Brownfield Revitalization, or Gentrification?

The Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco is undergoing a redevelopment that will change the look and make-up of the community, according to residents. The new plan has a mixed use, mixed-income, transit-oriented development being built on a former brownfield site. Bayview is an historically black neighborhood that wraps around an old Navy shipyard and is one of the city's poorest communities.

Rachel Waldholz of High Country News says that the industrial pollution has in some ways sheltered the community from development for decades:

"...the industries that have so burdened the neighborhood have also, to some extent, sheltered it, keeping housing relatively affordable as rising prices forced low-income residents out of other neighborhoods. For decades, activists urged the city to redevelop the shipyard, hoping it could revive the neighborhood's economy. Now that redevelopment is finally under way, though, many worry that it's come at too high a cost."

Thanks to Cathie Pagano