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Gentrification: My Take

The Effects of a Clash of Cultures

By Alí GonzálezPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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York Blvd., Highland park CA

Gentrification has affected almost all people of all ethnic backgrounds in the United States. The most popular to date has been in the hispanic communities located in Los Angeles, California. Gentrification is a very controversial topic in 2017-18 due to the recent changing of areas such as Echo Park, Highland Park, and now Boyle Heights. Although gentrification is an action with good intentions, it is also one being frowned upon. The uprising of gentrification has caused lots of tension between people in communities affected by gentrification. This action has forced many people to move out of their apartments or sell their homes because they cannot afford to pay for the now expensive rent. This has created lots of division and conflict in the communities of certain areas and the people around them.

Gentrification is the urban renewal of a lower class neighborhood that typically does not have a high income. The term “gentrification” is now a household word and is commonly seen as a negative thing. When people hear gentrification, they often think of two things: coffee and homes.

Although gentrification does have a lot to do with coffee and homes, it is important to not associate those terms with the word. Gentrification is much more than the invasion of a higher class community. Many people are being affected by gentrification, both the gentrifiers and the ones being gentrified. Coming from a community that has been gentrified, I have witnessed the effects it has had on my community and the people around it.

Coming from a very poverty-stricken neighborhood has always made me and my peers want the commodities people in areas such as Pasadena and Beverly Hills have. However, not once did we think it would involve many different changes other than remodeling in order for that to happen.

These changes have had a big impact on the people of low income neighborhoods. A lot of people (typically caucasian) see an area of low income as an opportunity to earn money for themselves. It only takes one shop to get the word spread out to other people wanting to open a store or renovate an apartment in the next hip and urban community. I see Gentrification as a business tactic that is legal but not practical. This is not practical because of This has changed many people's lives forever.

The aftermath of gentrification is a very difficult subject for most to talk about. People have ended up homeless or stuck somewhere they don't want to be. During my senior year of high school, numerous friends of mine had to move out of their apartments or sell their homes. No one is forced out of their homes unwillingly, but the landlord knows they will not be able to go from paying $1,300 to paying $2,600 or even more. It was difficult watching friends whom I've grown up with struggle and not being able to do anything about it. Many of the areas that are affected by gentrification contain lots of undocumented families. Undocumented people struggle more than the common low income family because they do not have a work permit and can not get a good paying job to pay for a decent apartment. That was the case for one of my friends, Natalia Leon. It is not a myth that people of hispanic origins clean houses for a living and make less than an average person. My friend Natalia was forced to move three times due to the remodeling of the apartments she had lived in for more than seven years. Each time she would move, the rent would go up and the amount of room in the apartment would go down. There were lots of senior activities many of my classmates couldn't participate in because of the current issues with the rent prices and fear of Trump coming in to presidency. It was a very overwhelming experience for my classmates because almost 60 percent have undocumented parents or are undocumented themselves. Although this is not purposely done by the act of gentrification, it is still a problem.

The other people being affected by gentrification are the shop owners, such as weird wave coffee located in Boyle Heights. There is definitely a race barrier when it comes to shops. If there is an independent shop owned by a caucasian, it will be boycotted and frowned upon. However, if it is a hispanic owned independent shop with the same prices and products as the caucasian owned, it will gain no criticism. This is very bad for the caucasian shop owner because then they will never get to sell to everyone like they wish. These shop owners have a dream of selling a product they enjoy but can't due to the housing crisis. Many of these little shops aren't being supported, it appears to the hispanic community that there is a big “do not enter” sign around all of them. This is making many things difficult for both sides of the gentrified and the gentrifiers.

In areas affected by gentrification, there is lots of tension between the two sides of the conflict. There is awareness of gentrification in LA and NY. The most notable by far has to be in Highland Park, CA. Highland Park is currently a clash of cultures, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Being a town filled with so much history, it is a place where everyone wants to hang out or raise their kids. Even Barack Obama once resided in Highland Park to attend private school—Occidental College. An upside for the people that haven't been booted out of their home yet: they do get to enjoy a better neighborhood. Highland Park was once filled with streets that the Avenues Gang and HLP gang ruled. They claimed streets and sides of Highland Park that people not affiliated with gangs had to deal with. It was very dangerous and often times got very ugly. Classmates I had in a classroom with me going the same route ended up taking a turn and ended up in jail or dead. The violence has gone down due to the imprisonment of a lot of people from both gangs. I therefore feel that it will stay down due to the new type of neighborhood Highland Park is. There is definitely a change in environment with all these shops and mixed cultures we have here. As much as the people that have resided in Highland Park all their lives don't want to like the new HLP, it is almost impossible not to. This has made a safer more family friendly community for the people that were able to stay in their homes. However, there is a fear that, when the gangs are released from jail, they will not like what they see and there will be an increase of violence again towards the new people of Highland Park.

Gentrification is a worldwide problem that affects more than just the Los Angeles region. It also affects more than the people being gentrified. I don’t think that there is a solution to gentrification that will not affect anyone. It is happening and is sadly something we have to live with. Although gentrification is not as bad as it seems, it has turned into a negative terminology. There’s good and bad effects to everything and the way people view this varies.

East village protesters, New York,, USA

humanity
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