San Francisco, Silicon Valley’s Exclusive Suburb
Many may compare the riches of California’s Gold Rush of 1849 to the rise of the digital age in Silicon Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area is becoming an exclusive suburb because of it. Gone are the artisans and tradespeople, replaced by lofts, townhouses and studios populated with high-income content curators, engineers and infrastructure architects (Weckler). The information age in the Bay Area brought with itself a multitude of innovations, but left the local middle class residents looking elsewhere to reside while its new inhabitants settle in. Even though the modernization brings revenue for the city and the surrounding areas, unfortunately it also pushes people out. Gentrification …show more content…
As upper-income households have increasingly preferred an urban lifestyle to a suburban one, low-income neighborhoods have become subject to gentrification. Over time, as neighborhoods become more attractive to upper-income residents, new businesses arise to serve them, rents rise, and low income residents are pushed out, priced out, or forced to find a new community (Egan and Khan). It is usually during economic boom periods that demand from upper-income movers to these areas is high. In 2013, more than fifty-three percent of low-income households lived in neighborhoods at risk of or already experiencing displacement and gentrification pressures, comprising forty-eight percent of the Bay Area’s census tracts (Kathleen).
There is an optimistic viewpoint of gentrification, commonly the neighborhood crime rates drop, and property values rise, which gives the city larger sums of property taxes to collect. The property taxes collected are used in a range of social services for the community, though the services unequally serve new, better-off residents, making the argument for gentrification complicated. Though the City of San Francisco has had this issue for decades, it has been in recent years where it has seen rental and property values rise …show more content…
With each proposed development becomes a battle between existing and new land uses, protecting low-income residents from displacement is paramount as urban renewal, private development, and market interests seek to transform and gentrify the city (Rosen and Sullivan). Having a wealthier neighborhood treats lower socio-economic residents poorly because it displaces them to undesirable locations. In San Francisco, Silicon Valley's tech boom has driven up evictions, displacing residents to move inland into the east bay (Kloc). Some neighborhoods in the Peninsula and surrounding communities have lost nearly a quarter of their already small low-income communities over the last decade (Kathleen). Recent census data examined clearly demonstrated gentrification has happened in the Mission District of San Francisco, particularly over the past ten to fifteen years (Egan and Khan). According to the Mission Merchant Association, “as wealthier residents move in, businesses have had their rents tripled overnight, forcing community bookstores, dive bars and restaurants to close” (Kloc). This is another aspect of gentrifying a neighborhood, not only are the local neighborhoods uprooted but also surrounding businesses that have been there for
Many may compare the riches of California’s Gold Rush of 1849 to the rise of the digital age in Silicon Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area is becoming an exclusive suburb because of it. Gone are the artisans and tradespeople, replaced by lofts, townhouses and studios populated with high-income content curators, engineers and infrastructure architects (Weckler). The information age in the Bay Area brought with itself a multitude of innovations, but left the local middle class residents looking elsewhere to reside while its new inhabitants settle in. Even though the modernization brings revenue for the city and the surrounding areas, unfortunately it also pushes people out. Gentrification …show more content…
As upper-income households have increasingly preferred an urban lifestyle to a suburban one, low-income neighborhoods have become subject to gentrification. Over time, as neighborhoods become more attractive to upper-income residents, new businesses arise to serve them, rents rise, and low income residents are pushed out, priced out, or forced to find a new community (Egan and Khan). It is usually during economic boom periods that demand from upper-income movers to these areas is high. In 2013, more than fifty-three percent of low-income households lived in neighborhoods at risk of or already experiencing displacement and gentrification pressures, comprising forty-eight percent of the Bay Area’s census tracts (Kathleen).
There is an optimistic viewpoint of gentrification, commonly the neighborhood crime rates drop, and property values rise, which gives the city larger sums of property taxes to collect. The property taxes collected are used in a range of social services for the community, though the services unequally serve new, better-off residents, making the argument for gentrification complicated. Though the City of San Francisco has had this issue for decades, it has been in recent years where it has seen rental and property values rise …show more content…
With each proposed development becomes a battle between existing and new land uses, protecting low-income residents from displacement is paramount as urban renewal, private development, and market interests seek to transform and gentrify the city (Rosen and Sullivan). Having a wealthier neighborhood treats lower socio-economic residents poorly because it displaces them to undesirable locations. In San Francisco, Silicon Valley's tech boom has driven up evictions, displacing residents to move inland into the east bay (Kloc). Some neighborhoods in the Peninsula and surrounding communities have lost nearly a quarter of their already small low-income communities over the last decade (Kathleen). Recent census data examined clearly demonstrated gentrification has happened in the Mission District of San Francisco, particularly over the past ten to fifteen years (Egan and Khan). According to the Mission Merchant Association, “as wealthier residents move in, businesses have had their rents tripled overnight, forcing community bookstores, dive bars and restaurants to close” (Kloc). This is another aspect of gentrifying a neighborhood, not only are the local neighborhoods uprooted but also surrounding businesses that have been there for