preview

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Gentrification

Decent Essays

KQED attempted to put the effect gentrification has had on the people of Oakland into perspective. As a major metropolitan city, Oakland has a constant influx of people moving in and moving out every single year. In just the “five-year span between 2010 and 2014, 104,544 people left Oakland… so, we'll speculate that during the five-year span, at least 14,008 left Oakland for economic reasons”(How Many Are Being Displaced by gentrification in Oakland?). This is a staggering number of people who have had to leave their home city due to economic reasons. Whats even scarier is that this number only represent those that were able to report their financial situation. There maybe an even greater group of people that went unrecognized by the survey. …show more content…

Though it doesn’t specifically speak about Oakland, many of the findings are noticeable in Oakland. This quote highlights the positive aspects of gentrification and how it is improving the lives of people who could not access these things in the past. Oakland’s crime rates have dropped significantly so far in the 21st century and are estimated to go down even more. No longer is Oakland associated with violence and death to those on the outside. We have also seen many corporations moving into Oakland bringing technology jobs. So far in the 21st century gentrification has brought many lucrative opportunities to those who can take them. New buildings are going up and the city is growing and expanding. The article continues by saying “while gentrification can cause social discord, it doesn’t produce measurably more departures from neighborhood” (In Defense of Gentrification). This goes against the notion that gentrification is the main reason people are moving out of urban areas. Statistically, in many places there is no evidence that a gentrifying area will have greater departures than a non gentrifying one. While this source brings up a good point, it fails to take into consideration that the reason the levels of people moving out of these areas are similar is that the middle class is shrinking and can no longer afford non gentrifying areas. People are still moving out of the gentrified areas for economic reasons and it is often unclear what specifically their reasons are. You can’t say the cause isn’t gentrification if the situation is as ambiguous as it often

Get Access