Poll of the Day > Black People are OUTRAGED over this EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE Sign!!!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Black People are OUTRGED after a Colorado coffee shop put out this extremely offensive sign outside their shop that praised GENTRIFICATION!!

ink! Coffee is now apologizing as it regrets putting it out there in the Denver Five Points neighborhood that said "Happily gentrifying the neighborhood sicne 2014!. Nothing says gentrification like being able to order a cortado"

It was placed near the 29th and Larimer streets, a part of Denver that was known as the "Harlem of the West"

Ru Johnson, a local writer said "My first reaction was, is this real? because it's just so mind blowing. Their sign was almost like a poke in the eye for the people who have worked to make the community what it is and a lot of those people have beenn pushed out. Who creaed this sign? send it to the manufacturer and put it outside your business"

One commenter said the store was flaunting their WHITE PRIVILEGE and said this is what's wrong with Denver.

NAACP also condemned the store for its "lighthearted" approach to gentrification, a phenomenon that minority communties blame for pricing them out of homes and economic opportunities. They said the mocking of those, especially african americans and other people of colour have been forced to surrender their homes and businesses to deep pocketed gentrification efforts.

However some conservative commentators have said that this sign is stating a TRUTH in that white people moving into their neighborhood saved them from collapse and point to other predominately black communities in America that are in "ruin"

The coffee store said in a statement "We clearly drank too much of our own product and lost sight of what makes our community great. We sincerely apologize for our street sign. Our bad joke was not meant to offend our vibrant and diverse community"

Do you know what gentrification is?.

The offensive sign -

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/23/16/46A2A35400000578-0-image-m-2_1511456228001.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/23/16/46A2B0B900000578-0-image-m-9_1511456361975.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/23/16/46A2B0B900000578-0-image-m-7_1511456312308.jpg

Ink coffee -

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/23/16/46A2A90800000578-0-image-a-3_1511456256158.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/23/20/46A2B0BF00000578-5111953-image-a-2_1511469189764.jpg
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It's objectively easier to just be offended instead of fix your life.
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http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/23/16/46A2B0B900000578-0-image-m-9_1511456361975.jpg
No, it's forcing people out of someone else's home. That's one of the inherent downsides of renting.

That could almost be considered self-deprecating.
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

It's objectively easier to just be offended instead of fix your life.

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I think the sign is just saying that it's like coffee drinkers boasting that if you're a coffee drinker you're more affluent than other people
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Not really offensive by any stretch. Obnoxious, perhaps, but not offensive unless offensive just means anything we dislike and, instead of acknowledging a dislike, they want a more impartial-sounding word to make their feelings look bigger.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0mH0YomgAY

Friend and I had a lengthy discussion about this. I feel there needs to be some protection in place to prevent people from getting push out frequently and having to relocate and find another place to live.

But at the same time I understand these apartments are a business and the owners should be able to do as they wish so long as it is within the confines of the law. Whether or not said laws should be revised to assist the rentees, that's another discussion.
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In my opinion gentrification is a good thing for the community overall, it just often affects lower income residents in the are negatively by increasing cost of living. It also increases the number of local jobs and brings a lot more revenue and tax gains for an area along with reducing crime rates.

There is a lot of good and bad that comes with the process. In the long run I think it improves communities by stimulating the economy.
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Gentrification from my perspective is the process by which an area in which I would be in relatively high risk of getting robbed or shot turns into an area in which I would be in relatively low risk of getting robbed or shot. Call it white privilege if you want, but I just can't bring myself to get angry about it.

Mead posted...

There is a lot of good and bad that comes with the process. In the long run I think it improves communities by stimulating the economy.

My friend suggested the same. He feels you can't hold back progress in a neighborhood by trying to be nice to its denizens. At some point said denizens need to adapt and improve their own lives if they hope to remain in the area.
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InfestedAdam posted...

Mead posted...

There is a lot of good and bad that comes with the process. In the long run I think it improves communities by stimulating the economy.

My friend suggested the same. He feels you can't hold back progress in a neighborhood by trying to be nice to its denizens. At some point said denizens need to adapt and improve their own lives if they hope to remain in the area.

See also:
https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21644164-gentrification-good-poor-bring-hipsters
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/01/the_gentrification_myth_it_s_rare_and_not_as_bad_for_the_poor_as_people.html

Well, gentrification has two meanings. One is to make something more appealing to middle class people and the other meaning is simply to make something more polished or refined.

If they meant the second meaning, it's essentially stating that they've been improving the coffee shop since 2014.

If they meant the first meaning, I don't see how that's 'offensive' unless they're telling people (or somehow showing?) that 'you're too low/high class for us, we're making this more appealing to middle class'.

From my experience as a non-coffee drinker (ergo I know practically nothing), most stuff in coffee shops is usually *cough* overpriced *cough* (granted you don't usually go to a coffee shop to get non-coffee related stuff), so trying to 'appeal more to middle class' sounds *to me* like trying to reduce prices. But as I said, I don't know much about coffee shops. XD

If they're referring to somehow making the 'neighbourhood' more appealing to middle class, I don't exactly see how that works unless they think 'more access to coffee' = 'more appealing to middle class'... which doesn't sound offensive to me?

Edit: I see people talking about the whole 'make stuff too expensive for minorities' scenario, but unless I'm misreading this what would the coffee shop have to do with that? Even if the coffee shop was making prices (somehow) high enough to still have business, but too high for minorities... coffee isn't exactly a must have thing and wouldn't result in minorities being unable to pay for their house/rent...
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Questionmarktarius posted...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/23/16/46A2B0B900000578-0-image-m-9_1511456361975.jpg
No, it's forcing people out of someone else's home. That's one of the inherent downsides of renting.

Nah, it's still your home even if you're renting. It's somebody else's property, but if you live in it, it's your home.

That, and while it's most likely going to be rent hikes that drive poorer people out as an area gentrifies, gentrification does drive up property values regardless of whether or not it's being rented, which in turn increases property taxes. That can end up being enough of a financial strain to drive out homeowners as well as renters.

Who owns that coffee shop? There's a difference between making fun of yourself versus making fun of other people, so I'm curious about that.
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TheGreatNoodles posted...

I see people talking about the whole 'make stuff too expensive for minorities' scenario, but unless I'm misreading this what would the coffee shop have to do with that?

This is a gross oversimplification, but the gentrification of a neighbourhood tends to proceed as follows:

-Higher crime rates in an area cause businesses and higher-income people to move out
-Property values drop due to the lack of businesses, lower-income people concentrate in the area because of cheaper rent
-Cheaper rent attracts students and recent graduates, particularly arts ones (most of whom are going to be white, as opposed to the over-representation of minorities seen in regions of lower SES)
-Influx of higher-class (but still lower-income) residents dilutes the crime rate, such that small and niche businesses take advantage of the lower commercial rents to cater to the artsy hipster types that are flocking to the neighbourhood
-Niche businesses start attracting better-off artsy hipster types, which in turn brings more money into the area, which in turn attracts higher-value businesses, and so on
-Eventually, the neighbourhood becomes trendy enough to attract mainstream attention, at which point property values start increasing rapidly (though they will have started to increase when the businesses came back)
-Property values and business development stabilize at whatever equilibrium the neighbourhood's geography permits, and you have a fully-gentrified neighbourhood

Coffee shops fall somewhere in the cycle described in the fifth point, since they tend to appeal to artsy hipster types, but also tend to be pricey enough that they won't be supported by a lower-income neighbourhood. The coffee shop in question isn't single-handedly causing the process, by any means, and the process would proceed whether they were capitalizing on the development or not (somebody would fill that niche), but it can still claim to be part of it.

Despite your stance on gentrification, to say it specifically targets black people sounds stupid.

_AdjI_ posted...

TheGreatNoodles posted...

I see people talking about the whole 'make stuff too expensive for minorities' scenario, but unless I'm misreading this what would the coffee shop have to do with that?

This is a gross oversimplification, but the gentrification of a neighbourhood tends to proceed as follows:

-Higher crime rates in an area cause businesses and higher-income people to move out
-Property values drop due to the lack of businesses, lower-income people concentrate in the area because of cheaper rent
-Cheaper rent attracts students and recent graduates, particularly arts ones (most of whom are going to be white, as opposed to the over-representation of minorities seen in regions of lower SES)
-Influx of higher-class (but still lower-income) residents dilutes the crime rate, such that small and niche businesses take advantage of the lower commercial rents to cater to the artsy hipster types that are flocking to the neighbourhood
-Niche businesses start attracting better-off artsy hipster types, which in turn brings more money into the area, which in turn attracts higher-value businesses, and so on
-Eventually, the neighbourhood becomes trendy enough to attract mainstream attention, at which point property values start increasing rapidly (though they will have started to increase when the businesses came back)
-Property values and business development stabilize at whatever equilibrium the neighbourhood's geography permits, and you have a fully-gentrified neighbourhood

Coffee shops fall somewhere in the cycle described in the fifth point, since they tend to appeal to artsy hipster types, but also tend to be pricey enough that they won't be supported by a lower-income neighbourhood. The coffee shop in question isn't single-handedly causing the process, by any means, and the process would proceed whether they were capitalizing on the development or not (somebody would fill that niche), but it can still claim to be part of it.

That surprisingly makes a lot of sense. O.o
So to clarify, the coffee shop, with their sign, is essentially stating their support to such practices? I can see how that'll cause offence (especially to lower income and/or minorities).
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_AdjI_ posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/23/16/46A2B0B900000578-0-image-m-9_1511456361975.jpg
No, it's forcing people out of someone else's home. That's one of the inherent downsides of renting.

Nah, it's still your home even if you're renting. It's somebody else's property, but if you live in it, it's your home.

That, and while it's most likely going to be rent hikes that drive poorer people out as an area gentrifies, gentrification does drive up property values regardless of whether or not it's being rented, which in turn increases property taxes. That can end up being enough of a financial strain to drive out homeowners as well as renters.

Slate kinda wrecked that narrative and keep in mind that Slate is a site which typically supports narratives like that.
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Zeus posted...

Slate kinda wrecked that narrative and keep in mind that Slate is a site which typically supports narratives like that.

The more important part comes from the Economist article:

One 2008 study of census data found no evidence of displacement of low-income non-white households in gentrifying neighbourhoods. They did find, however, that the average income of black people with high- school diplomas in gentrifying areas soared.

Yet again, race isn't particularly important. Education is.

Gentrification is great. I'd rather see a mall than a slum.
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