SF Renters vs. SF Buyers

The New York Times ran a beautiful piece about the looming gentrification of the pristine pastures of Precita Park.  It's a fine read and all, but I think Wendy MacNaughton's illustration sums it up perfectly.

Comments (6)

It’s actually more like a Venn diagram than separate circles.

Can I have a blonde brownie with my cup of Rwanda joe?

I was walking home from picking up my lunch when two folks stopped me and asked “how do you find a place to live in this city?” Man, it sucks out there if you’re not rich.

We all love an easy rich-people-suck illustration, but let me suggest that - to some extent, not entirely - the things we enjoy about (white) people in the Mission, be they renters or buyers, are pretty much the same. First, let’s posit that the circle on the left should actually read White SF Renters South of Bush and East of Twin Peaks. Then let’s agree (which I might not) that the things in that circle are all super-cool. The people drawn to buy South of Bush and East of Twin Peaks are drawn by *exactly* those same things. They admire them, and want to be near them. That’s why they buy here. To be among the Loquatians. Yes, they are rich enough to buy, but they value many of the same things renters value. Are there exceptions? Of course. Some probably just want access to 280 and Commonwealth. As I meander, I wonder what my point was. Oh, right, that the circles should be the same, but with money added to the one on the right, not replacing the other things. And that the word “white” should be used a few more times. White.

I (heart) Wendy MacNaughton’s art!