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Most people hear about urban renewal and they consider it a good thing. They think about slums and ghettos being turned around into safe, clean, and prosperous neighborhoods that become close knit communities. They have images of children playing baseball in the street and neighbors getting together to talk and plan festivals. It's a very popular image that accompanies a very popular catch phrase. It's also very wrong. What people don't think about is the loss of community and the locals being forced to leave due to increasing property taxes that stem from the "renewal."

Most large metropolitan areas have specific neighborhoods that are considered "unsavory." They contain communities that don't express the overall image that the city itself would like to portray. They consider these areas to be a blemish on the city as a whole. So, after some legislation, they begin the urban renewal process. First they'll install a park or two and a community center. Then they'll give tax breaks to certain businesses and homebuilders in an attempt to control what's going in. Then they'll advertise fervently about how this area, that "decent" people used to avoid, is now the place where they need to be. So then the area takes on something of a tourist feel and many people begin to flood the area hoping to become part of the new "hip" place to live. They construct over priced boutiques and tear down the old food markets to make way for large chain organic grocery stores. They replace playgrounds and empty lots with multiple Starbucks and tapas restaurants. They make ordinances to get rid of the street performers and replace them with kiosk that give directions to the next place willing to take your money. Then they completely renovate the streets until the area no longer resembles the community that used to thrive there.

This causes problems for the people who have lived in the area before the changes. Their rent is now going up and their old gathering places are being taken down. Many of them can't afford the groceries in the new trendy organic market and they could never dream of affording the clothes in the boutique that replaced the old vintage shop. Their bars and restaurants are no longer places to meet their friends but are filled to capacity with the new crowd. Their community festivals are taken over by the city and now feature large corporate sponsorship and are so crowded the locals can't even park at their own homes. Even their homes are being taken away

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