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Alameda Social Issues

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The city of Oakland, located in the northern part of California, is part of Alameda County; It is the eighth largest city in California and has 50 distinct neighborhoods (Szkup-Valdez). Although classified as a very diverse city in the United States (Szkup-Valdez), Oakland’s residents do not live equally because the city is categorized by its disadvantaged inner city and privileged suburbs(Szkup-Valdez). The different groups of people suffer different types of social issues, similarly to how African-Americans and Whites dealt with different social issues during the segregation period. The ongoing difference between suburbs and inner city have caused for Oakland to be racially segregated and has caused for the political attention and funding …show more content…

Despite being considered a highly dense city by the state and nation, the density is not evenly distributed across the city. The inner density has a strong correlation with race and ethnicity. African Americans and Latinos constitute 83.9% of the total population in East Oakland and 66.7% of the total population in West Oakland (Alameda County Public Health Department). Both regions are part of the inner city and, therefore, one can conclude that those of minority races tend to live in the higher density areas where poverty and social issues tend to be major problems (Alameda County Public Health Department). Furthermore, this data of density further proves that Oakland suffers from racial segregation due to the fact that African Americans constitute only 28% of the total Oakland population (Data Access and Dissemination Systems), yet a majority of them live in low-income communities that have high population densities, few resources, and great health …show more content…

From early on in 1860 to early 1960s, Oakland, California was considered a very conservative city but from the late 1960s onwards, Oakland shifted towards more liberal policies (Reese, Sacbee). As a result, oakland is now viewed as a highly liberal city and its policies further prove that point. Oakland’s City Council Priorities now focus on problems related to public safety, healthcare, the environment, and social equity rather than some of the more conservative policies such as economics. These liberal policies have the goals of providing public safety and reducing crime rates in every neighborhood, offering different programs to ensure the health/well-being of all residents, ensuring a clean environment in which residents can live without health risk factors, and offering social equality to every resident (City Council, City of Oakland Priorities). Although Oakland’s city council has these goals, they are not being met equally. Some areas in Oakland are suffering from social issues that the city council promised to fix but never did. Interestingly enough, these areas tend to be centralized in the inner city where minorities and low-income people

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368 Words | 2 Pages

In this article, “Gentrification”, by Sherman Alexie, the author tells a story about his neighborhood. The authors story was one where he thought he was doing the right thing but yet once he had done it, he did not feel good about it at all. The author shows how there is still racism in America and that can change the way people see things. The author shows this through a personal story that happened awhile back.

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420 Words | 2 Pages

The overall argument of Robert O. Self’s Introduction, in the book “American Babylon,” are the different aspects of postwar Oakland and the East Bay, socially, economically, and politically. There are three key claims Self makes in the Introduction. First, Self claims there were two controversial political ideologies in postwar Oakland, one being black power, including politics of deference and empowerment, and second a neo-populist, conservative homeowner politics of white residents. Another claim Self makes is the idea that the postwar black struggle and politics of suburban building shaped the political culture in Oakland and the East Bay. The third key claim Self makes is the modernization of space; space as property, as a social imagination, and as a political scale.

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785 Words | 4 Pages

Policies from HOLC and FHA approved of ethnic segregation and created many suburbs that clearly oppose their objective to address the imbalance in the community. Jackson criticizes how these programs “hastened the decay of inner-city neighborhoods by stripping them of much of their middle-class constituency” (206). However, while Jackson helps make sense of the role of the government in the suburban movement, Jackson sees that the process of suburbanization will slow down in the future. As more minorities entered the middle class, the proportion of minorities in the suburb will increase such that the stimulus to “white flight” will drop. In addition, due to limited availability of energy, high cost of land, credit, and

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1841 Words | 8 Pages

There has to be a realistic solution that can be put into motion to benefit everyone involved. Referring again to his article “Is Gentrification All Bad?” Davidson argues that urban renewal, if done right, is not a monstrous custom that it is painted to be; nevertheless, he reasons that gentrification depends on who does it, how they do it, and why they do it. As a resident in New York, a city where gentrification is as widespread as the common cold in winter, Davidson speculates that those who go into a neighborhood with the intention to renovate houses, or abandoned buildings ought to have a good reason for it. The author points out that “Gentrification does not have to be something that one group inflicts on another…” (Davidson 349), rather, he suggests that everyone, the gentrifiers and the locals, be on the same page when it comes to developing their

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934 Words | 4 Pages

It has been clearly established that gentrification does help revitalize once decrepit areas of a city, often creating new job opportunities, raising the value of properties, and creating cool, new areas to explore and enjoy. But we cannot mention the topic of gentrification without also mentioning the mass amounts of displacements of people. Gentrification clearly disproportionately benefits affluent, and often white people, while hampering the low-income and communities of color. This brings us back to the central question surrounding this topic, is gentrification a positive or negative process taking place in Portland? After understanding that an overwhelming amount of evidence points to gentrification as a negative process affecting Portland, we clearly see that the negative factors attached to gentrification outweigh the positives.

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932 Words | 4 Pages

Anderson begins the section by explaining that there are two separate cultures in inner-city neighborhoods. The first are the “decent” this group is defined by commitment to “middle-class values,” (101). However, they are not mainstream in that they

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455 Words | 2 Pages

Many proponents as well as advocates of gentrification like to use in many regard as code words to back up their claim that gentrification brings “revitalization” “urban renewal” and more importantly “enhances” the community. However, these are what many who are critical of gentrification deem to be “ code words”, because they appear to be ones that exude positivity when they are in fact not expressing the full story of the argument, because underneath this creeping positivity. There still exists this form of stereotyping that minorities, or those from lower socioeconomic means cannot create something that is unique or successful on their own. Furthermore, what existed in their communities before gentrification was one that brought little to no value to society.

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446 Words | 2 Pages

A system that is built upon discrimination will continue to discriminate until major interventions are devised and upheld throughout the community (Reskin, 2012). Badger (2016) explains that after recent peaceful protests in Baltimore, the mayor spoke out and blamed “thugs” for these “riots”. The protest aimed to explain citizen’s frustrations with the institutions oppressing them, and exemplify the significance of how interrelated disparities are in communities (Badger, 2012). The mayor failed to acknowledge that we have created slums and prolonged the poverty in these neighborhoods. She ignored that disparities are all connected, such that living in a poor neighborhood typically leads to a poor education, then to a very low level job, and that then inherently lowers their health outcomes (Massey and Denton, 1993).

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1162 Words | 5 Pages

San Francisco was once notorious for its urban renewal that lowered housing affordability for its displaced residents. Starting in the

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545 Words | 3 Pages

I have lived in East Oakland my whole life. To the majority of people, the mention of East Oakland evokes thoughts of violence, shootings, and gangs. I was one of the people who believed in these stereotypes, and for a particularly long time. I was one of the people who saw Oakland as a wasteland, a place with nothing to offer me, and a place I had nothing to offer to.

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1090 Words | 5 Pages

Issue: Within the last decade, San Francisco has dramatically changed. San Francisco’s working class people and poor neighborhoods underwent drastic economic and racial changes from the 1990s to mid 2000s, resulting in the undeniable gentrification of the districts. San Francisco’s gentrification has reached a ridiculous new extreme, making it the most expensive city in the country, outstripping even Manhattan. The beginning of the issue was right after the dotcom and Tech industries started drastically moving to the Bay Area.

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9283 Words | 38 Pages

Neoliberalization’s propagation of health inequity in urban rebuilding processes and social movements against them: Baltimore’s story This essay will discuss how neoliberal processes during redevelopment sustain and increase health inequities. It will highlight key neoliberal processes in urban redevelopment and examples of their impact on economic, political, and institutional social capital and subsequent public health effects. Examples of social movements challenging several neoliberal processes will be provided as one path toward changing the roots of health inequities. Introduction Too often neighborhoods which have been historically disinvested and demonized become prime real estate targets for development with the expectation

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1145 Words | 5 Pages

Title: Gentrifying Chicago neighborhoods. General Purpose: To inform my audience of Gentrification in the Norther part of Chicago around the 1960s. Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, the audience will understand the meaning of gentrification, how Puerto Rican families in the Northern part of Chicago lost their homes to Gentrification, how they fought against gentrification, and how gentrification is now occurring to Mexican families in the Southern part of Chicago. Thesis: Puerto Rican families lost their homes in the 1960s when Lincoln Park was gentrified despites their best efforts, and today Mexican families are losing their homes in Pilsen to gentrification. Introduction I. Attention: What would you risk in order to continue having a home?

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856 Words | 4 Pages

As a citizen of the United States, I have had first-hand experience observing cultural divides. Though they are less drastic than in South Africa, there are similar correlating factors in which communities are segregated. Fortunately, interracial mixing is not illegal or a factor; however, California is home to many cultures, races, and languages. However, in Santa Barbara, we are divided by wealth and language. Our local community has several areas where low-income families are forced to live due to the increasingly high living prices.

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502 Words | 3 Pages

Lance Freeman, an associate professor of urban planning in Columbia, wanted to investigate if there was any displacement going on in two predominantly black neighborhoods that was briskly gentrifying. Much to his dismay, he couldn’t find any correlation between gentrification and displacement. What was surprising to Freeman was his discovery, “poor residents and those without a college education were actually less likely to move if they resided in gentrifying neighborhoods”. (Sternbergh, 19) Freeman adds, “The discourse on gentrification, has tended to overlook the possibility that some of the neighborhood changes associated with gentrification might be appreciated by the prior residents.” (Sternbergh, 19)

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