gentrification

sale. 42 The street’s mix of businesses is shifting gradually from those serving the basicneeds of the Latino population, to the more eclectic preferences of its new upscale residents.These examples provide a range of the potential local impacts and responses to differentgentrification pressures. In some circumstances, when longstanding businesses can recognize thechange in their market and respond to it effectively, the business owner can thrive, as Mr. Josephhas done in Harlem. Some rent increases associated with gentrification may too severe for savvy aswell as marginal business owners.Anti-gentrification forces in San Francisco appear to be driven by two agendas related tochanging street character: Some lament the loss of original residents and businesses, and the flavorthat their presence brought to the street, or the unique markets the businesses might have filled.Others, driven by an anti-corporate, anti-consumption agenda, seem to oppose gentrification in orderto stop the influx of national franchises and firms, such as Starbucks and Home Depot. A recentSan Francisco Chronicle piece reported:Starbucks’ smiling green siren has come to symbolize all that is wrong with the new moneythat’s ruining the unique flavor of The City’s neighborhoods. . . . “It’s the canary in the mineshaft,” said neighborhood activist Aaron Peskin, who has led the fight against chain stores inNorth Beach. . . . Starbucks, says Peskin, is the “symbol of the chaining of corporateAmerica.” 43Community development officials and community leaders in the case study sites agreed thatsometimes original residents heartily support a change in street character and composition. In manycases, neighborhood residents had lobbied unsuccessfully to get better public services – includingeffective sealing of abandoned buildings, police crack downs on crime and drug activity, and betteraccess to groceries and other basic retail services. They prefer to have the variety and priceadvantages of a full-scale grocery rather than more expensive corner convenience stores. In OhioCity, a new Ralph’s supermarket is the first full-service grocery store to open in a generation. Thesame San Francisco Chronicle story cited above described the efforts the Excelsior DistrictImprovement Association undertook to attract Starbucks to its neighborhood.[They] invited Starbucks officials to tour their working-class neighborhood recently with thehope that a new Starbucks would revive the aging commercial district, attract more shoppersand ultimately attract more upscale stores. “You cannot buy a latte on Mission Street from42 Mission Economic Development Association (MEDA), San Francisco, “Small Business DisplacementHearing,” materials presented to Supervisor Alicia Becerril on September 16,1999, p. 3.43 Lelchuk, Ilene, “Starbucking the Trend, Coffee chain that’s shunned in some quarters now being courtedelsewhere,” San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday March 19,2000, p. C1. In December 2000, Peskin was one ofseveral anti-gentrification community activists elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The newBoard, the first to be elected under a new district elections system, now has a majority of opponents of themayor, and their common focus is opposition to displacement and support for strong controls on development.21