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I find your closed mindedness disturbing. I have tons more sympathy towards people struggling against gentrification, however they believe is appropriate, than

I find your closed mindedness disturbing. I have tons more sympathy towards people struggling against gentrification, however they believe is appropriate, than overprivileged silicon valley employees who believe the world is anything approaching a meritocracy. You and others can believe that those of us who feel this way are noncontributing leeches or don't belong here or what have you, but I am a Google engineer who works hard in this industry. There are things that are downright unfair in this world and the continuous displacement of peoples, many of whom have had little opportunity and faced constant oppression, ranks high among them in my book.

ChrisNorstrom 13y ago
Yes it's sad. But what are the options? Are you saying neighborhoods should never increase in property value? People complain when wealthier residents "invade" a poor neighborhood and lower the crime rate and raise the property values but no one says anything when poorer residents move into a neighborhood and increase the crime and lower the property value. And there are a LOT of cities like that. In St. Louis alone: South St. Louis, Spanish lake, Bellfontaine, Ferguson, Dellwood, Maryland Heights, Black Jack, Hazelwood have all had this happen to them.
- HarryHirsch 13y ago
  Is it true that no one says anything when poorer residents move in? In general, suburban America is very good at keeping poverty out, it plays out every time when public transport or affordable housing is suggested to be built somewhere. The next thing that would need to happen is that the police department gets extra funding because the two suburban cops currently there have neither the manpower nor the expertise to deal with the increase in crime. The locals tend to vote against either, and who can blame them? It's the system that's at fault, especially the fact that a substantial amount of taxes is raised and spent locally.
tptacek 13y ago
Another signpost characteristic of the kinds of people who vote these stories up: the belief that someone who says it's wrong to throw bricks through the backs of bus windows must also believe that "gentrification" and displacement are good things, or that lower-income people are "non-contributing leeches". The people throwing bricks might be leeches, but what makes them all the worse is the disservice they do to a legitimate cause.

ChrisNorstrom 13y ago

Yes it's sad. But what are the options? Are you saying neighborhoods should never increase in property value? People complain when wealthier residents "invade" a poor neighborhood and lower the crime rate and raise the property values but no one says anything when poorer residents move into a neighborhood and increase the crime and lower the property value. And there are a LOT of cities like that. In St. Louis alone: South St. Louis, Spanish lake, Bellfontaine, Ferguson, Dellwood, Maryland Heights, Black Jack, Hazelwood have all had this happen to them.

HarryHirsch 13y ago
Is it true that no one says anything when poorer residents move in? In general, suburban America is very good at keeping poverty out, it plays out every time when public transport or affordable housing is suggested to be built somewhere. The next thing that would need to happen is that the police department gets extra funding because the two suburban cops currently there have neither the manpower nor the expertise to deal with the increase in crime. The locals tend to vote against either, and who can blame them? It's the system that's at fault, especially the fact that a substantial amount of taxes is raised and spent locally.

tptacek 13y ago

Another signpost characteristic of the kinds of people who vote these stories up: the belief that someone who says it's wrong to throw bricks through the backs of bus windows must also believe that "gentrification" and displacement are good things, or that lower-income people are "non-contributing leeches". The people throwing bricks might be leeches, but what makes them all the worse is the disservice they do to a legitimate cause.