The Green Gentrification of Los Angeles

Photo of Los Angeles taken by Likhi Rivas

The city of Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the United States and is widely known due to its portrayal in the media: a place people should visit if they aspire to be movie stars, Instagram models, or have a high social media following. It is this portrayal that has accelerated the green gentrification that is occurring to attract the young adult population. It's simple addition of bike lanes and green spaces such as parks, lead the Latino and Black community currently inhabiting L.A to fear losing their homes due to high rent prices, losing their established communities and culture. 

Green gentrification is defined as cleaning up pollution or providing green amenities to increase the local property values and attract wealthier residents. In Los Angeles, bike lanes are seen as a sign of green gentrification. Current residents didn’t see it necessary to have bike lanes because there was an unspoken agreement between a biker and a pedestrian or car, but once bike lanes are created it is seen as a space for the “social outsiders” to feel safer and “hip”. On the surface, more green park spaces would imply that the community at large would have access to better environmental goods; However, race, class and occupation have come to dictate who has access to these areas and when. The frequent street vendors would also seem to benefit from the parks because he would have a larger clientele. Yet, they are harassed and children throwing objects like a frisbee or ball at the park are looked down upon because the park isn’t for them but instead for yoga sessions and jogs.

Over the course of the pandemic, there has been ongoing construction in the buildings of downtown L.A. There is construction of apartments across the Staples Center and in the heart of downtown L.A. Existing buildings are being modified to have more floors and there is also a construction of multi-million dollar houses. The construction of the “Cumulus District'' is the live definition of green gentrification. It is considered to be modern rental living, it is walkable and transit-friendly, has a park, groceries stores, and has “everything around the corner in LA’s exciting new neighborhood.” It is targeted at young adults who consider themselves innovators and creatives. The target demographic is not the current residents of L.A, but the young hipster who is trying to make it in the film industry, it is the person with 1 million followers on Instagram, when instead it should be the current inhabitants of these cities and the homeless population.

Although green gentrification is on-going in L.A, there has been a past of gentrification that targeted the Black community. When the Great Migration occurred in the 1900’s, African Americans were the majority of the population. Many of them moved to South Central Los Angeles, now known as the Historical Central Corridor, because of red-lining and segregation that made it impossible for them to find a home. Landlords would implement high rent prices and leases that made it difficult of black people to be able to rent and own homes in predominantly white neighborhoods. Now, the majority of the population in South Central Los Angeles is Latino and they are being pushed out of their homes due to the green gentrification changes. 

The Latino population is not only threatened by the higher rent prices, and property taxes, but the communities that they have created in their neighborhoods are being impacted. Latinos have created a home in these places and have implemented their culture in places like the Swap Meet or something as simple is buying raspados from the street vendor. When places like the Swap Meet are being replaced by dormitories for universities, it puts at risk the culture and community that people have created in that place. A new demographic in the area leads to police patrols that allow that demographic to feel “safer” but it also leads them to target the existing demographic. This is a tactic used to also push the existing inhabitants out. They ticket street vendors and find ways to stop family gatherings that play loud music because it does not align with the new demographics’s concept of acceptable.   

As of 2020, the Los Angeles’s homeless population was about sixty-six thousand people. Instead of focusing on gaining revenue from the young and/or rich, there should be a focus on the homeless population that already exists. There have been statements that from the building created there will be a small amount set aside for the homeless population to reside in. This doesn’t change the fact that not all buildings will have this implemented, and less than one-third will be given to use. To make matters worse, the renovations done near Skid Row in downtown L.A. are likely to shrink the size of Skid Row, leading to the displacement of many who have found a community there. The homeless population is not the only vulnerable population though.

The Latino and Black community that currently lives in L.A. is highly impacted through a rise in rent, property taxes, and a loss of culture and safe spaces. The average Los Angeles resident makes minimum wage which means that a majority of their paycheck goes to paying their rent. In a 2017 study, it was stated that individuals need to make four times more than the minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom apartment. About sixty percent of low-income households are cost burdened, meaning that about thirty percent of their income is directed to paying their housing. Since 2017, not much has changed. The pandemic has created an increase in homelessness or cost burdened due to the loss of jobs leading residents to ask for extensions on their housing payments. In order for there to be stability in the homelessness rates in Los Angeles there would need to be 500,000 units built.  

If a resident were to live in an area that’s been gentrified, there would be a positive outcome to the air quality, cleaner transportation, and an environmentally friendly way of living, but the cost would be high. Why is it necessary for the current community in L.A. to have to pay a high price to live in a cleaner environment and have a healthier impact on their health and way of living? The gentrification that has occurred gives a greenlight to other private companies and businesses who target the “innovator and creator” demographic, when there shouldn't be a need to promote it to anyone but the communities that already reside there. Everyone should be able to live in a neighborhood that is environmentally sustainable, and the displacement of people would just add to the already displaced people. Green gentrification shouldn’t be to fit the aesthetic of the young hipster and the addition of green spaces shouldn’t be correlated with a fear for the residents. Instead, improving environmental quality should be something that local communities feel is being done for them.