Stop Gentrifying California

We're a  group of young activists based in the CA Bay Area doing our best to combat the gentrification of our communities. Join the conversation, speak out against gentrification. Nobody is ever too young to change the world. Follow us on Twitter & Instagram

[bloggentrification-blog]

Interview with Fernando Cruz

How does gentrification affect crime rates?

“Well, when you look at what gentrification is, you have to immediately analyze economic structures surrounding the communities being affected. There are two sides to this economic equation: the wealthy, often white, businesses moving into poor communities to “develop” them, and the communities of color being affected by it. Perhaps, in these communities we may see crime happening at a constant rate. However, when the new businesses start assessing crime, they may exasperate it or exaggerate the numbers because they are not used to it. Another reason why it might affect crime is that when you constantly push people down or away from their places of center, they might lash back. That is not a correlation based on race, but a struggle because of class.”

How does gentrification affect education?

“Education around poor communities is already disproportionately unequal. There are low funds, grossly negligent or critically unprepared educators, and a lack of resources to help develop these children. When you add the stress of gentrification, you see the cost of living go up, so when there is already a struggle happening to provide for basic necessities, gentrification further perpetuates this inequality because it swallows up the already scarce resources hardly available to students.”

How does gentrification affect minority communities?

“Race has become synonymous with socioeconomic class. It comes as no surprise that ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by gentrification. While it is important to acknowledge that it is a problem that also affects poor whites, minorities are condemned to a cyclical economic violence when affluent white business owners target their communities for the sole purpose of economic opportunity. When minorities are uprooted because they are targets, they are induced in a cycle of oppression initiated by rich, often white, business owners.”

Fernando Cruz in discussion with the author, November 2016. 

Flynn, Laura. “Your Call: What Does Gentrification Mean to You?” N.p., 22 June 2015. kalw.org/term/gentrification#stream/0.17 Nov. 2016.

[gentrificationca-blog]

Google is building a new development in San Jose. This could do much more harm than good. Protect our residents, not big corporations. 

[gentrificationca-blog]

Fighting for democracy, justice, & sustainability in our cities.

Fight for your city. Donate. 

[gentrificationca-blog]

San Jose, like all cities, should be accommodating to its residents, and allow people to build a future for themselves and their families. Sadly, this simple dream is currently unachievable for most. 

Here is one family’s story.

[doomtribble73]

[gentrificationca-blog]

“‘Gentrification Explained’ is a short video that unpacks what gentrification really means, getting beyond the buzzword. The video addresses what led to gentrification, what gentrification looks like on the ground, and the impact of gentrification on communities, including displacement.”

- Urban Displacement Project

[gentrificationca-blog]

GEN-TRI-FI-CA-TION

/ˌjentrəfəˈkāSH(ə)n/ noun

the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents

the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste

[soycrates]

Gentrification creates a stifling homogeneity in urban areas that makes it less suited for the everyday lives of the lower class and more suited towards the leisure and tourism of those with expendable income.

An old, decrepit laundromat gets replaced by an upscale bakery? And people are mad? It’s not that the poor hate organic vegan cupcakes, it’s that most of us don’t have a way to do laundry in our own home.

Run-down corner stores replaced by hand-made designer clothing boutiques? We don’t hate your eco-fabric shawl, but I can’t eat that for dinner after work like I could have a can of beans I grabbed from that corner store when I don’t have time to take the bus to the real grocery store after work.

What gentrification brings in and of itself is not typically bad, it’s that gentrification brings institutions of leisure and pleasure and makes it so that the poor have to go farther out of their way for basic necessities. It turns low-income living spaces into local tourist attractions. It can even create food deserts by putting restaurants, grocery stores, etc. in that the majority of the lower class cannot afford.

Imagine if someone totally renovated your house and turned it into a mini theme park - they took away your sleeping space, where you prepare food, where you clean yourself and get ready for your day, and replaced it with things that will please people who are visiting, who have their own homes they can go back to, who are here not for their entire life but just as a distraction from their otherwise mundane existence. It’s not that you hate theme parks, it’s not like you’ve never been to a theme park and vow to never visit one again. It’s just that you need to live! To survive! And the leisure of those who have more than you should not invalidate your existence.

[soycrates]

I am glad this has made the rounds. Some people feel a dense misunderstanding or misinterpretation concerning gentrification, and I think it helps to hear a description/explanation of what gentrification is from those who are both affected by it and educated by the culture from which it hails. I and many others enjoy some of the delights of gentrification while simultaneously having their livelihoods threatened by it.