Migration and Demographics

I was just going over my Friday trip to San Francisco in my head. Thinking about "technocrats" and the never ending migrations that take place by people seeking to save money on housing costs and the notions a culture they bring with them. There are two types of migrants that come to mind. The refugees from lost jobs or broken dreams from both outside and inside an area. The other migrant is the opportunity seeker which has the means to change the face of an area economically... The guy with the high end technology job which provides the means to afford a home in San Francisco. One word... Gentrification. When looking at the map of San Francisco I see several things happening. The first is that the push south happens in waves out from the center of downtown. This to me is evident looking at what's happened on the west end of the Mission and moving south to Bernal Heights. Glenn Park missed the most recent wave of young trendy migrants because it skirts Diamond Heights and Noe Valley almost as an appendage. This means the housing values are higher and the rental space is more limited. Both Bernal Heights and Glenn Park maybe tough neighborhoods to start up in for this reason. The two neighborhoods are similar in the look and feel of their downtown shop area. Bernal Heights seems to have already begun transforming away from it's Latino roots into something like Noe Valley but on a smaller scale. Glenn Park on the other hand remains relative untouched in this sense for reasons that maybe embedded in the community culture, but then it may have never been a working class neighbor hood to begin with, or if it was working class, that was too long ago to be apparent in the people living there now.

Next week I need to explore Balboa Park and the Excelsior District to see what sort of potential is there. My sense is that crossing over I280 will be a serious change in culture and population. Gentrification has negative connotations for sure because of it's impact on lower income peoples. I cannot change who I am or where I've come from and being in my situation doesn't seem like much of an advantage but the people who buy coffee and spend time in cafes have the leisure time to do so. I'm very conscious of how the appearance of such a business could be perceived as an invasion in a lower income neighborhood.  So taking advantage of lower rents may not necessarily be a good idea. Unless the locals in the area accept and assimilate to coffee culture. In Excelsior, that would be Asian and Latino populations.  I'll just have to do some exploration and see what turns up. Riding the edge of a wave of any trend is tricky, it's easy to stumble, but also necessary if you don't have the cash to compete with the big names. I still like Glenn Park even if it's a tad stuffy when it comes to the locals.