^Yes, they get along. The nerds are hipsters.

 

*The only exception would be the anarchist hipsters who are anti-tech, anti-business, and anti-capitalism. Oakland has more of the anarchist hipsters. The Mission District hipster scene is all tied up with the tech industry. Oakland hipsters seem about half pro-tech (they work in San Francisco tech), half anti-tech.

 

Anarchist hipsters are unique to Oakland and they don't get along with anybody. They're generally just hateful people.

 

You see these divides among hipsters in Oakland during big events like Art Murmur. At face value, both hipster groups look exactly the same. They sport mainstream Bay Area style of unkept beards, endless tattoos, facial piercings, skinny jeans, hipster glasses, bad haircuts, etc. The similarities end there. The anarchist hipsters absolutely hate tech hipsters and protest them at every turn, including vandalizing their businesses like stated in that article. This is hipster-on-hipster crime and it's common in Oakland. Anarchist hipsters sometimes attack tech hipster coffee shops and Google busses. The goal of the anarchists is to keep tech out of Oakland. So far, they've largely succeeded, but with SF having the highest rents in the nation, tech is coming whether these people want it or not. Downtown Oakland's office space is excellent and a mere fraction the price of San Francisco since there is still some office vacancy. Many in Oak are calling Downtown Oakland "The Next SOMA" or "SOMA 2.0." With BART and proximity to San Francisco, it's bound to happen. There also are more lots to build on that have crappy low-rises or are still vacant still from the recession (lots of stalled skyscraper projects). There is more space for Oakland to grow. If everything proposed gets built, it could be pushing 500,000 people by 2020. One of the biggest projects in the city's history just got started with Brooklyn Basin. It's big, dense, urban, and yes, has a waterfront location kind of like Brooklyn. Oakland is in an absolute population explosion right now and seems to be growing faster than San Francisco. Lots of big proposals are coming for Downtown Oakland and Jack London Square. That's where Oakland has a lot in common with Brooklyn. Downtown Oakland like Downtown Brooklyn is a secondary urban office market with good pre-WW2 bones. And they're both seeing tons of development. The anarchist hipsters hate all the this development and growth.

 

The fact that there are all these sub-hipster groups in the Bay just goes to show how far down the cultural hole it has gone...

 

*But one thing is certain. The anarchist hipsters will lose. Being anti-business is a dumb strategy, particularly in a regional economic boom.

^Yes, they get along. The nerds are hipsters.

 

*The only exception would be the anarchist hipsters who are anti-tech, anti-business, and anti-capitalism. Oakland has more of the anarchist hipsters. The Mission District hipster scene is all tied up with the tech industry. Oakland hipsters seem about half pro-tech (they work in San Francisco tech), half anti-tech.

 

Anarchist hipsters are unique to Oakland and they don't get along with anybody. They're generally just hateful people.

 

You see these divides among hipsters in Oakland during big events like Art Murmur. At face value, both hipster groups look exactly the same. They sport mainstream Bay Area style of unkept beards, endless tattoos, facial piercings, skinny jeans, hipster glasses, bad haircuts, etc. The similarities end there. The anarchist hipsters absolutely hate tech hipsters and protest them at every turn, including vandalizing their businesses like stated in that article. This is hipster-on-hipster crime and it's common in Oakland. Anarchist hipsters sometimes attack tech hipster coffee shops and Google busses. The goal of the anarchists is to keep tech out of Oakland. So far, they've largely succeeded, but with SF having the highest rents in the nation, tech is coming whether these people want it or not. Downtown Oakland's office space is excellent and a mere fraction the price of San Francisco since there is still some office vacancy. Many in Oak are calling Downtown Oakland "The Next SOMA" or "SOMA 2.0." With BART and proximity to San Francisco, it's bound to happen. There also are more lots to build on that have crappy low-rises or are still vacant still from the recession (lots of stalled skyscraper projects). There is more space for Oakland to grow. If everything proposed gets built, it could be pushing 500,000 people by 2020. One of the biggest projects in the city's history just got started with Brooklyn Basin. It's big, dense, urban, and yes, has a waterfront location kind of like Brooklyn. Oakland is in an absolute population explosion right now and seems to be growing faster than San Francisco. Lots of big proposals are coming for Downtown Oakland and Jack London Square. That's where Oakland has a lot in common with Brooklyn. Downtown Oakland like Downtown Brooklyn is a secondary urban office market with good pre-WW2 bones. And they're both seeing tons of development. The anarchist hipsters hate all the this development and growth.

 

The fact that there are all these sub-hipster groups in the Bay just goes to show how far down the cultural hole it has gone...

 

*But one thing is certain. The anarchist hipsters will lose. Being anti-business is a dumb strategy, particularly in a regional economic boom.

 

Weren't the Oakland anarchists the ones who tried to shut down the port as part of "Occupy", until the ILU had a little "chat" with them?

^Some were, yes.

 

Occupy Oakland got so big (and violent) it attracted more outsiders too. It was quite a bit different from what was going on in New York. Brooklyn's hipster areas don't have the crime of Oakland's hipster areas (well, Uptown has gotten nice and safe, but West Oakland and Temescal still have problems). There is always potential for things to get out of hand in Oakland during any protest. The cops are understaffed (half the per capita rate of Detroit) and dealing with lots of police hate. It is nothing like the situation in New York where NYPD is well-staffed and can effectively police the city.

 

The hipster anarchists mainly attack tech hipsters while failing to realize they are gentrifiers themselves. Every hipster anarchist I've met has not been native to Oakland. A few have been from Berkeley or Bay Area suburbs, but their connections to the city seem minimal. Oakland is a transplant town like San Francisco or Los Angeles. The anarchist hipster movement is overwhelmingly white 20-something college grads from good backgrounds. They have a lot more in common with those tech workers than they admit...I think a lot of it is just jealously. If you're an evicted Oakland (or San Francisco) native who just watched your family get thrown to the streets, you have a reason to be upset (and you should be upset at the NIMBY's and politicians). If you're Suzy Sorority Turned Hipster, you have far less to complain about. It has been said before, but some people do call Bay Area hipsters "yuppies with tattoos." There is some truth to that.

 

And "yuppie" is the ultimate insult anarchist hipsters/hippies throw at tech hipsters. Nothing is worse for a hipster in San Francisco or Oakland than being called a yuppie. This all goes back to the Yuppie Eradication Project of the 90's:

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/justinesharrock/san-franciscos-last-rebellion-against-the-techies#24f2hg2

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Battle-Over-Gentrification-Gets-Ugly-in-S-F-s-2926395.php

 

Hipsters in SF and Oak own the hipster label since it's dominant, mainstream culture. It's never an insult in the Mission District, Temescal, or Uptown Oakland. Now say "yuppie," and people find it extremely offensive. Yuppie is a term associated with clean-cut northern San Francisco neighborhoods (North Beach, Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Marina, Pacific Heights, Laurel Heights, maybe throw Inner Richmond in too). When a hipster is called a yuppie, it raises all sorts of identity issues. It attacks their hipster credibility. "Wait, I'm really one of those North Beach people, just with tattoos?"

 

Yuppie style and even just looking good is very counter-culture to San Francisco and Oakland.

The stuff in those links is class warfare.

 

Also those people should have leveled up their car knowledge. Even in 1999 few cars on the road had carburetors or distributors.

^Yeah, it's simple class warfare and just makes the Bay Area worse for it. These are the same people protesting new construction at every turn. They are just not very bright and lack a basic understanding of economics. There is a pretty widespread belief in the Bay Area that new housing does nothing to level off prices. It is political insanity. And it's not just homeowners arguing this stuff (of course they don't want new housing since that's competition which might limit property value growth), but also service sector anarchist hipsters and hippies. Sometimes you'll even meet a normal working class native arguing it. That makes me sad because they've been hoodwinked by the wealthier NIMBY influences who do not have their interests at heart.

 

We need housing incredibly bad, but there is a large group of people (both rich and poor) blocking it with referendums and insane new laws like Proposition B. It's like these people want more inequality and hyper-gentrification:

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2014/06/prop-b-results-waterfront-ballot-measure.html?page=all

 

Another example:

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2014/07/16th-street-bart-housing-project-maximus-mission.html

 

This was a great trasit-oriented project at the heart of the nation's most expensive hipster district. The Mission is one of the most expensive places on earth per square foot and suffers from extreme housing shortages leading to open houses in the hundreds and all-cash multi-million dollar home sales in hours. So a developer comes along with a great transit-adjacent high-rise proposal to build some much-needed housing. What do people do? They protest at every turn. Another example:

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2014/09/millennium-properties-condo-706-mission-mexican.html

 

The NIMBYism in the hipster districts is astounding. What you're seeing in the Mission District and West Oakland defies all economic logic. The only major hipster district in the Bay Area that seemed easier to build in was Uptown Oakland. The reason? It was mostly abandoned and ghetto when it started gentrifying. There was likely no one left to protest. Now that it's populated, it's getting more controversial. Hipster district projects are always hotly contested. It takes nothing to set off controversy or get a business shut down. This was a classic example in hipster-friendly Haight last year:

 

This afternoon at 3pm, Jim Angelus closed his brick-and-mortar location of Bacon Bacon, bringing an end to a controversy that has made headlines throughout the week. Long story short: A neighbor’s complaints — mainly about the bacon odor — have led to the Department of Health saying that Bacon Bacon must shut down today. Porcine supporters have amassed nearly 2,000 signatures, and Angelus was holding out hope until this afternoon that the neighbors would drop their complaint. In fact, he says that the two sides came to an agreement yesterday, given Bacon Bacon’s $30,000 worth of improvements.

 

“They had a change of heart yesterday and said they want to run more tests,” says Angelus, who must now close for three months, until the July hearing where they can procure their proper permits. He says four employees will likely lose their jobs, unless they want to hang around for the approval, which he hopes will happen.

 

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2013/05/17/bacon-bacon-forced-to-shutter-its-cafe/

 

On a lighter note, to give an idea of how respected hipsters are in the area, I was on a date with a girl who I called a hipster a while back. Her eyes lit up in excitement like she had finally "arrived." It was the best compliment I could have given her.

 

My old roommate was the same way. She was thrilled when anyone said she had hipster tendencies (but she wasn't a hipster). There is a large group of kids who move to the Bay to "escape the shackles of fashion in East Coast and Great Lakes cities". A lot of them adopt mainstream Bay Area fashion immediately upon moving. It's pretty hilarious to watch.

Kind of like how dudes who move to Boston always end up sort-of abandoning their hometown team for Red Sox hats.  They all wish that their home team had the heritage, stadium, and cool hat that the Red Sox have.   

"shackles of fashion in...Great Lakes cities" ???

Kind of like how dudes who move to Boston always end up sort-of abandoning their hometown team for Red Sox hats.  They all wish that their home team had the heritage, stadium, and cool hat that the Red Sox have.   

 

The Douchebag Nation has plenty of fans outside of Boston proper.  The Sox hat his part of required wardrobe for many a drunken Midwestern frat boy, who claim some sort of Irish heritage to justify their alcoholic binges.  It is usually included in a weekly rotation of hats that include a South Carolina Gamecocks variant.

^Oh yeah, I remember those BoSox hats being common in Midwestern frats. Boston has always been lauded in Greek Life. I don't know much about the city, but it sounds pretty fratty.

 

*On a related note, I know some ex-Bostonians who moved to the Bay to become hipsters, so maybe Boston is not very hipster-friendly? A lot of the older East Coast and Great Lakes cities have a mainstream style that is not hipster.

Take away those classic uniforms and Fenway and Boston mythology there's not a lot of there there.  The overall notoriety of the Red Sox franchise is better than a few of the other original teams like The Phillies but it's way behind The Cardinals, and you don't see anyone wearing St. Louis hats outside of St. Louis.  The fandom for the Red Sox isn't for the team, it's for all that stuff that surrounds it.  It's lot like hipster fandom for particular bands, movies, or other cultural phenomena.  They don't actually care about what they associate themselves with at the moment.  In 2-3 years they'll deny that they were ever interested in whatever it was. 

Haha, yeah, the New York Yankees they are not. :wink:

 

From what I hear, the fame is due to Fenway's frat party atmosphere. Maybe it's like Wrigley Field?

In 2-3 years they'll deny that they were ever interested in whatever it was. 

 

lol

From what I hear, the fame is due to Fenway's frat party atmosphere. Maybe it's like Wrigley Field?

 

My impression of Boston is that is has a lot of bro/frat types similar to Chicago's North Side. I also think in has a lot of Irish/Italian meathead types that are kind of like a Boston version of a guido (Chicago does not really have this).

 

I don't get the impression that Boston is very hipster, except for some culture that goes along with the the MIT & Harvard nerd culture.

^ Maybe you just need to know where to look?

 

Somerville is allegedly one of the world's top 5 hipster cities outside Brooklyn:

http://www.metro.us/newyork/lifestyle/travel/2014/09/15/worlds-hipster-cities-top-5/

 

The Globe has noticed:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2013/08/22/some-somerville-worry-become-too-hip-for-its-own-good/Ibas2h5Q5p9MTl82qQ2OwK/story.html

^If you have to look for them, they're probably not mainstream in Boston.

 

The Bay is twisted in its political logic...

 

Ha!  I told you all last year that "area" has been dropped and nobody wanted to believe me.

 

Now..... how about that state of Ohio?  I hear it is pretty nice there this time of year.  Anyone been?

Ohio still has hipsters?

 

*They were on their last legs last time I was in Toledo, not that it ever got popular in the Glass City.

Yep.  We have all of your favorites..... hipsters, frat boys, bros, sissies, head0bangers, wankers, skallywags, and hoodwinkers.  The biggest deficiencies we have compared to Cali is probably silicon, both valleys and boobs.

It is true that hipsters do flee Ohio in droves and are generally concentrated in in small geographic areas of Ohio cities such as OTR, the Downtowns, the Summit/4th/Indianola belt, Orgeon District etc. Though in Columbus there do seem to be some displaced hipsters in strip mall bars on like 161 and Bethel. It may be due to the sheer number of those kind of establishments around town.

When I lived in Boston 12-13 years ago, Sommerville was a cultural wasteland.  I remember there being some sort of punk and hardcore event called Gravelfest which the police shut down, but otherwise it was a total mystery.  I used to live within walking distance of Union Square but there was no reason to go there.  I went to Inman Square maybe 2-3 times to the Abbey Lounge, which was completely townie and "undiscovered". 

 

At the time the hipsters, who were relatively few in number, lived in Allston or Brookline.  I'll scan some photos I took at a punk rock party there once -- the scene was absolutely hysterical.  I had a beer bottle thrown at me at full speed so I left, but the photos live on.  About half of those in attendance were wearing Danzig shirts and there was at least one giant Danzig flag hanging on one wall.  I've never seen a place with so many dedicated Danzig fans, except these dudes absolutely weren't cool. 

Warning, long, but more Ohio-centric.

 

It does seem like there has been a hipster push to suburbs in urban areas where rents are high. New York media has published articles about it moving to the suburbs:

 

With an increase both in density and in the atmosphere of busy professionalism, Brooklyn no longer feels as carefree as it did, said Ari Wallach, a futurism consultant, who recently cut short a Brooklyn real estate search.

 

“There is more looking down, less eye contact,” said Mr. Wallach, 38. “The difference is between the first three days of Burning Man, when everyone is ‘Hey, what’s up?’ to the final three days of Burning Man, when the tent flaps are down. Brooklyn is turning out to be the last three days of Burning Man.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/fashion/creating-hipsturbia-in-the-suburbs-of-new-york.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

Now to bring this back to Ohio...

 

Toledo's minuscule suburban hipster scene in Maumee was all because of the Village Idiot, which was a hipster bar for as long I can remember. Since I grew up in a family of musicians and artists, I had to endure that club. When you grow up in a house with lots of music and drugs, you're bound to encounter some hipsters along your way. :wink: What's hilarious is that I'm pretty sure Village Idiot was the first hipster bar in metro Toledo, and Maumee was perhaps a pioneer in this suburban hipster trend. It seems like there were hipsters in Uptown Maumee long before there were hipsters in suburban New York. I'm talking a scene that might have started at the same time as Brooklyn's in Williamsburg. If anything, Brooklyn was kind of late to the game and gets too much credit. Most Great Lakes cities have probably had hipsters as long as New York (Portland predates them all), with Chicago being first, and then the trend spreading outward to Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Madison, Toledo, Detroit, Ann Arbor, etc. What was different in Toledo was the cool rock and punk scene in East Toledo, which was never hipster. It was the real gritty ass Great Lakes deal. What's most tragic in Toledo is the death of Main Street in East Toledo. I remember that neighborhood used to be a culturally rich area. There is still some of the old Hungarian and Mexican culture left, but the music scene and nightlife scene largely died out.

 

Toledo's long-standing urban hipster bars like Mickey Finn's in Vistula shut down, which is a sad tale of an area with redevelopment momentum in the late 90's and early 2000's not being able to overcome its extreme poverty. What fueled a lot of recovery in Toledo's slums was the resurgent auto industry of the late 90's. Say what you will about SUV's, but that was big business for Detroit and Toledo! Those SUV's made bank! People were getting all sorts of jobs in manufacturing, engineering, design, marketing, etc. When those jobs dried up, and then started to disappear by the mid-2000's, Toledo hit a wall. It cut across the metro area with similar tales playing out in previously stable hipster-friendly middle class neighborhoods like the Old West End. Post-recession, Old West End Toledo saw a spike in abandonments and depopulation (those restored Victorians going for 300k pre-recession are now under 100k! Buy Up!). Toledo never had an economy to support hipsters for the long haul. Hipster Wesley's in Uptown Toledo starting pulling more of a mixed crowd, because I doubt they had a choice. It's either market to a more diverse group people or go down in flames (which in Toledo is taken to the literal extreme). To Toledo's credit, there was a lot of racial diversity at its urban core, so having a bar market to a white hipster crowd was a risky move. Every Toledo bar I frequented had a good mix of whites, blacks, and Latinos. Toledo's urban nightlife felt post-racial in a way I took for granted. Nowadays, I find myself in bars where everyone is the same race or economic class. I guess it works fine in places like San Francisco due to demand, but Toledo? Forget it. You need everybody since your'e not turning away people at the door. You had all these mixed crowd bars downtown that pulled hipsters, Great Lakes gritballs, and bros. This was happening in a lot of Toledo neighborhoods. The bar I worked at was extremely diverse. Was it ever like that in other Ohio cities? This mixed race, mixed class scene?

 

I believe the hipster movement has finally peaked or is in decline in the majority of American cities. Most cities don't have the money to keep it going forever. A good test of the vitality of a hipster hood is to just say "hipster" out loud in the venue and see people's reactions. If anyone is offended, that's a sign the neighborhood lacks real economic power in its city. It could be at risk for re-decline (a very real thing in Toledo). You can't offend Mission District hipsters because that is one of the most economically powerful neighborhoods in the world (largely due to those Google busses). Mark Zuckerberg lives there. He's neighbors with one of my best friends and paid three times the market price for his house. He gutted the place. There is no way the Mission District declines again if it is the home of Burning Man billionaires. The money is too deep. Any trendy neighborhood in SF is loaded with global economic power, whether it be in the hands of hipsters or bros. It's not just the Mission and SOMA. It's also true in Lower Haight, Uptown Oakland, and pretty soon, West Oakland. When tech reps say, "Tech is eating the world," it's a true statement backed up by the numbers. Brooklyn has no places with this kind of economic power. Lower Manhattan is still the clear wealth center of New York. As a result, I've found my hipster friends in Brooklyn don't like the label as much, though they do admit they're hipsters. There just isn't the same pride. In San Francisco, no one cares about the hipster label, because they're too rich to care. Hipster insecurity exists in places with more economic problems, like Detroit and Toledo. Many do end up moving on to greener pastures. Of my Toledo hipster friends, most moved to Chicago and New York. So what will happen to the hipster neighborhoods in cities without a lot of money?

 

I think you're onto something, GCrites. My understanding of the Ohio scene was it was mainly kids who had the goal of eventually moving on...every single one of my hipster friends moved on. To quote a hipster I met making New York pizzas in Toledo two years ago, "I hate this city, and I'm counting down the days until I move to Brooklyn." I think he'll be sad to find out Brooklyn jumped the shark a long time ago. :-D

 

Toledo's scene died because those kids got better jobs in Chicago and New York. Toledo saw areas turning hipster crash back down to reality. I suspect that could be a common thing in the American and Canadian Rust Belt.

 

The hipsters who didn't move away got married or spawned an offspring (but rarely those two things together haha). Some are divorced now that we're in our late 20's. They're no longer hipsters. They grew up. It wasn't the marriage that did it. It was the divorce. Those of us in saltwater cities still have not grown up. Hell, I don't plan on "growing up" (getting married or having a kid) until 40!

 

TLDR: Hipsters survive best in areas with disposable income. They struggle to maintain neighborhoods in poorer areas like Toledo. Hipsters are not dominant economic drivers in most cities. San Francisco and Portland are exceptions to the rule. Toledo banked on this for a while, and it didn't work out. And I'm hearing it's not working out in Detroit either. The death of hipster Toledo could be an omen for other Rust Belt cities...

there cant be a death if there was never a life.

I really need to dig up some of my 1990s-vintage party photos. 

 

In the meantime:

^Yeah, post those!

Speaking of Hipsters.... Pabst is now a Russian beer brand. Go figure.

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/09/19/349868640/iconic-pabst-beer-brands-sold-to-russian-company

^ oh great, another brand to go along with the mexican beers where they will be peeing in the vats. might improve pabst tho.

 

Kind of like how dudes who move to Boston always end up sort-of abandoning their hometown team for Red Sox hats.  They all wish that their home team had the heritage, stadium, and cool hat that the Red Sox have.   

 

The Douchebag Nation has plenty of fans outside of Boston proper.  The Sox hat his part of required wardrobe for many a drunken Midwestern frat boy, who claim some sort of Irish heritage to justify their alcoholic binges.  It is usually included in a weekly rotation of hats that include a South Carolina Gamecocks variant.

 

The basic Yankees hatred prevalent in most other AL cities likely feeds into this too.

jmecklenborg[/member] - What happened to the Arby's "Good Mood Food" hipster?

http://www.qsrweb.com/news/arbys-good-mood-food-named-one-of-the-worst-ads/

 

Named second-worst ad of 2011 behind "Poop there it is".

 

Andy Breving was a no-show at our high school's 2011 reunion, but he was there in spirit as the evening's proceedings were peppered by periodic "it's good mood food!" croons. That guy was totally hilarious in high school...I'm facebook friends with him we'll put the pressure on to show up for the 20-year reunion.   

They're not hipsters. They're dandies.

Yep.  We have all of your favorites..... hipsters, frat boys, bros, sissies, head0bangers, wankers, skallywags, and hoodwinkers.  The biggest deficiencies we have compared to Cali is probably silicon, both valleys and boobs.

 

Hillbillies too.....sigh.

 

 

“Oakland is becoming unrecognizable. Fight back. Vandalize development and gentrifying businesses.” These were some of the phrases printed on the fliers that feature a giant hand clawing at a map of West Oakland (oddly resembling old Nazi Propoganda poster, as reported by the East Bay Express).

 

Nothing odd about it.  These are the precise tactics the Nazis used.

I find that very odd.  Hipsters are about as far from Nazis as you can find in the human species.  You'd be hard pressed to find a group less ethnocentric and nationalistic.  I could buy a communist analogy, but not fascist...... the complete opposite end of the political spectrum.

They probably consider themselves anarchists, which is definitely as far as you can get from fascist.

I believe Erocc was referring to their posters for the call to action to vandalize gentrifying areas to prevent development, not their actual political idealogy.  In this the tactic would resemble the Kristallnacht, made popular by the Nazis in the late 30's.

 

 

^That was a coordinated attack by SA forces and sympathizers specifically against Jewish owned shops which resulted in close to 100 deaths and more than 30,000 placed in concentration camps.  Any analogy to the above actions in Oakland really trivializes the horror experienced by the Jews at that time.  So no, it is not the "precise tactics"..... far, far from it.

A friend of mine of over 20 years, who lives off of W32th. and Walton Ave. was told by an ex city development worker, to expect an increase in property taxes, electric/water/sewer bills and a major overhaul of the sorrounding areas in order to change the "face" of its residents.

 

He has already seen a tremendous (23%) increase so far in his water/sewer bill from last year which, after contacting the city, was told it was because the new electronic meters are more accurate - but lucky him he would not be charged for previous usage.

 

There have been numerous houses around his which have been demolished and he is aware that this will be the new area where big changes are going to happen, just like w25th/Lorain Ave., W65th./Detroit Ave and such. His only hope is to be able to stay there long enough to see his property value increase, before being "forced" out of his home by the higher taxes and utility bills.

The utility bills have nothing to do with gentrification, that's just the nature of the beast right now everywhere in NEO. Our sewer district has a huge pricetag to update and maintain a huge  system with a smaller rate base. And electricity is creeping up. Natural gas is down though.

 

Unfortunately Ohio does not have an "widows" law capping annual property tax increases when a neighborhood sees a huge upswing in housing prices, but they do lag a few years. So he'll probably be able to realize some of the gains in property value before the taxes get to high.If it goes that far.

 

And Joey welcome to the board BTW, I've enjoyed your contributions so far.

The utility bills have nothing to do with gentrification, that's just the nature of the beast right now everywhere in NEO. Our sewer district has a huge pricetag to update and maintain a huge  system with a smaller rate base. And electricity is creeping up. Natural gas is down though.

 

Unfortunately Ohio does not have an "widows" law capping annual property tax increases when a neighborhood sees a huge upswing in housing prices, but they do lag a few years. So he'll probably be able to realize some of the gains in property value before the taxes get to high.If it goes that far.

 

And Joey welcome to the board BTW, I've enjoyed your contributions so far.

 

Thanks for the welcoming!

 

I'm not so sure about the utiltiy bills going up, since mine haven't done so since my wife and I bought our home in '08. I even have the same electronic water meter reader and haven't seen one change. His bills are way higher and even after paying RotoRooter to inspect for any water leaks, and not finding any, they continue to climb every 3 months.

 

Who knows what will happen. I'll definitely keep you guys updated on his fortunes :)

Hipsters install secondary ironic non-working vintage water meters.

Hipsters install secondary ironic non-working vintage water meters.

 

Haha nope, not at all.

I wasn't insinuating that, just that city leaders and developers can easily manipulate the utility prices/taxes of the neighborhood in order to shift the tenants/owners into different sections of the city.

BTW Yes, I'ma bit of a conspircy theory nut.

^That was a coordinated attack by SA forces and sympathizers specifically against Jewish owned shops which resulted in close to 100 deaths and more than 30,000 placed in concentration camps.  Any analogy to the above actions in Oakland really trivializes the horror experienced by the Jews at that time.  So no, it is not the "precise tactics"..... far, far from it.

 

Kristallnacht itself was a coordinated attack.  But smaller scale non-coordinated attacks happened a lot.  It's how that horror started.

 

Nazis and communists were alike in that they were a mass movement intended to centralize government power.  They certainly included their share of simple nihilists, which is what these are.

The original Andre the Giant stickers and original Obey Giant posters and clothes were a brilliant pre-internet pre-cell phone fake propaganda stunt.  Unfortunately Shepard Fairy has grown into The Man. 

 

^ He is the McDonald's of street art. You can go to almost any city in the country and find the exact same street art because someone paid him to come into town and copy pasta it all over the place.

^That was a coordinated attack by SA forces and sympathizers specifically against Jewish owned shops which resulted in close to 100 deaths and more than 30,000 placed in concentration camps.  Any analogy to the above actions in Oakland really trivializes the horror experienced by the Jews at that time.  So no, it is not the "precise tactics"..... far, far from it.

 

Kristallnacht itself was a coordinated attack.  But smaller scale non-coordinated attacks happened a lot.  It's how that horror started.

 

Nazis and communists were alike in that they were a mass movement intended to centralize government power.  They certainly included their share of simple nihilists, which is what these are.

 

Maybe we should be keeping a closer eye on our hipsters then?  We wouldn't want them storming the Capital Building in their uniforms, which I assume would include a slim fit cardigan sweater and skinny chinos.

^That was a coordinated attack by SA forces and sympathizers specifically against Jewish owned shops which resulted in close to 100 deaths and more than 30,000 placed in concentration camps.  Any analogy to the above actions in Oakland really trivializes the horror experienced by the Jews at that time.  So no, it is not the "precise tactics"..... far, far from it.

 

Kristallnacht itself was a coordinated attack.  But smaller scale non-coordinated attacks happened a lot.  It's how that horror started.

 

Nazis and communists were alike in that they were a mass movement intended to centralize government power.  They certainly included their share of simple nihilists, which is what these are.

 

Maybe we should be keeping a closer eye on our hipsters then?  We wouldn't want them storming the Capital Building in their uniforms, which I assume would include a slim fit cardigan sweater and skinny chinos.

 

I think it was C-Dawg that mentioned that the Bay Area has a special subspecies of hipster, the anarchists.

"intended to centralize government power"

Anarchists...centralize government power...

No. There is a HUGE difference between "Smash the state!" and "Amass government power!"

No. There is a HUGE difference between "Smash the state!" and "Amass government power!"

 

Meet the new boss...

 

www.youtube.com/embed/zYMD_W_r3Fg

Hipsters are celebrating this one. While Uptown Oakland is perhaps my greatest nightmare (every girl is tatted and pierced), there is no doubt it has taken over the Mission District as hipster central in the Bay Area.

 

The American Planning Association named Uptown Oakland the top great neighborhood in America for 2014. Here's a piece of their blurb (well-researched on the website):

 

The Uptown incubates the home-grown, artistic, and entrepreneurial spirit unique to Oakland. The neighborhood has experienced significant revitalization over the last 15 years, transforming an area dominated by underutilized parking lots into the Bay Area's premier arts and entertainment district. The neighborhood was officially designated as the "Arts and Entertainment District" by the City of Oakland in 2009.

 

Uptown is home to numerous performance venues such as the eclectic Fox Theater, the Art Deco–inspired Paramount Theater, the New Parkway Theater, and the New Parish. Cultural events take place each month, thanks to the collaboration of 40 local galleries, artists, and mixed-use art spaces. A few of the signature events include the Oakland Art Murmur First Friday Art Gallery Walk and the Oakland First Friday Festival, which draw crowds of 20,000 to the neighborhood. Uptown boasts a wealth of public art, such as the recently completed topographical wall sculpture featuring color-shifting LED lighting created by nationally acclaimed artist Dan Corson, located at the 19th Street Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) exit, and other sculptures in Uptown's Art Park.

 

https://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/2014/uptown.htm

 

And the local news...

 

Oakland’s Uptown named 2014′s best neighborhood

By Emily Landes on October 9, 2014 4:00 AM

 

Looks like former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown’s 10K Housing Initiative has really paid off. Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood  was recently named the number one “great neighborhood” in the country by the American Planning Association. (You can click here to see the other neighborhoods, none in California, that made the list.)

 

“Part of former Mayor Jerry Brown’s 10K Housing Initiative, the Uptown Area Residential Project embodied values of both the city and local residents,” explained the national planning and development nonprofit. “The project design took advantage of its proximity to public transportation and created a transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with a variety of housing options.”

 

In fact, in a recent SFGate piece, Oakland realtors named Uptown as one of the city’s fastest growing neighborhoods, with young singles and even retirees “rushing” to the area. Brand-new condos are mixed in with homes in repurposed historic buildings (such as the unique Uptown penthouse in the gallery above) and the neighborhood can now command $1 million-plus pricing.

 

http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2014/10/09/oaklands-uptown-named-2014s-best-neighborhood/

*No doubt this ranking is being used big time by Uptown business interests. The neighborhood is already red hot for real estate, and this will make it soar even higher. The American Planning Association is well-respected around these parts.

 

I expect some anarchists will not be happy with this...