Thursday, December 26, 2013

San Francisco's Fortress Against Gentrification

Increasing the supply of housing makes gentrification worse at Pacific Standard magazine.

Theme: Ironic demographics.

Subject Article: "Arise, Tenderloin: It is San Francisco’s most glaring contradiction, an island of need in a sea of prosperity. Can it be helped? Does it even want to be?"

Other Links: 1. "'Cool Gray City of Love,' by Gary Kamiya."
2. "Soaring rents force lifestyle changes."
3. "Move Silicon Valley to Cleveland."
4. "Of Course Uber Should Be Regulated."

Postscript: From the subject article, a possible link between government engineered gentrification and the reduction of crime:

To explain the unique policing challenge posed by the Tenderloin, Cherniss cites an analytical framework used by criminologists: the so-called crime triangle, which posits that crimes have three components—suspect, location, and victim. In the Tenderloin, “going after the suspects is pointless,” he says. “I need to get rid of the location to solve the problem.”

Emphasis added. That neatly sums up former NYC mayor, Rudy Giuliani's method of cleaning up the city. He got rid of the red light district Times Square, gentrifying the neighborhood for tourists. Chicago's mayor (Rahm Emanuel) is following the same script, knowing that going after the suspects is pointless. Emanuel will help other parts of his city gentrify as a solution to the crime problem.

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