I am watching it tank here in Portland, where, by the way I am planting my second cannabis crop, legally (FTW!) Shan't be here much past harvest, all of the artist and crazies that make culture are being driven out by the assholes who are pouring in like the fucking Golden Horde.  17 offers on a house, cash.  Here we go, lemmings to the cliff.

By this time of our lives we should all be playing it to our advantage, learn the signs of the cycle and accept the money they are trying to force into your hand.

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

Now it is more of the same. The situation is unstable in the bay area. The bubble economy results in precipitous swings. Too much of a downward slide and whole generations of people never see the recovery, while the rich just get richer on their backs. I could sell now and re-buy in the coming bust, because I have alternatives in housing. What good does that do to make a community I would want to live in?

Boom/bust is as old as prostitution. Fraud is what fraud is and should be fought at every level.

Gentrification ... we're trying to figure out how to make that happen here to reverse the cancer of slow generational poverty.  Anti-gentrification is watching once vital neighborhoods decay into unhealthy shadows of their former glory.  When new those neighborhoods were pretty much what they are gentrifying back into albeit with changes in scale due to technological improvements.

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

I am not exactly anti- revitalization. I just don't trust overheated gentrification. I just would like to see it happen in a way that produces communities I want to live in after its run its course. With at least some desirable characteristics other than being rich, gated off and well tended by guest workers.  Places like Portland spent a long time as dirty river towns trying to reclaim the ghettos and wasteland rather than expand as suburbs.  But now the speculative nature of gentrification there seems to lead to bubble real estate pricies that are  not backed by bubble resistant jobs. In downturns Portland comes apart at the seams. It is still a one horse town and whenever the tech horse won't pull there is little else sustainable to prop up the prices. Some of the highest unemployment  in the country during the recession. As bad as Rhode Island, which was worse than West Virginia.

The south eastern part of West Virginia is being propped up by overvalued real estate of NOVA pushing people to drive an hour or two to work by buying property that they can afford 40-70 miles away.  Artificially low interest rates are fucking up everything by helping to artificially inflate housing values...through in speculation markets and it gets ripe for destruction

"Gentrification ... we're trying to figure out how to make that happen here to reverse the cancer of slow generational poverty.  Anti-gentrification is watching once vital neighborhoods decay into unhealthy shadows of their former glory.  When new those neighborhoods were pretty much what they are gentrifying back into albeit with changes in scale due to technological improvements."

Bullshit, as usual.  Quit being an apologist for the fucking Lawyers, Banks, and Architects.

Emmeran wrote:

Dmtdust wrote:

Bullshit, as usual.  Quit being an apologist for the fucking Lawyers, Banks, and Architects.

Sure, so let's create artificial enclaves of culture and happiness.  You sound like a Disney commercial: Look at this cool pretend place.  Fuck you can put one on a barge and call it a Cruiseliner.

The cool thing about the cool places is that they aren't intentional, forced or sponsored.  Propping shit up with laws and taxes to "prolong the cool" doesn't work either.

Cool happens and unhappens - stop trying to manipulate it.

Yeah there is nothing like a stable community being uprooted for a bunch of entitled assholes.  Yeah, change used to happen organically, now it is just driven by the greed and the developers. 

If you think that is "natural", or "healthy", I have some beach front property in Nevada that you might like to invest in.

What replaces community is soul-less, but I am sure that fits you pretty well.

There is more to it than "don't tread on me". A desirable place to live in many peoples minds involves a functioning community. Otherwise you end up with places that are pretty sterile.  I was at a debut function last week for Mrs Google who's private endeavours include trying to buy back towns that have been overgentrified to put some other middle class people back in business.  Because even the ultra rich don't like being around just their asshole friends. Commendable work, putting your money where your mouth is, I have friends who aquired real estate through her loans that would not be possible due to speculators maniupulating the local commercial market by cornering the supply over a decade. But robber baraons creating private investments funding for their favorite enclaves is not a solution. A year ago I went to a conference where a panel actually discussed where to find authentic towns across the world for their clients to hang out in. The consenses was that there is little left on the circuit.

Dmtdust wrote:

Nothing like talking to a true believer.

It'll be OK Dusty.



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Emmeran wrote:

Dmtdust wrote:

Nothing like talking to a true believer.

It'll be OK Dusty.

https://cruelery.com/uploads/11_whomovedmychze.jpg

Actually, yeah I know it will be... Many of the artist I know who have lost everything and places to exhibit due to the current cultural sterilization that you seem to like are moving on, and smaller cities and towns will benefit for it.  Unfortunately though the uptick in homelessness, and street violence from gangs can be traced back to the class warfare being waged from top down over the last 35 years isn't getting any better.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

Dmtdust wrote:

Emmeran wrote:

Dmtdust wrote:

Nothing like talking to a true believer.

It'll be OK Dusty.

https://cruelery.com/uploads/11_whomovedmychze.jpg

Actually, yeah I know it will be... Many of the artist I know who have lost everything and places to exhibit due to the current cultural sterilization that you seem to like are moving on, and smaller cities and towns will benefit for it.  Unfortunately though the uptick in homelessness, and street violence from gangs can be traced back to the class warfare being waged from top down over the last 35 years isn't getting any better.

Fair regulations and strong enforcement.  Well paid auditors and clarity at every level - we can't be distracted by fads and temporary movements.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs