At a time when many U.S. cities are being revitalized — and rapidly gentrified — Barry Yeoman spotlights Durham, North Carolina, his home of 30 years, where activism, diversity- and egalitarianism-minded non-profits, and a community land trust are helping to keep the city inclusive and affordable for those who often get marginalized and pushed out instead.
cities
Posted inBusiness, Current Events, Op-Ed, Story
Pay the Homeless
It’s time to end the pernicious myth that giving money directly to panhandlers won’t help them.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Urban Crisis of Affluence
An investment property is not a home. Neither are cities where most people can’t afford to live.
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quote Posts, Quotes
A City in Upheaval: The Story of a Single Block in West Oakland’s Ghost Town Neighborhood
Annette Miller, a longtime resident of West Oakland’s Ghost Town neighborhood, has witnessed the dramatic transformation of the city as changes sweep the block she’s lived on for over 50 years.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Guardians of Ghost Town
Longtime West Oakland resident Annette Miller has witnessed the dramatic transformation of the city as changes over the past few decades have swept the block she’s lived on for over 50 years.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Evictionland: More and More Americans Experience Eviction, and Gentrification is Partly to Blame
In this essay supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Joseph Williams investigates the increasingly deft mechanisms at work evicting lower-income apartment dwellers in rapidly gentrifying cities, while chronicling his own descent from white collar Politico reporter living in a luxury apartment, to jobless, homeless man.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How the 1970s Could Vanish from Vancouver
Brutalist architecture — heavy on concrete and blocky shapes — used to be polarizing. In Vancouver, where land is scarce and developers are bulldozer-happy, it’s in the process of disappearing.
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘Oakland Used to Be More Funky’: Where Have All the Artists Gone?
The staff at Laney Tower take a close look at the past, present, and future of Oakland’s artistic community.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Vanishing Point
“Without the right kind of help, Oakland could lose yet another piece of its vibrant, artistic legacy.” As affordable residences and art spaces are becoming increasingly scarce, artists in Oakland are forced to move elsewhere. Laney Tower journalists take a look at the history, present, and uncertain future of the city’s arts and culture scene.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
New York in the 1970s Gave Us Hip Hop, Madonna, and the Chip on Trump’s Shoulder
“You bang your head against the wall to try to get some nice buildings up, and what happens? Everybody comes after you.”