Or, “Why does Gavin Newsom hate black people?”
According to this article, the black population of “progressive” San Francisco has decreased by more than 50% since 1970:
African-Americans are abandoning this famously progressive city at a rate that has alarmed San Francisco officials, who vow to stop the exodus and develop a strategy to win blacks back to the city. In June, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed a task force to study how to reverse decades of policies — and neglect — that black leaders say have fueled the flight.
Black flight can alter a city’s character. “It’s important for a city’s future that it be a diverse place, and San Francisco is drifting toward being an upper-middle-class city,” says Ed Blakely, director of Katrina recovery for New Orleans.
According to Census estimates, the number of blacks here shrank from 13.4% of the population in 1970 to just 6.5% in 2005 — the biggest percentage decline in any major American city.
Drifting towards upper-middle class? Sorry, but they’re already there. And did Mr. Blakely really just infer that “upper middle class” doesn’t include black people?
It may not be what he meant. But it is what he said.
First there was the wonderful irony of former hippies being upset about smelly street people driving down their property values — in Haight-Ashbury.
And now you have the nanny-state, anti-business government and culture of San Francisco driving out the “diversity” they claim to embrace.
Come to think of it…you almost never see black hippies. Or, as a commenter at Ace points out:
So, in other words, the demographics of San Francisco is starting to look like the attendance at the Yearly Kos?
Hah. Except I’ll bet you dimes to nickels that 6.5% of the KosKids at this year’s DailyKos were not black.
____________
OTHERS:
Chef Mojo at the Daily Pundit quips:
…the rest of us look at San Francisco in wide eyed wonder, as if we’re watching an ant farm where most of the ants are dumber than the dirt they’re digging through…
Hah!
Robbie- simple economics suggests that San Francisco is expensive because people want to live there. Demand is higher than supply so prices are high.
You seem to think you have an ‘a ha’ moment but really no one disputes that on average African Americans have lower incomes and less wealth than white Americans. That suggests they will be less likely to be homeowners and more vulnerable to increasing rents.
The attempts to turn this into a political issue have yet to hit their target.
Left by Preston on August 29th, 2007 at 6:43 am