Actually, anyone who rents space gentrifies by definition, as their demand in the market pushes prices up. This goes for all of us.

Sudo, and many of the people involved in the community gentrify even more than the average person. I lived in West Oakland about 7 years ago when it was pretty much non-gentrified. I wasn't living there because the sweet open source community, or the hipster coffeeshops (Actual Cafe, that other place downtown, and many others at this point). I wasn't living there because of the oh-so-indie art boutiques, or precious vegan donut bakeries. None of that stuff existed at that point. I was living there because it was the only place that I could afford.

All of this hipster cultural stuff, sudo room definitely included, makes Oakland more desirable to people who have a choice about where to live. People who actually WANT to live in Oakland, and moved there <5 years ago, are the very definition of gentrification. Doesn't matter if you're an underground hackertyper fighting the man, a renegade yarnbomber, or even an activist kombucha liberator. If you engage in actions that make a neighborhood a more desirable place to live, people will want to live there. They will look for apartments, and rent will go up. Some people who were living there because it was the only place they could afford will be pushed out by the higher prices. This is cause and effect.

Ironically, the people who yell loudest about gentrification are the first wave gentrifiers who make it all happen.

The solution to a lack of housing? More housing.



On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 6:39 PM, Phil Wolff <pwolff@gmail.com> wrote:
I haven't thought of "white flight" for a long time. 
Never thought of gentrification as white flight reversed. 
It's not an exact opposite, but helpful in thinking of gentrification as a flavor of migration.

Omni and Sudo won't materially affect gentrification rates one way or the other. 

What's in our power is affecting how our communities respond to this change, and to others. 

We are propagating values, skills, and resources handy for those confronting macro-level disruptions. Hacker ethics. Maker skills. Inclusive community. Sharing economics. Occupy energy. Sustainable practices. Culture innovation. Where we bring these, we're making our community more capable and resilient, healing the world. Tikkun olam. 

This month we're very aware of Sudo as a place, a site at an address. We talked about raising Omni funds by drawing the surrounding community to use our common areas for events, by boosting memberships of the collectives as we pull people into our orbits. Moving in, settling in should take the rest of this year. 

But we should also be thinking about ways to bring our Sudoey goodness to more people and more neighborhoods. I've heard Matt imagine small satellite Sudo spaces spread across the map. I've seen yar do FirstFriday and library outreach. Hackpacks have a similar future. Perhaps we'll eventually have the hacker version of library bookmobiles, a hack truck we bring to schools, fairs, parking lots. 2015?

Our presence sudofies, not gentrifiies. 




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