The Warfield

I remember that long drive west on the California Delta Highway from Stockton to the San Fransisco Bay. My brothers and I made our perennial pilgrimage to see the Grateful Dead on New Year's Eve at the Warfield on the Bay.
Somewhere on the Cal. State Rt. 24, between Walnut Creek and the San Fransisco Bridge, was "Gunsmokeland", or "Cokeland" California. We made a point to make that leg of the journey during the daylight hours.
Oakland California was legendary for many reasons but among the fans at the Dead concerts it was mostly known as the place where you do not want to go stumbling around after the show gets out at night.

During the late 80's and early 90's, Oakland had nearly twice the homicide rate as San Fransisco or New York. And during the first decade of the 21st century it was considered to be in the top 10 most dangerous cities in America. If someone told me in 1995 that the cost of rent in those terrifying hinterlands across the bridge would in two short decades be the second to fastest rising in the country, I would never believe them. But then again, I had never heard of Gentrification back then either.

Like Brooklyn New York's transformation during the last few decades of the 20th century, the city of Oakland is gradually showing signs of affluence and and racial homogeneity as more members of minority communities head for the surrounding suburbs. The sharp increases in rents and property values are driving lower income families further inland and the richness of culture and diversity of the neighborhoods fade in their wake.
From one perspective this is a welcome change, the streets in some communities are safer, ghettos in disrepair are being replaced by condominium complexes, and liquor stores are transforming into coffee bars and vape shops.
But what about the lives of those who have to commute for hours to work for minimum wage? What about the families that must double or triple up in small apartments outside of the communities where they grew up? Perhaps there may have been better ways to make the streets safer and the housing more affordable than to simply displace them with hipster- millennials.

I grew up in Portland Maine and I moved away during the late 80's up until about the turn of the 21st century. When I got back to Portland the first thing I noticed was all of the restaurants, art galleries, clothing consignment shops, and the unrecognizable transformation of "Munjoy Hill" (used to be the nearest thing to a ghetto in the downtown area, now it is the symbol of concentrated gentrification in Porland).
My early imressions were good...it looked to me like Portland was thriving and businesses were regaining a foothold in the city that at one time seemed to be going the way of Detroit and fading into the ashheap of history. However, now I have had the experience of working in Portland but finding it impossible to live in the same city because of soaring rents.
Some of the residents of Oakland may be reveling in the changes to their city, but there are many who would have preferred to stay where they were as well as enjoying safer communities. Maybe people should invest some of their resources not only to purchase properties, but also in the schools, community centers, education and job training and perhaps the city's transformation would benefit everyone and not just those who can afford it.

Gentrification transforming face of Oakland http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Gentrification-transforming-face-of-Oakland-5387273.php