Stuff White People Like: Gentrification

[rose-colored-coolaid]

So, let me get this straight. Gentrification is when you take a crappy dangerous place with urine stained sidewalks, and clean it? And people don't like this?

Don't get me wrong, I'm as opposed to cookie-cutter housing developments as the next guy, and I don't like to see places lose whatever makes them special. But why the animosity for areas that have less crime and better schools?

[Notabull]

[Notabull]

[Notabull]

[lamont]

[perfectfire]

[Civil Servant]

Seattle resident here, can't imagine circumstances under which I'd move to the East side. But so what? No one is obliged to validate my preferences, and I am not obliged to validate anyone else's.

While it's true that some Seattle dwellers, like me, may have engaged in anti-East side snark on occasion, I want to correct the implication that denizens of Bellevue, Redmond, etc. are the victims of persecution and we are a bunch of snotty bullies. I used to work for a high-tech firm in Bellevue that drew most of its workers from the more immediate area, and the amount of crap I took on a daily basis was notable, much of it coming from a place of assumed economic superiority on the part of the speaker -- Eastsiders made jokes about me going home to a crummy Capitol Hill squat and doing bong hits all night (I didn't), hanging out in basements watching godawful bands and waiting for fights to break out (I didn't), smoking my head off in coffee shops yammering about existentialism (I didn't) -- and "Can't you even afford a *car*?" was the frequent exasperated response when I'd try to cadge a ride to, say, an off-site company event. I cast no aspersions on the Eastsiders who have been posting, of course, but, guys, some of your brethren are guilty of exactly the same thing you seem to be suggesting that we Westsiders collectively are. I plead for a little perspective among all parties, that's all. (And when you write a sentence like that, that's when you know you have officially renounced the Midwest and become one with Seattle. Lattes for everyone!)

Perfectfire's point above, though -- "It isn't people living in bad neighborhoods that's annoying, it's the people bragging about how bad their neighborhood is and how much more authentic they are than you for living in a bad neighborhood" -- is very well put. It's annoying even to those of us who have lived in sketchy neighborhoods and kept our mouths shut about it. Perhaps we can be better about educating our friends in this regard.

Lamont, I used to live on Spruce between 13th and 14th, then moved a few blocks over to Marion. I loved it there.

[lamont]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Civil Servant]

Just above: "I would think the circumstances should be very clear. If I have a job in Bellevue/Redmond, I want to live on the East Side. If I have a job in Seattle proper, I want to live in Seattle." (So sorry, newbie can't hack the Quote function.)

Thanks for your non-ranty response, which I appreciate. But for me and many of my friends it is not that simple. Sure, I want to work for the organization that affords me the best opportunities + compensation + stability. I also do not enjoy driving all that much and have a defect in my eyes that has decimated my night vision. So it's important to me to live within walking/convenient bus-riding distance from work, errands, restaurants, regional transportation hubs, and shopping. I also know people who want the freedom to push it above BAC .08 if bonhomie strikes and not have to sweat a punitive cabfare home, as they would, for instance, on the East side. (Look at us, keeping the roads safe for you!) Work is only one factor in many people's decision as to where to put down stakes.

[ira s]

I lived in the CD for 13 years, didn't like the street I lived on ( note to self: don't only check out a street during weekday mornings), but liked the neighborhood.
The CD may have had some gentrification, but still retains some neighborhood flavor(BBQ?), but Madison Valley, on the other hand, used to almost be an extension of the CD, but now has wine bars, fine chocolate shops, French restaurants, and rich white people. They've washed the urine off the sidewalks with Perrier. There goes the neighborhood.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[siddha99]

IMO, the issue is not one specific to the Eastside. Most whiteys own a TV. They turn this TV on when they get home from work. They listen to the messages on their TV for several hours a day.

The TV tells them they need a germ-free life, with various corporate products, to live a happy and fulfilled life. The TV repeats this over and over, in gentle and reassuring ways that make those watching feel good about themselves.

The TV tells them to distrust people who act and look different from whiteys. The TV tells them to look after and protect the whitey group's needs, rather than the needs of the individual, even though individuality is what nourishes and therefore protects the group.

People who face ethnic and cultural diversity on a day-to-day basis are forced to think outside the TV mentality. This is healthy for the community.

Living amongst whiteys in a protected homogeneic community is the TV-inspired dream. This is not the dream you and I would think of on our own. This is the dream of corporations and central bankers who live to control entire populations with gentle, mass mind control mechanisms such as the mass media and the TV/radio. This is the dream of people who have the heart of a small rodent, who want nothing less than absolute power. These people are not gods. These people are vampires, feasting off the trust and passivity of well-meaning people.

Do not trust the TV. Do not trust the mainstream media. Do not trust false leaders.

The Eastside appears out of line with Seattle because Seattle is a conscious city, attracting many conscious people. However, the Eastside is a constant reminder of what the rest the USA is like these days.

[carlislematthew]

[perfectfire]

Above all don't trust racist paranoid truthers.