Writing an editorial in today's Los Angeles Times, Lazaros Papademetropoulos, an architect with an urban planning degree, argues the paper's recent story on Echo Park gentrification got it wrong. Gentrification isn't the result of a developers pushing out working class citizens, but the result of those citizens moving on up. "Gentrification starts, historically and consistently, when the original property owners -- regardless of ethnic origin -- realize that their property has appreciated (a lot) and freely choose to sell and get out of their quaint urban neighborhoods. Even when no real estate appreciation is involved, these homeowners flee to the safety and prestige of the suburbs or "posh" urban areas once they become financially successful." So who is perpetuating the myth of the mean developer? Mostly, it's affluent, white people--with too much time on their hands--trying to be activists. [LA Times]
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