[Puffer Fish]

The rise of the professional class in big cities - and others getting pushed out

Cities in Crisis
The Agenda with Steve Paikin, May 15, 2017

This will provoke a lengthy conversation about economic opportunity and division in big cities.

Quick summary of the video: it's about how big cities over the decades have moved from middle class flight and urban decay, to now gentrification and all the working class getting priced out. Basically economic segregation. It's a very interesting discussion if you're interested in the history of urban dynamics over time.

Has urban revival caused a crisis of success?
PBS NewsHour, June 1, 2017

[Puffer Fish]

Let's not forget middle class flight and urban decay that occurred in many major American cities in the late 70s and 80s.

Now, however, over the last 10 years, many of these same American cities are regentrifying.
And it's not a matter of wealth, it's a matter of movement of people.

Now we can ask ourselves what factors made living in cities undesirable for people with more money, and what factors are now making living in cities more desirable?

Part of it could be that crime rates have gone down.

Blacks were replaced by hispanics in many of these cities by the late 90s, and overall race relations had improved.

Then there is the fact that many of the people with money these days moving to cities are younger workers in the tech industry who haven't started families yet, so wouldn't be so concerned about having lots of space or what the schools are like.

One of the main reasons the middle class left cities is deteriorating school districts. This actually placed a very large financial burden on middle class families.
In a speech (see source below) given at Berkeley Professor Elizabeth Warren cited a study which showed that the inflation adjusted cost of housing for a family without children between 1983 to 2003 increased 50%. During that same time period the inflation adjusted cost of housing for a family with children increased 100%. This is a difference of nearly $100,000. Families were paying more money for good school districts. Families without children did not have to buy houses in good school districts, and so they had a wider pool of homes to select from.

(source: YouTube video, "The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class with Elizabeth Warren", University of California Television (UCTV), video uploaded January 31, 2008 )