Gentrification
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  Political Geography & Demographics (Moderators: muon2, 15 Down, 35 To Go)
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Author Topic: Gentrification  (Read 5245 times)
angus
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« Reply #25 on: November 10, 2014, 12:13:12 PM »

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If you're thinking about the Bertucci's in Kenmore, it's a reasonably priced chain in the Boston area, not a high-end restaurant.


I won't argue with you about whether it's high end, but any place where the cheapest entrée is 15 dollars and the prices range from there up to 80 dollars is higher end than the GAP and the $5.99 all-you-can-eat Indian Buffet that it displaced. 
 
Anyway, I've been to Bertucci's a couple of times.  Well, other ones, not that one because it wasn't there before.  I even have a Bertucci's coffee mug.  It's decent pizza, but overpriced. 
 
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traininthedistance
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« Reply #26 on: November 10, 2014, 12:50:49 PM »
« Edited: November 10, 2014, 03:49:20 PM by traininthedistance »

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If you're thinking about the Bertucci's in Kenmore, it's a reasonably priced chain in the Boston area, not a high-end restaurant.


I won't argue with you about whether it's high end, but any place where the cheapest entrée is 15 dollars and the prices range from there up to 80 dollars is higher end than the GAP and the $5.99 all-you-can-eat Indian Buffet that it displaced.  
 
Anyway, I've been to Bertucci's a couple of times.  Well, other ones, not that one because it wasn't there before.  I even have a Bertucci's coffee mug.  It's decent pizza, but overpriced.  
 

I don't see anything that costs $80 on this menu; looks like entrees top out just over $20 (and start at more like $10, not $15, if say you're getting a small pizza):

https://www.bertuccis.com/uploads/Main_Menu_Oct_2014.pdf

I mean, sure, it's well beyond the $6 Indian buffet, but this is very much "middle-class chain" prices and aesthetics, not "Super Trendy Expensive".  Let's get our facts right.

What might be most troubling about the ongoing gentrification of (some) American urban cores is that more people who cannot afford automobiles have been pushed out of the few places in this country where owning one is the only alternative to near-total isolation.

In short, the affluent have rediscovered the appeal of city living, forcing more of the poor out of places that, while often blighted, have clear advantages over the decaying, alienating, and dysfunctional built environment that we've erected over the past century. And, most damning of all, this built environment imperils the relationships and activities out of which new neighborhoods (and all of the good things that come with them - sense of place, social support, economic opportunity, etc.) could evolve.

The best policy response to this trend is both politically intractable and less than obvious , as this thread makes clear. There is no getting around the corrupt and dysfunctional institutions that lie at the heart of American government. I certainly wouldn't trust any major city or municipal authority in New York State to undergo a program of public housing.

Yes.  I would caution though that trying to keep the affluent (and, let's be perfectly clear here that a lot of the newcomers are contra stereotype NOT actually affluent) out of our cities is for many reasons pretty much the worst possible policy response.  Doing so would generally be impossible anyway, as supply-restricting efforts in that direction tend to only end up accelerating the rate at which the middle class get priced out.  In addition, the attempt to use immiseration as a perverse affordable housing policy and/or keep the rich in sprawlville lifestyles would be utterly disastrous for the environment, our social fabric, the fiscal health of our core cities, and a whole host of other things.

I prefaced my comments by saying my feelings are informed by emotion and yeah some sentimentality. Taking a more dispassionate view, there are many benefits to the influx of a highly educated group of young people from around the country. However, if I must, I will give voice and give a defense of some parochialism. Neighborhoods should be more than reasonable rents, trendy restaurants and good access to mass transit. Many people are tied to the areas where they grew up, went to school, went to church, had their first kiss, raised families etc.  So many have been priced out now and the dominoes of the wholesale neighborhood change have been falling one by one.  That is it for now, Im off to the new Tibetan-Polynesian fusion joint and Im a bit tuckered out from  long day of brunching.. Wink

I will add one little thing to my response earlier, in the hopes that maybe you can understand why I'm reacting so personally and poorly to your posts here.  Namely: some folks (hint: this guy) will sometimes go out for brunch because they can't afford to go out for nice dinner prices, and it's a relatively thrifty way of getting to eat out once in awhile.  Just sayin'.  Kinda like how everyone loves to go "LOL RICH TRENDY HIPSTERS AND THEIR PBR" when, in fact, PBR is/was popular because it's cheap (often cheaper than Bud in fact).  

There's obviously much more than that at play but I probably should step away for awhile now.
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muon2
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« Reply #27 on: November 10, 2014, 12:56:08 PM »

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If you're thinking about the Bertucci's in Kenmore, it's a reasonably priced chain in the Boston area, not a high-end restaurant.


I won't argue with you about whether it's high end, but any place where the cheapest entrée is 15 dollars and the prices range from there up to 80 dollars is higher end than the GAP and the $5.99 all-you-can-eat Indian Buffet that it displaced.  
 
Anyway, I've been to Bertucci's a couple of times.  Well, other ones, not that one because it wasn't there before.  I even have a Bertucci's coffee mug.  It's decent pizza, but overpriced.  
 

I haven't been to a Bertucci's since the '80s so I don't know where to place it in the market today. We grad students would trek to the original and only location in Somerville's Davis Square to enjoy the pizza, and use the indoor Bocci court if it was available. It was more expensive than the typical grinder shop pizza, but it was better tasting with an atmosphere to boot. In any case the price was within range, just not every day. Of course we discovered Bertucci's after it opened since it was right by the best ice cream in town at Steve's.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #28 on: November 10, 2014, 03:46:36 PM »
« Edited: November 10, 2014, 03:50:09 PM by Governor Varavour »

We need to develop large scale affordable housing areas around express transit nodes for easy access in and out of the city. But I don't see why we need to cut out commerce from those areas, rather we need to throw in large-scale housing in the mix. I keep on saying "large scale" because that's the only way reasonably priced housing could be conceivably be profitable without subsidization nowadays. But there are still large swathes of Manhattan than can be upzoned and built-up.

Also, I'm a small-minded Manhattanite, but more subways are always a good idea. You will probably eat me alive for saying this, but we should have built the Westway- not only would it have freed the West Side from unsightly traffic, but it would have created a lot of new land.

Selfish, Selfish San Francisco

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http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/06/

I know a lot people here have taken exception to under-density here, myself included, but I don't know if Sausalito per se is the best place to be doing that. South of Market, though, and other places, more than merit increased density. And it's not even as if this necessitates tall towers everywhere, but just rowhouses would do the trick- I once read that a neighborhood of single-family townhouses could produce a density of 50,000 people/sq mi. We need to move towards a more efficient, graceful, and overall sustainable (in all senses of the word) way of living. And we cannot afford NIMBYs raising hackles at every corner.

The solution is fairly conservative- let the free market (reasonably regulated to protect the character and quality of neighborhoods) take control and meet demand. But a lot of people seem hell-bent on rent control as the answer, despite the fact pretty much every introductory economics class uses it as an example of the distortions of price ceilings- literally, textbook. That and wage increases which are, as the article points out, are not effective.

I support more high rises. I just think in a place like San Francisco there are a lot of places where they'd essentially be killing the patient with the cure. That might be because of the nature of the city. But in a place in Manhattan, there a places all over calling for up-building. And I feel the solution calls for a good heaping dose of conservatism- weakening "community boards", loosening union's strangleholds, rolling back rent regulations, fast-tracking approval procedures, pursuing transit projects with a Moses-esque singleness of purpose and regard (or more properly lack thereof) for "community needs", pursuing neighborhood renewal and "gentrification" with vigour, selling off and redeveloping public housing projects, using eminent domain for private developers liberally, and generally riding roughshod over naysayers.

There are a lot of places that could benefit from this rapid up-building in NYC that I can think of, the Far West Side, southern Harlem, Yorkville, Chelsea, Hunters Point, Astoria just to name a few.

Also, my problem with new development might stem from the fact that modern architecture, the pedestrian sort and not your star-chitect's work, is just awfully banal and bad. I'd have no desire to live in any building like that.

I'm imagining a far larger swathe of town-houses and 4-6 story condo buildings than we have at present, eating up what used to be tracthouses, like so:



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Simfan34
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« Reply #29 on: November 10, 2014, 03:58:19 PM »

Meanwhile gentrification wonderfully continues apace in my neighborhood, here replacing a gas station at the northwest corner of Central Park:



http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/11/06/this_is_whats_rising_on_central_parks_northwest_corner.php
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Torie
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« Reply #30 on: November 10, 2014, 04:04:59 PM »
« Edited: November 10, 2014, 04:09:59 PM by Torie »

Hi Memphis. How’s it hanging?

Yes, as to one particular block, in one particular small town, which once had the 4th highest population in the State of NY, and lost by one vote becoming the capital of the Empire State, in the Hudson Valley, in the last 10 months, this has transpired:

A very eccentric gay lawyer along with his artist partner gave up suburban bliss in Orange County, CA, and commenced work on this:

 [/URL]

which directly led to a NYC lawyer buying the below, and doing the same thing to this:

 


which led to an avant guard film maker buying this, and also gutting it, and building decks and fences and the like:



which led to these two puppies being gutted on the inside (whether the outside will be done remains to be seen – sometimes exteriors are left a shambles to avoid property tax reassessments):

 

And now, low and behold, as of this morning, I see that this property, in need of a bit of TLC, is being gutted inside (has a huge yard in back)

 

What is the next on the gentrification "block?" Well this property, where the owner just died. The sharks are already circling:

 

And rumor has it that the CA gay guys live in the property below, and that it will commence its journey into gentrification next Spring (job one removing the hideous red paint from the brickwork, manufactured just down the hill (the town was once a hub of brick making).



So a block that 5 years ago was known as "crack alley," now has two lawyers, three artists, etc. Property values have zoomed, incentivizing the long term owners to cash in. It becomes a veritable firestorm of gentrification.


Moral of the story?  If you don’t like gentrification, keep the gays out! They’re toxic.  And it just takes one, to get the ball rolling. Frightening almost, isn't it? As opebo would say, such class enemies should be guillotined, and wiped out. That is the only real way to stop this cancer from spreading.



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Simfan34
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« Reply #31 on: November 10, 2014, 04:11:22 PM »

But there weren't blacks or browns (which apparently now means Hispanics) living there before, no? Then I'm not sure the harpies would call that "gentrification".
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Torie
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« Reply #32 on: November 10, 2014, 04:20:19 PM »

The block was about 35% black as of a year ago. It's now about 20% black. There is one Bangladeshi family living on the block (there is a substantial Bangladeshi community in town, who arrived to work in the now closed button factory, and just stayed on, many becoming shop owners). The rest are all white or black - no Hispanics. Interestingly, one of the gentrifiers, a gay black nurse with dreadlocks who works in Albany, is black. While he does not himself live on the block, we socialize often. Great guy - cute as a button. Class enemies are multi racial. Don't be fooled by the veneer.
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patrick1
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« Reply #33 on: November 10, 2014, 06:27:06 PM »

I prefaced my comments by saying my feelings are informed by emotion and yeah some sentimentality. Taking a more dispassionate view, there are many benefits to the influx of a highly educated group of young people from around the country. However, if I must, I will give voice and give a defense of some parochialism. Neighborhoods should be more than reasonable rents, trendy restaurants and good access to mass transit. Many people are tied to the areas where they grew up, went to school, went to church, had their first kiss, raised families etc.  So many have been priced out now and the dominoes of the wholesale neighborhood change have been falling one by one.  That is it for now, Im off to the new Tibetan-Polynesian fusion joint and Im a bit tuckered out from  long day of brunching.. Wink

I think a lot of what it is is that I have a special sympathy with the nomads, the immigrants, the newcomers of all sorts, who haven't yet been able to put down roots, or who for whatever reason feel they need to escape their hometown instead, find opportunity elsewhere, etc.  I understand and– yes, really– can feel the pull of neighborhood, but I think the young and unrooted (of all creeds, colors, and classes) get a raw deal from all sides and I want to in particular stick up for them.  Don't think there isn't some sentimentality on this end, too.

I could go deeper than that– perhaps after sleeping on it I will– but it was crappy of me to call you out specifically and with that in mind maybe it would be best to save that rant for a different occasion.  I've been on edge a bit lately and I think it's seeping into my posts here.  Sorry. Sad



 I have no problem and like the fact that there are people from all over the world and country. This is what makes New York, New York. Neighborhood changes and transitions from ethnic group to ethnic group have always happened.  Dynamism is important. However, what I am not too keen on is that policy has seemed to favor a different and complete upheaval that has favored a certain class. We kept the working poor warehoused for generations in our cities and are now sitting by as people are uprooted.  I'd just like to see more equitable development.

 I further recognize that I'm caricaturing people and in a sarcastic manner. Many, if no most of co-workers and subordinates  are all of the class I described:  young, largely white, highly educated.  These are people who bring great skills to bear for the city and state into the future, if they stay here...  What I would like to see is the same young people raised here and who went through many a failing school are afforded at least an opportunity to live here.
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King
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« Reply #34 on: November 10, 2014, 07:36:42 PM »

http://www.theonion.com/articles/custom-fireplace-store-totally-jumps-gentrificatio,37410/
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angus
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« Reply #35 on: November 10, 2014, 08:09:47 PM »

the original and only location in Somerville's Davis Square to enjoy the pizza, and use the indoor Bocci court if it was available.

I know it well.  I lived for over five years within easy walking distance of Davis Square and have been to every restaurant in that vicinity.  That is also the only the Bertucci's I've ever been to, and it's where I got my Bertucci's mug.  I'm also familiar with Steve's and his award-winning ice cream.

In my humble opinion, the best pizza in those parts is (or was) on the corner of Highland Avenue and Lowell Street.  I don't remember the name of the place, but the old Lebanese woman there also had homemade Baklava from time to time.  A large one-topping pie went for five dollars. 

My point wasn't to haul this off into a discussion of Bertucci's, or whether its pizza is worth what they charge for it, or even relating to Davis Square (which has also been somewhat gentrified, by the way.  The house I lived in consisted of three three-bedroom flats, one on top of another, and was purchased for $260 by the new owner in 1992 and five years later re-sold for just under $700. I'm sure Steve's, Mike's, Bertucci's, and the Someday Cafe have all had rent increases in the past 20 years as well.)  My point in that post strictly related to the distant Kenmore Square, and the stark gentrification it has received in the past 15 or 20 years, and about the fact that the gentrification has made it prettier and more welcoming to those with wads of cash, but it has made it less welcoming to those who lived there for many years (sometimes without a roof over their heads).

I'm not staking out a position for or against gentrification, and I indicated this very clearly in my earlier posts, but I think we should be honest about its effects.  I'm of the opinion that in this thread we should be sure to emphasize the negative ones, since you can be sure that the cocooned and sheltered posters in this forum will be certain to emphasize the positive ones.
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The Free North
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« Reply #36 on: November 12, 2014, 08:44:15 PM »


In 2001 Bill Clinton, America's First Black President, moves into an apartment on 125th Street in Manhattan and establishes a foundation.  Within months, the Apollo Theater is refurbished and re-opened, storefronts are upgraded, a bunch of white people start moving in, grits-and-collards restaurants are replaced with "Authentic Soul Food" restaurants, and suddenly what used to be the 'hood is crawling with YUPPIEs and paparazzo-stalkers.  The rent starts to increase, and fifth-generation residents are forced to find new digs, just so one Arkansas hillbilly-cum-intellectual who probably doesn't know who is real Daddy is can live in the Big City and set his paranoid, controlling, uptight lawyer wife up with a ladder to climb to the presidency so that the faux-feminists can claim that "you've come a long way, baby" when she becomes elected.
 


This is gold
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