Is Gentrification Ruining Los Angeles or Saving It? LA Weekly Article (Inglewood: low income, 2014)

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

We love visiting down town. We were just there this past weekend. I like what is happening. I like the new building projects that are going up. It is amazing to see how things are transforming.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

they may not be traditional restaurants, but i'm a big fan of tender greens, california chicken cafe, and pitfire pizza. all of these restaurants are located in gentrified areas and have quality meals for reasonable prices (<$15 per person).

I'm a big fan of them too, but they're not traditional restaurants. Also, if you're a big eater like I am, tender greens is $20-25, and california chicken cafe is about $15-20.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by hipcat

Here's the Article about LA's Gentrification
Is Gentrification Ruining Los Angeles, or Saving It? Pick a Side - Los Angeles | Los Angeles News and Events | LA Weekly

In my honest opinion. I feel that the gentrification of the last 10 years have made LA a safer and more vibrant city than the one I grew up in the 80's and 90's which was filled with drive by shootings, crack, and the mass of LA just being mostly disconnected.

And the way Downtown has grown in the last 10 years have been amazing. Now it's a center of nightlife, when in the past it used to be a ghost town after dark.

What's your take on LA's gentrification?

Where on earth did you live to experience these things (So Central, Inglewood)? Gentrification is ruining the housing/renting opportunities for many as well as displacing communities of color. Who cares that DTLA is vibrant or not? There was plenty to do 15-20 years ago without DTLA.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

I'm a big fan of them too, but they're not traditional restaurants. Also, if you're a big eater like I am, tender greens is $20-25, and california chicken cafe is about $15-20.

There are still more affordable Mexican and Chinese traditional restaurants (and not just expensive ones). Maybe not in Brentwood, the Palisades, North SM, or Beverly Hills, but there are everywhere else. Even South SM has a couple. So does Venice.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by bpeeps

I love your broad sweeping generalizations in every comment. There are plenty of good, healthy, or quality restaurants to eat at in LA for a quarter of the price you are claiming here. According to you, you're either eating an $8 dollar Sizzler pizza or $100 steak, nothing in between. You are so delusional.

Agreed. LA has so many mid-range options.

[LuvSouthOC]

Q. What's your take on LA's gentrification?

A. Long overdue and very welcome! LA is fun to visit on the weekends, and safer.

[Hawaii4evr]

It's a double-edged sword. On one hand, it is making everything expensive, and often times pushes out minorities and poor people, and commercializes everything (we've seen this happen in many parts of New York City and San Francisco). On the other hand, it has helped rebuild downtown, make the city safer, and cleaned it up and made it "cooler". There needs to be a middle ground. Yes, the city should build up its downtown and public transit and make more cool, walkable neighborhoods, artsy areas, and make it safe. But there needs to be a limit--don't over gentrify by making everything expensive, commercial, and hipster.

[StreetLegal]

Originally Posted by Hawaii4evr

It's a double-edged sword. On one hand, it is making everything expensive, and often times pushes out minorities and poor people,.

To quote directly from the LA Weekly article:
There's a lack of empirical data demonstrating a causal relationship between gentrification and the outmigration of the urban poor. Lance Freeman, professor of urban planning at Columbia University, found that as neighborhoods in New York were gentrified in the 1990s, residents tended to move less frequently. "As neighborhoods gentrify," said Freeman, "they improve in many ways that may be as appreciated by their disadvantaged residents as their more affluent ones."


Another article on the "myth" of gentrification published recently in Slate:
The gentrification myth: It&rsquo;s rare and not as bad for the poor as people think.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by StreetLegal

To quote directly from the LA Weekly article:
There's a lack of empirical data demonstrating a causal relationship between gentrification and the outmigration of the urban poor. Lance Freeman, professor of urban planning at Columbia University, found that as neighborhoods in New York were gentrified in the 1990s, residents tended to move less frequently. "As neighborhoods gentrify," said Freeman, "they improve in many ways that may be as appreciated by their disadvantaged residents as their more affluent ones."


Another article on the "myth" of gentrification published recently in Slate:
The gentrification myth: It&rsquo;s rare and not as bad for the poor as people think.

OK, I'll give you an example.

Many real estate investors are buying buildings in "up and coming" areas (East Hollywood, Echo Park, etc.) that are filled with working class minority (mainly Hispanic) families. As soon as they own the building, they drastically raise the rents on the current residents, so much so that they can no longer afford to live there. The poor families - who have often lived there for decades - have to move to who knows where else. Once the new landlords get the poor people out, they remodel the units and market them to yuppies and professionals. And sure enough, the yuppies come and gentrify. That is the nasty part of gentrification.

[Voyageuse]

As a property owner, I love it.