Gentrification

[Mei]

I grew up in the Mission District of San Francisco. For those of you who know the area, it is now a very trendy area. All of Valencia Street is basically a hipster shopping mall at this point. However, when I was a kid, it was not like that. It was a working class neighborhood, predominantly black and latino. Then, the new, fashionable businesses came. Trust-fund Hipsters decided the Mission would be a nice area to "go slumming" because now there were some trendy coffee shops and clothing stores cropping up in the ghetto. Condominium developers took notice. On my block, nearly every building was bought up by those people and turned into extremely expensive condos.

The point in all of this is; every hipster that lives in my neighborhood basically has the blood on their hands but are like "this is our neighborhood, how dare you criticize our neighborhood". They completely ignore their complicity in this problem.

Is there anything I can do to make them leave? Should I start robbing them all?

 

[baconrind]

Yes. Yes you should.

 

[Gudj]

Totally rob them.

I don't know how to make them leave. As far as I know there is no solution to gentrification besides the end of capitalism.

But, upping the vandalism and litter are little things that rub those fools the wrong way.

 

[keg]

its not called robbing them.it is taxing them.when tourist come to Hawaii we tax them.even if they are cool.This is my home tourist fucked it up and made prices go up,therefore they pay tax.

 

[ped]

Is it like the opposite of white flight? Oh god, there goes the neighborhood!

We don't want no neegers coming here and driving the property values down.

We don't want no boogie crackers coming here pushing out the section 8.

 

[venusinpisces]

Any white person who thinks it's ok to rob those involved in gentrification should just stand still and not duck while they get shot in the face by Native Americans for trespassing on their ancestral homelands. Seriously, this line of thinking is so half-baked I don't even know where to begin. One thing to keep in mind is that the first wave of gentrification is usually led by people who were marginalized and pushed out by their own communities. In the Mission district, many of the first white people to move to the neighborhood were queers and trannies who were brutalized in the places where they grew up. Should those people be forced to remain in communities where violence and bigotry are a certainty, just because the only neighborhoods with cheap rents are primarily black and Latino communities? I used to live in the Mission district and knew many people who fit this description. None of them were trust fund kids by any means, and in fact a lot of those people went through cycles of homelessness and drug addiction. In my opinion, the only solution to gentrification is to raise awareness of racism while taking measures to create a more equitable society, not to attack people who have slightly more privilege than you do. Oh, and if you think the anarchist punk house you live in isn't contributing to gentrification, you better think again.

 

[Eric ASche]

Protest. Protest the fuck out of those people. I honestly don't have a problem with "hipsters" since a hipster was a rebel against the government in the 60s and stood up for what they believed in. Not like todays "hipsters" with their tight jeans and slouchy beanies in 90 degree weather. They are not "hipsters". I repeat THEY ARE NOT HIPSTERS. THEY ARE ASSHOLES. Assholes who are following a trend for the wrong reasons. Fashion reasons. Not human growth reasons. That's my hipster rant and I'm done.

 

[venusinpisces]

Any white person who thinks it's ok to rob those involved in gentrification should just stand still and not duck while they get shot in the face by Native Americans for trespassing on their ancestral homelands. .

I just want to make it clear that this statement is not meant to be taken literally. This thread really pissed me off because there have been a series of robberies in my neighborhood that have been stressing me out. Just this week my next door neighbors moved because they had been robbed too many times. The house two doors down was robbed in broad daylight and just this morning I caught a guy in the act of hopping my fence. Not the first time that's happened either. So I wonder how many people in this thread have either been robbed or have to deal with it as a part of their every day life.

Personally, it does not feel "liberating" to me to have to sleep with a heavy bike lock 2 inches from my hand, or to wake up from a deep sleep every time a squirrel crosses the yard. These things, and plenty more, are just a source of post traumatic stress and a desire to avoid crowds. As a single female who is often in the house alone in the middle of the night, I'm all too aware that violent societies are ones where said violence is primarily directed not at "elites", but at cultural scapegoats: women, disabled people, gay people, immigrants, etc.

This thread reminded me that, just a few years ago, in the Mission district, there was a string of violent hate crimes targeting middle class gay men, and carried out by members of the ultra-religious Latino community. I'm sure that many of the men involved in the attacks were upset about gentrification and bigotry was a way of expressing that. While I can sympathize with the source of their frustration, I can't support the way they chose to handle it. Since it seems like I'm in the minority on this issue, among many others, maybe it is time to leave STP behind.

 

[DFA]

Start being proactive. Robbing people isn't going to fix this situation.
Invite neighbors over, cook food, and think about ways to keep corporate influence out of the neighborhood.

However, I think these suggestions might be an understatement for what is happening not only in the mission/sf but the whole fucking world.

 

[DFA]

You see gentrification is a problem not just with major metropolitan areas of the US.....and when you think about it in those terms, it is difficult to find a solution too. As long as there are corporate interests in large cities there will be gentrification. I have gone over this problem so many times in my head, the only source I could come up with is some sort of community togetherness, neighborhood meetings, etc. This is also a good way to recognize crime activity in the area, so everyone has unity and a understanding of who/what and how to drive those influences out.

 

[DFA]

And on that note, here is something written by a very close friend of mine about gentrification in SF

http://www.missionminicomix.com/2011/06/scott-wiener-you-dick-head/

 

[soapybum]

http://zinelibrary.info/neighborhood-tenant-homeowner-alliance

Sounds a bit late for this, but in areas that gentrification is starting get your nieghborhood as a whole to fight it. Organize and reach out to people, like DFA said, be proactive.

 

[Mei]

if you think the anarchist punk house you live in isn't contributing to gentrification, you better think again.

Actually I grew up in the Mission, my family is working class and Asian

 

[Mei]

And gentrification is actually affecting some of the gay and trans* people who started moving to the Mission for the cheap rent, don't forget that their are working class gay and trans* people, some of whom are also black or Latino, who are no longer able to afford the rent in the Mission either.

I'm not serious about robbing the rich people who live here now but I am getting frustrated that they're here

 

[Mei]

Actually I grew up in the Mission, my family is working class and Asian

but if you want to talk about "white people" and their opinions on gentrification, go right ahead.

 

[venusinpisces]

And gentrification is actually affecting some of the gay and trans* people who started moving to the Mission for the cheap rent, don't forget that their are working class gay and trans* people, some of whom are also black or Latino, who are no longer able to afford the rent in the Mission either.

I'm not serious about robbing the rich people who live here now but I am getting frustrated that they're here

The point I was trying to make is that gentrification is not a simple us vs them situation. It is usually started by people who don't have a lot of money and then by the time it has picked up speed those same people can't afford rents anymore. And it can be hard to tell by superficial appearances whether or not someone is truly wealthy because trendy clothes are easy to come by. But yes, I do share your concern. As far as I'm concerned, gentrification has all but ruined the best parts of SF, same as it has in NYC. I do understand you're joking about robbery but my suspicion is that some of the people who responded are not.

As for the idea that "littering" can somehow combat gentrification, when I moved from the Mission in 2005, the people who cleaned up the streets were on county assistance, i.e., welfare. Keep littering if you want but as far as I'm concerned it's not too different than any other rich white person who expects their maid to clean up after them.

 

[Mei]

Yah, I've always felt like there was little I could do about it besides help fellow community members who have been disenfranchised by this however I can...
I feel like "littering" doesn't really do much besides keep the people who clean the streets doing that for work, but the GA office would have them canvass petitions or something if their wasn't any garbage to clean up

 

[Doc Road]

Brilliant, the most fucked thing about the Illuminati is they did such a stand up job of turning us on each other, on big colossal goat fuck, no foreplay

Totally rob them.

I don't know how to make them leave. As far as I know there is no solution to gentrification besides the end of capitalism.

But, upping the vandalism and litter are little things that rub those fools the wrong way.

. You steel from THE man not A man.

 

[Doc Road]

Its is of topic, but not really. Boiled down we are all products of there control structure, down to are language up too are thinking process. Some of us are higher up the piramid (hipsters) some lower (hobos), but all UNDER the spell. We chose to fight one and other because we come from different places (that's BS there is no time/space between us) so we look at the product too try to make a change (like acts of ignorance toward the hipsters), when we need to look at the genesis of the problems, rid YOURSELF of the HIVE mind. Study the Illuminati mind, too break free from it, Till the sun is gone baby.