How Silicon Valley Millionaires Stole Progressivism

[madokie]

In the battle against displacement in San Francisco, defenders of democracy are denounced as reactionaries, while agents of capital are lauded as revolutionaries.

On a Saturday afternoon in early February, more than 600 residents of San Francisco gathered at the Tenderloin Elementary School for a citywide tenants’ convention. The attendees—an eclectic mix of old and young, veteran activists and political newcomers—came from neighborhoods all over town. They joined together to fight the soaring rents and mounting evictions that have accompanied the tech incursion into San Francisco, and that are threatening to turn a city famed for its inclusive, liberal character into an enclave of wealth and privilege.

These days, San Francisco has the most expensive housing in the nation. In late March, 43.5 percent of the homes listed for sale in the city were priced at $1 million or more, by far the highest such percentage in the United States. Residential rents are soaring: as of last October, the median monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $3,250—also the highest in the country.

The backlash against dispossession has earned national and international notice via the blockade of Google buses, the mammoth vehicles that transport about 35,000 tech workers every day between their Silicon Valley workplace and San Francisco home. But the media have paid relatively little attention to the less showy tenants’ movement, which has become a major political force in the city.

The San Francisco Chronicle didn’t bother to send a reporter to the convention. But the day after the meeting, the paper’s lead editorial fretted:

http://www.thenation.com/article/180666/how-silicon-valley-millionaires-stole-progressivism

[w4rma]

1. As someone who has been a renter for years and who has moved every year or two

I don't see how renters should generally expect to stay in the same apartment for huge stretches of their lives. These folks should push for some more rent control laws, but other than that I don't see what can or should be done.

Disclaimer: I'm no longer a renter as of 4 years ago.