Are most cities gentifying?

[CTownNative]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

At least for the homeowners, there is an enormous benefit for living in a gentrified neighborhood. They benefit financially by rising real estate values. I'm sure homeowners would prefer gentrification rather than slumification.

As for renters, they are often priced out of their neighborhood. That being said, I think its a silly notion that in America, people are "entitled" to live in a particular area. Neighborhoods in cities change over time. In Chicago, there is a neighborhood called Pilsen which is predominantly Mexican but in the process of gentrification, more yuppies and whites are moving in. Is that fair? Maybe not but perhaps another question to ask is was it fair for the Czechs and Slovaks, who lived in the neighborhood before the Mexicans (thus the name), to be pushed out by the new immigrants forty years before. This is the story of urban America. Neighborhoods go up, neighborhoods go down.

Yeah for the homeowners it probably is great,but alot of neighborhoods being gentrified are probably high rent neighborhoods.And no thats not fair that the Czechs and Slovaks were pushed out of thier neighborhoods.My question for you is were they really pushed out though,or did they just decide to leave when the Mexican immigrants moved there?

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by CTownNative

But think about what the people are losing being kicked out of thier neighborhoods.They are losing thier friends,houses that they've lived in for decades,basically thier losing thier neighborhoods.Yeah,maybe they will be provided with a house in another neighborhood,but that means they have to start from scratch.

I'm not talking about eminent domain, which I regard as an illegal land grab by government in cahoots with private developers. That is absolutely wrong, and should only be legal in the case of a compelling public needs such as an airport or an interstate.

However, if somebody owns a home in the gentrifying neighborhoods you describe, then they should be clicking their heels, chiefly because their net worth begins to soar based on the value of their otherwise low priced home. And if you live in a state that does not punitive property tax rates, it should not be a problem, even if property taxes go up slightly.

But if you're talking about renters, then they really don't have a legal leg to stand on. The landlord has a right to make money on his property.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by CTownNative

Yeah for the homeowners it probably is great,but alot of neighborhoods being gentrified are probably high rent neighborhoods.And no thats not fair that the Czechs and Slovaks were pushed out of thier neighborhoods.My question for you is were they really pushed out though,or did they just decide to leave when Mexican immigrants moved there?

Well, I wasn't around back then, so I don't know all the details. Obviously a lot of those immigrants moved up economically and migrated out to the burbs. Perhaps some wanted to stay in the neighborhood but felt unwelcome as the culture of the neighborhood changed. Probably some degree of racism against Hispanics was involved. Maybe crime increased.

My point is that urban neighborhoods change for all sorts of various reasons. We used to have laws to try to prevent these changes (racial covenents, etc). Obviously we don't want to do that anymore. Just as it was wrong to prevent blacks from moving into a white neighborhood thirty years ago, its wrong today to prevent rich white people from moving into a minority neighborhood.