Gentrification/ No Rent control

Gentrification and No Rent Control 

by Barbara Acosta

This social issue is important to me and my community because Gentrification in our city is a contribution to no rent control on high rents and if there is no rent control then people that grew up in that area are forced to move out, get evicted, or be homeless. 

Research📚:

1.) Note: Instead of just presenting my side and say it's 100% correct. I'll present an article written by Art Tavana published in LA Weekly that is Pro-Gentrification and argue my points against it.

A writer named Art Tavana, who wrote Just Say "Yes" to Gentrification published in LA Weekly is strongly Pro for Gentrification in Los Angeles. He states that:
1. Safer streets are more important than nostalgia
2. Gentrification improves the economy
3. There's nothing wrong with finer living

Tavana's #1 stated "The "psychological toll" of watching a gritty neighborhood fixed up by hipsters is far less damaging than being stabbed near Dodger Stadium. For 11 years, crime rates in L.A. have generally dropped, many argue as a result of gentrification and improved policing. "
Acosta: This view is what I call a mickey-mouse fix, it's shitty and temporary. The gang violence is down FOR NOW. The crime rate is down FOR NOW. This writer and people that see in this same perspective are only looking at the surface of the issue. 
They're invading our neighborhoods and saying not to complain about it. It's all about money and not the well-being of the community, because if it was really about the people and the community like they love to claim, any person with common sense would go to the root of the issue. Start by asking what's making a family live in poverty? Be in a gang? Commit crimes? 
They think the solution is to get rid of everyone and for the outsiders to move in and make it nice and comfortable for them. They buy out mom and pop businesses and profit off the location, flip our own houses and sell them to wealthy outsiders. What does this result to? To higher rents in low income neighborhoods to families not being able to pay high rents since there is no rent control and to ultimately families becoming homeless or living in shacks. What will this lead to in the future? A riot and a high rise on crime because no one is gonna watch their own kids starve. 

Tavana's #2 states "Gentrification improves the economy."
Acosta: For who ? For the investors and new hipster people that are moving in.
Tavana states "But that doesn't change the fact that renovations to the Los Angeles River will eventually lead to billions of dollars in investment in mostly rundown areas where the river flows — which could generate 18,000 jobs. Starbucks, Whole Foods, and open-air malls invest where hip consumers are willing to swipe their credit cards for ornate goods, and whose manufacturers hire more people than drug dealers and sketchy massage parlors"
Acosta: The 18,000 jobs that Tavana claims that there will be generated will probably be minimum wage jobs or jobs that pay a little above the minimum wage of $12.00/hr which will not be enough money to support a family that has to pay expensive rent, food, gas, etc. In the eyes of the investors the neighborhoods in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, etc. are getting a higher property value since all the new corporations, hipster stores, million dollar renovations to the L.A. river are entering or surrounding these neighborhoods making the rent and houses to be more expensive. So what's the point if it creates more jobs if at the end we wont be even able to afford rent in our own neighborhoods. 


Tavana's # 3 states "There's nothing wrong with finer living". He mentioned " First-wave gentrifiers include middle-class gay couples who, yes, bring with them tasteful decor, farmers markets, vintage bookstores, diversity, gorgeous condos and hygienic toilets. Gated pawn shops are replaced with storefronts festooned with antique chandeliers. If you want your liquor stores and gun shops, hop on a plane and head to Detroit — L.A. is moving on."
Acosta: Let me start with saying that's a big stereotype to the LGBT community. And a disrespect to cultures that have lived for decades in Los Angeles. He and others involved in the gentrification trend are saying that our restaurants, our stores, our customs are of less value compared to their new shiny polished stores that have "chandeliers".  

2.) Next, from Urban Displacement, UCLA and UC Berkeley collected statistics and created maps that depict the gentrification that has occurred in Los Angeles from 1990 to 2013. As well as other maps that show Racial/Ethnic Composition, Percent Poverty, 2000-2013 upscaling, and etc.  

This image is the gentrification that has occurred in Los Angeles, ranging from 1990-2000 and/or 2000-2013. We're in the year 2017, as 4 years have passed, there has been more gentrification in the East side and Northeast side of L.A.
To see more area that was recorded, this link http://www.urbandisplacement.org/map/la takes you to the Urban Displacement website. 

3.) Here's a video further explaining the effects of Gentrification. 

Personal❤: 

I choose this is issue because Gentrification and it's sub-factor, no rent control in L.A., is a real issue that is affected thousands of families in Los Angeles. It affects me because I was raised in East Los Angeles and being considered as a low-income family it's hard to pay rent that is going for $1,600+ for an apartment that isn't even that big. It became so expensive that we had to leave where I was raised my whole life, we now stay in one room with family members in their house in West Covina. And as much as I help with the financial aid I get from school and I  try to help my mom, it's not enough because gas, food expenses, cars that mess up due to driving in traffic everyday take up all the money.

 And to see new stores that are replacing restaurants and little mom and pop stores I would go to my whole life is sad because I know that either those people were bought out or couldn't afford rent for their businesses. More corporations like Nike, Subway, Starbucks, etc. are appearing on Whittier Blvd. in East L.A. and it makes me question, do we really need another Starbucks? These small businesses that were there would support their families income and the neighborhood's economy.

Gathering Evidence📍:

People in the community of Los Angeles that are affected by Gentrification and No rent control.

Jazz Hernandez 

Lilia Penaloza and her daughter Kathlynn

Sources:

•  Simpson, Isaac, and Art Tavana. “Is Gentrification Ruining Los Angeles, or Saving It? Pick a Side.” L.A. Weekly, 5 Jan. 2017, www.laweekly.com/news/is-gentrification-ruining-los-angeles-or-saving-it-pick-a-side-5342416.
• “Urban Displacement Los Angeles Map.” Urban Displacement Los Angeles Map | Urban Displacement Project, 2013, www.urbandisplacement.org/map/la.
• AlJazeeraEnglish. “Los Angeles' Boyle Heights neighbourhood fights gentrification.” YouTube, YouTube, 21 Dec. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQu-4kPiDjQ