Thursday, February 13, 2014

The Anti-Gentrification Bandwagon

The Term "Gentrification" has been used describe the natural economic process where investors buy low value properties and redevelop those properties. The process usually begins with a single project and results in the increase of adjacent property values.

However, it is more often used by "progressives" as a cudgel and as a hot button to raise the ugly spirit of class envy.

When activists rant about gentrification, they go on about how people are losing their heritage and their homes. With the issue painted in colours of greed and avarice over the backdrop of hardship and despair that is where the progressive theme stops. Not once will you ever hear from the bandwagon drum beaters the rest of the story.

Because? The rest of the story is about how people are trapped by the decay and neglect that originates in and becomes pervasive in their own community.

Ask a homeowner if they would like to see their own property value go up. Ask them if they would like to be able to use that home value to repair or upgrade their own property. Ask them if they would like to have that bigger nest egg to retire.  Ask any of the residents if they'd like to see some stores or jobs in their neighbourhood. Ask them if they'd like to see the derelict properties raised and the empty lots cleaned up or put to use.

The activists won't ask and they won't tell that story either.

Because activism is all about stopping progress and keeping people in their place.

The Anti-Gentrification Bandwagon

Maybe ask why a newspaper feels that it is their job to be the mouthpiece for those activists

Hat Tip to Black and Right

 OMMAG

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