Rebecca Solnit on San Francisco

Tue Mar 5 20:25:58 CST 2013

Damn depressing...

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 7:20 PM, Phillip Greenlief <pgsaxo at pacbell.net>wrote:

> look, it's already too late - SF has been gentrified. the alarm should
> have gone off 20 years ago. i don't care what the buildings look like, the
> majority of art spaces pre-2000 are gone. period. the buildings don't even
> exist anymore. a lot of small, family run businesses have disappeared -
> which includes every kind of retail or food service. there are zoning laws
> that keep certain kinds of businesses out of SF (there is a limit, for
> example, on how many fast food restaurants can operate in SF), but the
> independent shops are disappearing quickly, and have been over the past 15
> years.
>
> there are SF suburbs that could eventually be bulldozed (the way they were
> in santa monica - which continues to occur), but mostly, if you live out
> here, you realize that the surburban sprawl is heading in all directions.
> the real rape of the land, etc., is happening if you travel north - just go
> over the golden gate bridge and into marin - it used to be that there was a
> LOT of open space from sausalito until you get to, say, ukiah, in mendocino
> county. that open space is disappearing quickly. soon, like the constant
> concrete sprawl that spreads from los angeles to san diego, the small
> remaining bits of open space will disappear from SF to humboldt county
> (pynchon's VINELAND). the same is happening if you travel east on 580 -
> it's pretty much pure concrete from oakland to livermore ... soon it will
> spread to martinez, where the 580 hits interstate 5 .... for years, people
> have been buying cheap houses out in martinez and make the hour-long
> commute into the bay area (that's if there isn't any traffic).
>
> or, you can look at the concrete sprawl from berkeley on out highway 80 to
> sacramento - same issues - there was once a lot of open space - now it gets
> more and more populated.
>
> if you head south, the sprawl is consistent until you get past morgan hill
> ... so you can drive for more than an hour in any direction out of SF and
> find dense suburban constructions, countless mini-malls, and multi-national
> restaurants and clothing outlets.
>
> is it any better to take 37 out to napa? not really... and i won't even
> get into a discussion about how the napa wineries (that are making huge
> wads of cash as california wines become more and more popular) continue to
> steal 10s of thousands of gallons of water annually from the pomo indian
> reservation ... and make hella bank off said water and refuse to reimburse
> the pomo tribe for robbing their water supply.
>
>
>
> Phillip Greenlief
> 1075 Aileen Street Apt B
> Oakland, CA 94608
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> *To:* Robert Mahnke <rpmahnke at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>; Prashant Kumar <
> siva.prashant.kumar at gmail.com>; pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> *Sent:* Tue, March 5, 2013 10:54:47 AM
> *Subject:* Re: Rebecca Solnit on San Francisco
>
> There you have the guts of David's and my difference. The money, of
> course, will win. SF will be trashed, but the result will not be a
> lightening of the carbon footprint, but an increase, as more businesses and
> people pile into the small tip of the peninsula and continue to spill over
> into the surrounding area, each selfish one demanding the most historic
> place he can buy and gentrify. It's a nasty business. The world loses
> another fine city, and gains another overcrowded dormitory.
>
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 10:14 AM, Robert Mahnke <rpmahnke at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Geek-driven gentrification threatens San Francisco's bohemian appeal:
>>
>>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/05/san-francisco-geek-gentrification-threatens
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 5:15 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > The failings of Pruitt Igoe and Modernism's anti-urbanism embodied by Le
>> > Corbusier's Model city (
>> >
>> http://www.google.com/search?q=le+corbusier+model+city&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=he01UYKzHebR2QXP_YCQBA&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=625
>> > ) have been well known for a long time.  Density ain't its root problem.
>> > The destruction of urban space and fabric in favor of free-standing
>> towers
>> > surrounded by a void are.  Density in the city would Ideally look more
>> like
>> > the Paris Le Corbusier sought to replace.
>> >
>> http://www.earth-photography.com/Countries/France/ChampsElysees_subgallery/France_Paris_ChampsElysees.html
>> >
>> >
>> > On Monday, March 4, 2013, Prashant Kumar wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Take this as the timid question it is, David (M.), but how does one
>> >> achieve high density urban areas without creating Pruitt Igoe like
>> >> hellholes?
>> >>
>> >> In Sydney we have a community housing building modelled after Le
>> >> Corbusier, but instead of parks, car parks. The Northcott building
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> http://m.theaustralian.com.au/arts/public-housing-private-hell/story-e6frg8n6-1111112988132
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Needless to say it became a concrete slab of despair and social
>> >> distinction. (I do agree with your larger point; I think Sydney for
>> example
>> >> would be much the poorer without the contrast high density allows.
>> Where I
>> >> was born in New Zealand has become a horrible stretch of motorways and
>> mall
>> >> complexes, the kind with attached buildings and surrounded by a sea of
>> car
>> >> parks.)
>> >>
>> >> P.
>> >>
>> >> On Tuesday, March 5, 2013, David Morris wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> http://www.google.com/search?q=seattle+public+library+rem+koolhaas&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=wW41UcDxDYPW2gXdz4HYCg&sqi=2&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=673
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >
>>
>
>

-- 
www.innergroovemusic.com
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