Re: [sudo-discuss] Tech Boom Spurs Changes in West Oakland | KQED News Fix

That headline is true, but the condos pictured are from the 2008 boom. :p "recently" Also, no mention of the black retirees and heirs thrilled about their new wealth. I'm looking forward to less lazy reporting. On Monday, July 28, 2014, Romy(a)snowyla.com &lt;romy(a)snowyla.com&gt; wrote: > > http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2014/07/15/tech-boom-west-oakland > > Tech Boom Spurs Changes in West Oakland > [image: Zephyr Gate, a new condo complex several blocks from the West > Oakland BART station. (Sam Harnett/KQED)] > > A new condo complex several blocks from the West Oakland BART station. > (Sam Harnett/KQED) > > Once, you may have gone to West Oakland to hear James Brown or Aretha > Franklin play the clubs on Seventh Street. The street was the center of a > neighborhood rich in African-American history. NBA legend Bill Russell > lived in West Oakland, and the Black Panthers had an office on Peralta > Street. > > But the clubs closed decades ago and Bill Russell is long gone. In > their wake, a new wave of residents are sweeping into the neighborhood — > many of them white, and many of them coming from San Francisco because of > the tech boom. > > According to the 2010 census, Oakland has more white inhabitants than > black residents for the first time since the 1970s. Neighborhoods have been > changing for decades, but the expanding tech industry is speeding up the > process. > > Meanwhile, sky-high rents are pushing people out of San Francisco, > with many ending up in West Oakland, the first BART stop on the east side > of the bay. > > Over the last few decades, West Oakland has seen an increase of > abandoned factories and shuttered businesses. Danita Robinson, a member of > the Center Street Baptist Church on Tenth Street, says for a long time > nobody would invest in West Oakland. But she says there is now more > development in the neighborhood. > [image: Esther's Orbit Room] > > The now-defunct Esther’s Orbit Room on Seventh Street in West Oakland. > The unassuming club played host to many greats of jazz, blues and R&B, > including Etta James, Al Green, B.B. King and Tina Turner. (Photo: > RadioNicole/Flickr) > > For instance, developers recently built a high-end condo complex in > West Oakland called Zephyr Gate. It’s a couple of blocks long and within > walking distance from the West Oakland BART stop. > > “That was so abandoned for such a long time,” Robinson says. “Now it > is all nice over there and Mr. Google and Mr. Doctor are living there.” > > Referring to to an old nickname for one section of the neighborhood, > she asks, “What could we have put back there outside of these condos that > would have been beneficial to the West Oakland area, especially what we > call the lower bottoms down here?” > > Kenna Stormwell-Gougis lives in a Victorian across from the Center > Street Baptist Church. She bought the house a decade ago. > > “I was the only white person on this block 10 years ago,” she says, > “and now, I would say the block is 40 percent white.” She says lots of new > people are riding by on bikes and popping in and out of old Victorian > houses. > > Danita Robinson doesn’t think of the newcomers as West Oaklanders. > > “I call them San Franciscans,” she says. “Why else would you be moving > to this area and not another area of Oakland? Because it’s three blocks > from the BART station.” > Dawn Phillips is the program co-director at Causa Justa::Just Cause. > His organization published a report that shows some market-rate rents in > West Oakland to be higher than in Rockridge and the Oakland Hills — two of > the most affluent areas in the city. > > “When we looked at that data it blew us away,” Phillips says. “We did > not know that.” > > Rent is rising throughout Oakland. The real estate company Trulia says > rents increased 10.8 percent in May from the year before. That is the third > highest rent hike in the country behind San Diego and San Francisco. The > median price for a two-bedroom is now $2,450 a month. > > “This is a regional pressure that is being created,” Phillips says. > “It is rippling out from San Francisco.” Soon he says, it will hit > neighborhoods farther out in the Bay Area. > > In gathering data for their report, Causa Justa::Just Cause found an > increase in the eviction and displacement of Africans-Americans from > Oakland. Phillips says the current demographic change is just the final > stage after decades of disinvestment in the area: “We understand > gentrification to be pretty long-term, long-evolving historic process that > is actually very systematic in nature.” > [image: 10th and Wood] > > 10th and Wood, a new sandwich shop near the Zephyr Gate condo complex. > (Photo: Sam Harnett/KQED) > > Ron Lindsey can tell you first-hand how the long-term process played > out in West Oakland, where he grew up. His father and uncle worked at the > Navy shipyard. He saw that get shut down and the factory jobs shipped > overseas. Then the businesses on Seventh Street started closing. He can > still point out where they all were — a clothing store, a shoe shine > parlor, barber shops, candy shops and night clubs. “All of these were black > businesses,” Lindsey says. > > After companies outsourced the neighborhood’s factory jobs, the tax > base eroded and social services were cut. Unemployment and violence spiked. > Lindsey watched as highways and train lines carved up the neighborhood. The > elevated BART rails got built right over Seventh Street. Now where there > was once music, there is the screech of trains, drowning out everything > below. People left. Eventually, so did Lindsey. > > Phillips says gentrification is this whole progression, from job loss > to neighborhood decay to redevelopment. > > Danita Robinson says even though things are changing, there is no way > for her to move up. > > “I don’t want to be low-rent,” Robinson says. “I don’t want to be > low-income. I would like to move up. I can’t afford that condo. It looks > nice. I want to be in that condo. But you killed all my jobs, so how am I > gonna get in that condo?” > > Robinson cleans houses for a living, and her husband works two jobs. > The couple is expecting a baby, so she hopes they can find better > employment soon. > > *Note: The caption for the top photo in this post has been updated. > The original caption identified the condo displayed as part of Zephyr > Gate, which KQED has not been able to confirm.* > > *Explore*: Oakland <http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/tag/oakland/>, Priced > Out <http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/tag/priced-out/>, West Oakland > <http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/tag/west-oakland/> > > *Category*: Housing > <http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/category/housing-2/> > > > Sent from my iPhone > _______________________________________________ sudo-discuss mailing list sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss