gentrification

likely unproductive, although San Francisco recently passed legislation outlawing the siting ofnational-franchise juice and coffee shops in certain city neighborhoods.At the city level, unions and city governments have in the past sought to link larger publicfacilities development (such as stadiums and transit facilities) to short- and long-term employmentfor local residents. Since original residents are often stymied by low incomes in their attempts toremain in place, these appear useful in cases of gentrifying communities as well.In our case studies, we came across no case in which a link was formed between originalresidents and jobs in either the regional economic engines generating gentrification pressures or innew small businesses along a neighborhood commercial strip. There are very few examples ofcommunities actively working to link regional job growth and job opportunity to lower incomeresidents more generally. Existing efforts include the five-city Neighborhood Jobs Initiativesponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentand the California Endowment’s California Works for Better Health initiative, and several sites of theAnnie E. Casey Foundation’s Jobs Initiative. 49 Nevertheless, linking strategies of these kinds togentrifying communities seems promising, particularly given opportunity for leveraging the greateconomic resources that generally accompany a gentrifying community.6. Maximizing Public Assets for the Public GoodPublic assets and aging public facilities, such as city-owned land and school buildings, canbecome important tools to help leverage revitalization. In a gentrifying market, they can become keyingredients for needed resources such as affordable housing and community facilities. In a hotmarket and without local scrutiny, public land and buildings quickly can be turned over to the privatesector and developed, exacerbating gentrification pressures and increasing the likelihood of rentspikes, displacement and an exodus of lower income residents. With advance planning, however,these assets can also be secured, decoupled from market price pressures, and used to spurdevelopment consistent with the neighborhood’s vision.In each of our case study communities, community organizations and the public sector haveworked together to link public assets with community residential and business needs. For instance,Cleveland turns over city land to CDCs and for-profit corporations for the development of affordablehousing or community services, and the City earmarks city land for for-profit development projectsconsistent with the city’s overall downtown housing plan. In the Mission District of San Francisco,the historically significant Redstone Building may be bought with City and labor union support tohouse area non-profits hard pressed by rent hikes, and a city-owned garage is operated by theMission Economic Development Association, generating an important revenue stream for the49 PolicyLink and The Funders’ Network on Smart Growth and Livable Communities. “Advancing RegionalEquity: Perspectives from Philanthropy on Promising Practices.” February, 2001.36