in San Francisco had been a predominately Latino community for decades. That all changed when big tech companies came into town. These tech workers were amused by the colors and culture of the Mission District. So much so that they decided to move in and be part of the culture. As more and more tech workers moved into the Mission, the more the culture began to change. These tech workers were pushing out locals and replacing Mexican bakeries with hipster coffee shops. The culture they so desperately wanted to be a part of was replaced by them.
Another affect gentrification has had in these low-incoming neighborhoods, and the most important one to look at, is the rise in cost for housing. Since many of these tech workers make about six figure salaries, landlords are able to raise the rent. This causes many of the locals living in these poor neighborhoods to be priced out. Families that have been living in these neighborhoods for generations can no longer afford their childhood homes.
It is very disappointing watching locals lose their culture and their homes all at one time. Imagine someone coming into your home and raising the price of your rent just because the person living next to you has tech job. How is it fair for families who’s ancestors help build the communities they live in to be pushed out? There needs to be a way for these Bay Area transplants and the locals to coexist in the same cities.
