First of all, what, exactly, is "Gentrification"?   The primary definition-of-old was, "The process of improving real property in an urban residential or commercial district through renovation, replacement and/or new construction to more closely conform to middle-class taste."   However more recently the term has assumed, or has been assigned, a heap of connotative baggage arising from the so-called "unintended consequences" of this process.

      In today's context, these localized real property improvements are, as would be expected, causing real estate values to increase, often dramatically.   This, over time, causes lower income families and businesses to move out of the district into more affordable areas.   As many of the original residents are unwilling, or financially unable, to relocate, animosities have grown - and occasionally flared.   Further, as much of the lower income population being forced to relocate is often composed of ethnic or racial groupings, it is axiomatic that controversy has arisen.   The term 'anti-gentrification' refers to the resistance to gentrification for these reasons.

      The forcing of lower income homeowners and established businesses out of their home district has attracted the attention of local & state governmental bodies and activists alike.   Longtime residents and commercial establishments claim this is a form of 'coerced community displacement', which is further exacerbated by real estate speculators who clamor to buy up properties to 'flip' them for a profit.   On the other hand, the "gentry" refer to this gentrification process as a normal, private-sector form of 'urban renewal'; the upgrading of 'deteriorated' urban areas.


      A case in point is El Sereno in the Los Angeles area.   This suburb (and adjacent communities) has been experiencing unabated gentrification in recent years.   This has resulted in stores and art galleries having been vandalized (primarily by graffiti), and picketed by anti-gentrification folk.   While El Sereno is not (yet) overrun by craft-beer pubs, artsy galleries, or walking-streets teeming with 'cute' boutiques, they increasingly have been feeling the pinch.   Among those affected by the 'unintended consequences' of this gentrification, -those first to feel directly the effects of rising costs- are the renters.   Internet exposure by real estate websites such as Airbnb has contributed to the rental problem - as readily can be seen by the overwhelmingly negative narrative on the various blogsites.

      Community-minded organizations on both sides of the gentrification fence have popped up.   For example the El Sereno Against Gentrification group, and the pro-gentrification group, 'LA32 Neighborhood Council' have been going at it toe-to-toe (figuratively), each defending and rationalizing their respective positions on the ongoing gentrification debate.

      Presumably unaffiliated with the El Sereno Against Gentrification group, local graffiti 'artists' have commenced a spraycan campaign against those homes and venues they see as part of the gentrification problem.   For example, an outdoor advertisement placed by a real estate agent was tagged "gentrifier," his photo altered by spraycan to portray the Devil.   In another incident, graffiti artists sprayed "Your house raises our rent," on a private dwelling.   But the recent flare-up, the one that recently caught Media attention, is the recurrent "Fuck Gentrification" graffiti being sprayed on the homes of (what are derisively referred to as) 'transplants '.

      In truth, 'gentrification' -by anyone's definition- is another word for 'modernization', and will happen -eventually- to every bit of habitable property on earth - save, perhaps, the Great Pyramids in Egypt.   Nevertheless, that which has become evermore contentious in today's gentrification controversy is its comparatively rapid pace, the tactics used, and inattention to the 'unintended consequences' of these modernizations.