^^^ It's not leased until the ink is dry, surely as someone involved in the office market you know that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeg1985
Not to belabor this but this isn't totally correct. The Pols and Czechs didn't leave necessarily because they were priced out of the hood by poor immigrants, they left because they were racist and didn't like the Hispanics moving into their hood. I know this for a fact because the 86 year old sister of my grandmother who used to live in Pilsen and now lives in Burbank told me so with her own mouth. The Hispanics being pushed out by hipsters is an economic thing. One is not like the other.
Also, buying a place doesn't mean that you won't be pushed out. People live in a hood like Boystown because they want to be around other gay people. If all those other gays have left and been replaced with straight Cubs fans or whatever, then you no longer live in the same hood. Even though your location has not changed. So buying a place in and of itself does not guarantee that you won't feel pushed out of your hood.
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And it's not at all racist to resist gentrification because "it changes the fabric of our neighborhood"? That's just code for "we don't like that white hipsters are moving here". Any statement that revolves around race inherently has racist overtones. One can't say "I want my community to stay intact" if your entire community is a single race and not be racist. That's basically saying "if you aren't like us, you are not allowed".
I just find comments like the second paragraph of your post disturbing. Do we really think that "Lakeview is for the gays" and that it should stay that way forever? For a set of voices that is demanding more diverse incomes in our neighborhoods, the anti-gentrification crowd seems to have a huge problem with more diverse sexual orientations, races, religious backgrounds, etc. And yes, when a white yuppie moves into a majority gay neighborhood, that neighborhood becomes more diverse. When a white hipster moves into a neighborhood that is 98% hispanic, that area becomes more diverse.
Also the whole "I don't like the new neighbors" reason for moving is nothing new in Chicago nor is specifically linked to skin color. It's just a part of the lifecycle of cities. Just look at how the Germans and Irish pushed the Protestant old guard of Chicago progressively further north and away from the city center throughout the 1800's. This is what happens when new immigrant groups arrive and it's not about old Polish people being racist, it's about everyone being "racist" and preferring to live near people with the same background as them. The one group that is the clear exception to this normal immigration and assimilation process is African Americans, but that's a whole 'nother wall of text that we shouldn't even get into.