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Comment by matthewmacleod | Hacker News Reader

I'd love to know who's actually putting the effort into this nonsense. While gentrification causes obvious problems, particularly around housing, the rampant doublethinky ignorance of literally pointing out that tech money is providing jobs and investment in the area is a bit hard to swallow… feels like there's something else going on here.

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Unfortunately, San Francisco has more than its share of untreated mentally ill, and this note reads like that to me.

I think that's a bit of a trivialisation of the issue. There's clearly a literate, intelligent, and reasonably well-organised group that's been pushing this stuff recently, and I struggle to picture who they are, and why they're wasting their time like this.

Resentment, plain and simple. The tech industry represents a missed chance for those who did not hop on board. And compounded by SV's tendency to produce lots of self-serving products (and not to mention the implicit elitism), this sentiment was bound to emerge.

To be fair, I don't think anarchists in SF envision silicon valley as a "missed chance". Silicon Valley has been there for 50 years. Silicon Valley came to them.

Whether or not anyone agrees, that's how they see it. Genrtification isn't about winning--or losing--for them its about killing a place/era they used to calll home.

Think woodstock or other "lost eras". Those times only last a short while and are fleeting. Because they are a function of the fact that they were new and unknown (at the time). Once everyone tramples into the place, whatever place it was before is gone.

Even if you still are theree: it sucks having "new neighbors" thay you just don't like. Even if you're a landowner or an established person.

See, eg https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7540842

(Similar story in NY)

http://www.examiner.com/article/anarchists-occupy-abandoned-...

They're the San Francisco Anarchists, well known for Black Bloc protests. They believe in a more extreme means to protesting.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/8...

Rebellion, vandalism, and property damage are their tools. Anarchists have their own philosophy (arguably, its just a more extreme branch of Libertarianism).

I don't know, maybe they prefer to live on benefits in a cheaper place? If you live on government support, jobs in your area don't help you and the higher prices worsen your situation.

They want to live in San Francisco. SF has always been a "rebel hub" of freedom and anarchy. Its that rebellious spirit that somewhat made the valley what it is today.

Ultimately, they call that place their home and wish to say. Market economics however are forcing them to move. Therefore, conflict exists.

Honestly, the solution is to build more Apartment complexes and strike down the zoning laws that prevents the new buildings from going up.

That doesn't explain that they resent the creation of service jobs as they seem to do. That would only explain that they resent the creation of highly paid tech jobs and the increased demand for housing.

You got that right. Everything yellow in this map is zoned 40-X, a.k.a. buildings taller than 4 stories are not welcome: http://i.imgur.com/Tn7CSTX.jpg

(You can make maps like this at http://propertymap.sfplanning.org/)

Who gives a shit where they "want" to live. I'd like to live on the upper east side in Manhattan. Time for them to move to a place they can afford and stop the whining. I hear Detroit has a lot of cheap housing.

Ironically, this is the true anarcho-capitalist approach to the problem. Part of Anarchy is that when the prices go up and you can't afford the area you're living in... you should move out to a place you can afford.

It is strange to see Anarchists as the ones who are most rebellious against gentrification.

Different anarchism branches disagree very strongly on some issues. That's not surprising at all.

However, the housing market in SanFran is anything but free.

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