> I think we need to remember that the "yuppies" are themselves
> being driven out of other neighborhoods by yet richer
> people. At least, that's what's been happening in New York
> City. One of the reasons erstwhile slums like the Lower
> East Side, Williamsburg, and Harlem suddenly begin to appear
> desirable is that the neighborhoods the somewhat-better-off
> used to occupy are no longer available to them. When I was
> a boy, the Lower East Side was considered too poorly served
> by police, public transit and other services to be desirable
> for a young Wall Street striver, but if now the question is
> the Lower East Side or Edison, New Jersey, the answer is
> clear, unless the striver is truly fond of the vacancies of
> suburban culture.
That's certainly a factor. Cities undergo change over time, which can be good, and can be bad. That is the organic nature of the city. I guess I foolishly wish to see a day when people decide these things for non-economic reasons.
The richer driving the less rich out is becoming a problem here in D.C. too. Already Connecticut Ave. and Dupont Circle are starting to become more upscale. Record stores and vegetarian cafes go out of business because they can't afford the rents, and Brooks Brothers, Godiva, and that gay wine cellar open up.
> This means that scorched-earth tactics will probably not
> succeed in the end -- the "enemy" has an infinitude of
> troops to send against it, and they'll keep on coming,
> people not so different from the people they're kicking out,
> and not so differently motivated. (Hence the humor in the
> Suck article linked from the Mission Yuppie Eradication
> Project, http://www.suck.com/daily/99/07/07/index.html .)
> Really, what's wrong with a pretty little boutique? It's not
> its prettiness but the savage rent conceded to the landlord,
> who himself is no doubt enslaved to mortgages, taxes,
> insurance, and the inflated expenses of his own dog-eat-dog
> life.
> People become crazed about property values because they
> themselves are under attack. We need to get everybody
> out. Not that some tactical holding actions may not be
> a good thing until we can get something bigger going.
We'll see. The D.C. anarchists are opening a new infoshop next year in a neighborhood that is still in the fringe are of gentrification. Still, a multi-billion dollar convention center is being built several blocks away, so we'll see what happens. I'm just praying for an economic slowdown.
-- Chuck0
Mid-Atlantic Infoshop http://www.infoshop.org/
Leonard Peltier Freedom Month Executive Clemency For Peltier! http://www.freepeltier.org/lpfreedommonth.html
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Now! http://www.infoshop.org/gulag/mumia_idx.html
"A society is a healthy society only to the degree that it exhibits anarchistic traits."
- Jens Bjørneboe