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Friday, 08 July 2016 00:00

Hundreds of Tenants Are Latest Victims of Silicon Valley's Creeping Inequality

Written by Deirdre Fulton Common Dreams
According to the Guardian's report, all of the 216 apartments at Reserve are protected by rent control laws, which means the landlord is barred from increasing rents beyond 5 percent each year. According to the Guardian's report, all of the 216 apartments at Reserve are protected by rent control laws, which means the landlord is barred from increasing rents beyond 5 percent each year. (Photo: ReserveSanJose.com)

'Much like the greater Bay Area and California as a whole, Silicon Valley is a far more unequal place than it used to be.'

The latest victims in "a tidal wave of displacement," about 670 people are set to be evicted from a rent-controlled housing complex in San Jose, California, to make way for more upscale development.

The Guardian reports Thursday on the residents of the Reserve Apartments—"located five miles away from Apple's headquarters, 14 miles away from Google and 20 miles away from Facebook"—who "recently learned they would all have to move out by April of next year so that developers could move forward with construction of new housing that many of them will not be able to afford."

Indeed, none of the apartments in the new mixed-use space will be below market rate, according to the developer.

As the Guardian notes, "The Reserve evictions are part of a much broader trend of northern California communities becoming unaffordable to middle-class people in the face of rapid gentrification and a booming tech economy."

The impacted tenants are people like Kira Nelson, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother, who told the Guardian that she is considering moving 120 miles away to Sacramento—away from her family, but at least the rent is cheaper.

"I don't resent the millionaires ... but all the locals are moving out," she said.

A report from the California Budget and Policy Center released in May showed that in Silicon Valley, fewer than 50 percent of households are now middle class and half of all income gains flowed to the top 1 percent of earners.

"Much like the greater Bay Area and California as a whole, Silicon Valley is a far more unequal place than it used to be," the report read. "Income gaps have widened, the region's middle class has shrunk, and the punctuated prosperity of the region's wealthiest residents masks ground lost by Silicon Valley's most vulnerable individuals and families."

One effort to restore equilibrium is a proposal in San Francisco to tax tech companies and use the revenue to address homelessness and the lack of affordable housing.

The New York Times reported on the initiative on Monday, speaking to Maria Poblet, executive director of Causa Justa/Just Cause, which helps local residents threatened with eviction.

"You have a C.E.O. who cares about kids in Ghana one week or dolphins the next week. Those are important," she said. "But the people impacted by displacement in San Francisco are a worthy cause, too."

Link to original article from Common Dreams

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Meet the Hosts

Rev. Rodney Sadler

Dr. Sadler's work in the community includes terms as a board member of the N.C. Council of Churches, Siegel Avenue Partners, and Mecklenburg Ministries, and currently he serves on the boards of Union Presbyterian Seminary, Loaves and Fishes, the Hispanic Summer Program, and the Charlotte Chapter of the NAACP. His activism includes work with the Community for Creative Non-Violence in D.C., Durham C.A.N., H.E.L.P. Charlotte, and he has worked organizing clergy with and developing theological resources for the Forward Together/Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina. Rev. Sadler is the managing editor of the African American Devotional Bible, associate editor of the Africana Bible, and the author of Can a Cushite Change His Skin? An Examination of Race, Ethnicity, and Othering in the Hebrew Bible. He has published articles in Interpretation, Ex Audito, Christian Century, the Criswell Theological Review, and the Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature and has essays and entries in True to Our Native Land, the New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, the Westminster Dictionary of Church History, Light against Darkness, and several other publications. Among his research interests are the intersection of race and Scripture, the impact of our images of Jesus for the perpetuation of racial thought in America, the development of African American biblical interpretation in slave narratives, the enactment of justice in society based on biblical imperatives, and the intersection of religion and politics.

Rev. Rodney Sadler

Co - Chair - People Demanding Action
North Carolina Forward Together/Moral Monday Movem
Radio Host: Politics of Faith - Wednesday @ 11 am

People Power with Ernie Powell

Ernie Powell has been involved in public policy, progressive campaigns and grassroots efforts since the mid 1960's. He worked as a boycott organizer with the United Farm Workers from 1968 until 1973. He then became a community organizer in Santa Monica, California involved in affordable housing advocacy while working with others in laying the foundation for one of the most progressive local rent control measures in the country. He organized on behalf of environmental and coastal access and preservation issues in California as well. Beginning in 1993 he served as Advocacy Representative and later as Manager of Advocacy for AARP in California working on national and state issues. He left AARP in 2012 to work as Field Director for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare in Washington D.C. In late 2013 he returned to California and started a consulting business. He is a consultant with Social Security Works and is organizing groups nationally to fight for the protection and expansion of Social Security. He also consults with the California Long Term Care Ombudsman Association on issue impacting nursing home reform. He is a frequent author for Zocalo Public Square having just authored a piece on Social Security's 80th Birthday about the early impact of the Townsend Plan in building toward the passage of Social Security. Ernie has hosted two radio shows - the "Grassroots Corner" on "We Act Radio" in Washington D.C.and "the Campaign with Ernie Powell" at Radio Titans in Los Angeles. His focus for over 25 years has been on public policy issues impacting older Americans. He is a nationally recognized expert on grassroots organizing and campaigns. He is 66 years old and resides in Los Angeles, Ca.

Ernie Powell

Radio Host
Social Security Works
Los Angeles

Radio Host - Agitator Radio

Robert Dawkins is the founder of SAFE Coalition, North Carolina located in Charlotte, North Carolina. SAFE Coalition NC is a grassroots community coalition working to build public trust and accountability in NC law enforcement. We believe that critical dialogue, citizen oversight and legislative action are required to design a safe, accountable, fair and equitable system of criminal justice in our state.

Robert Dawkins

Founder
Safe Coalition, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina

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