Gentrification In A City

Gentrification is the process of renewal by bringing in middle and upper middle class tenants and displacing lower class tenants. It is a powerful tool that on one hand is revitalizing neighborhoods that have seen better days but on the other is kicking it’s tenants out of their beloved homes – homes where they built a family and a community. I think that the idea of gentrification is and should be accepted but when done so in moderation. I think too much change at once can be traumatic and in the long run more negative than positive. With a city such as Los Angeles the idea of gentrification becomes difficult and controversial because it is such a big and beautiful city filled with history but it’s also filled with a lot of poverty. The idea …show more content…
I think that the idea of revamping a neighborhood is brilliant. Change some lampposts, add flowers, and remodel the little taco shop on the corner- Fine but the act of kicking people out of their neighborhoods because they don’t fit the right appearance the new investors or realtors want to portray? That’s just preposterous, there needs to be a middle option. An option that isn’t irrational and dramatic, one that brings change but doesn’t wash away an entire community like a tsunami.
I believe that gentrification has a different effect on different cities, the scale of change can impact the community or it can destroy it. This is the case for Los Angeles, I believe that Los Angeles is way too cosmopolitan and is one of the few cities left where you get the best of both worlds. On the side of the street you’ve got the best food truck that sells the most amazing burritos and on the other is an H&M, if you ask me that’s the greatest most diverse combination ever. Los Angeles to me is a mixture of different cultures and social classes – where the middle class can go to the Beverly center and breathe the same air …show more content…
It is also the small “hipster” shops that are popping up just about everywhere. York & Fig has an entire article and website dedicated to the gentrification taking place in Highland Park. Café de leche is a Hipster Coffee shop where the wifi only costs the price of your fru fru drink and bagel ($11). The owners of the shop chose their Highland Park location simply because of the low cost of the estate. They didn’t think that their small coffee shop would begin a movement, a movement that would force a community to uproot and flip their lives upside down. The coffee shop represents an invasion – a shop that is evolving their usual taco shops, grocery stores and swap meets. For a neighborhood full of people who live off a low income it is not customary or feasible to spend five dollars a day for their daily java, they are used to stopping by the local convenience store. The sad part of all this is they know and feel that their time in the community is slowly but surely coming to an end, that it is ultimately