Alexandra Pelosi on Why ‘San Francisco 2.0’ Will Set New Economy Rules
Geege Schuman stashed this in San Francisco
Stashed in: Airbnb, San Francisco!, economics, Uber, San Francisco, HBO, Documentaries, Bay Area Housing
I didn't listen to it all, but her main point is that the richer people are pushing everyone out, and that's symbolic of what's going to happen all over America.
Alexandra Pelosi’s latest documentary, “San Francisco 2.0,” examines rapid gentrification in the city as tech companies and their employees have revitalized urban areas yet have driven out longtime residents.
Her project, debuting on Monday on HBO, sets up a vexing problem for the city’s leaders, who are reaping the benefits from an economic boom yet struggle to come up with solutions to displaced residents and homelessness. It’s a problem common to many cities, including Los Angeles, but perhaps most pronounced for San Francisco as it is at the center of the tech economy.
“Everybody is having a really good time in San Francisco right now if you are in the tech, media, new media world,” Pelosi tells Variety‘s “PopPolitics” on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel. “You’re not having such a good time if you have lived there for generations and your family is being pushed out. Those are the people who are getting hurt.”
The only way that some residents can afford to live there is by renting out their homes via Airbnb or by moonlighting as a driver for Uber. That has triggered a debate on whether such services should be regulated and, if so, what the rules should be. The city is at the center of the debate over the “sharing” economy and whether it helps or worsens income inequality.
“Ground zero right now for the conversation about the new American economy is going on in San Francisco,” she says. “Airbnb is going on the ballot, should people be allowed to rent out their rooms and for how many days. We need rules for democracy to work, and that is what they are doing in San Francisco right now is they are writing the rules, so the rest of the country is sort of looking.”
Just watched this, very well done. A lot of the blame is placed on Mayor Lee for giving tech companies tax breaks for being in SF.
"Lee was eventually tapped by then Mayor Art Agnos in 1989 to head up the first whistle-blowing division and then rose through the government ranks. When Gavin Newsom became lieutenant governor in 2010, he chose Lee to step in as mayor.
Lee was not a techie. He took office admitting he was "not a Twitter guy" and admitted to not knowing much about the service, or Facebook for that matter.
A week later, homegrown-tech-startup Twitter was threatening to leave San Francisco, a move that could have sparked others like Zynga to follow suit. To keep the company in the city, Lee worked on what infamously became known as the Twitter tax break on new hires for companies if they moved into the Mid-Market area of the city. More tax breaks on stock-option compensation soon followed, along with Lee's "tech-friendly mayor" moniker."
The documentary did say this is going on in all major cities of the world, and that we the people, have to decide what is acceptable.
8:47 AM Sep 27 2015