This week we do a stylistic turn inspired by NPR shows like This American Life in order to cover the battle to get rent control on the ballot in Long Beach, California.

Many people don't know that Long Beach is the sevenths largest city in California. Overshadowed by LA to the north and Orange County to the south, Long Beach is 60 percent renters - the highest rate in the state.

We talk to Josh Butler of Housing Long Beach about their struggle to put rent reform on the ballot and their pitched battle against the shadowy group Better Housing for Long Beach. Butler describes their nemesis as an Orwellian, AstroTurf Group (instead of a grassroots group). The two fought it out for signatures in the streets of Long Beach. It got ugly and allegedly literally came to blows.

We'll be down in Long Beach for a screening on Sept. 20th. If you are anywhere near Southern California and the world's largest urbanized area, come check the show out.

Our show

https://lbpost.com/event/emphasize-displacement/

Housing Long Beach

http://www.housinglb.org/

Better Housing for Long Beach

http://www.betterhousingforlongbeach.com/

Article with controversial "racist" flyer

https://lbpost.com/news/rent-control-advocates-accuse-opponents-of-using-dirty-tricks-to-dissuade-people-from-signing-petition/

Editorial by Joani Weir

https://www.aoausa.com/magazine/?p=5554

Video by Better Housing for Long Beach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_czOo5OuT4

Priced Out: The Documentary

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

It’s been three years since Nikki Williams wrapped up her last interview for the documentary Priced Out. At that time, she had just moved to Dallas, Texas. She was fed up with Portland, Oregon, and what she called its “color blind“ and “passive-aggressive” racism. She was emotionally devastated by how her black community had been “obliterated” by gentrification.

She sold her house and moved to Dallas in search of a new black community. She wanted to live in a neighborhood where people looked like her, where people would treat her daughter and grandson with respect and dignity.

At the end of Priced Out, Nikki, a new resident of Dallas, was also seeing gentrification in a new light. She began to see how some people could see gentrification as an “opportunity."

So, what’s happened since then? Did she find a healthy black community? Did she become a gentrifier? What are the racial dynamics in Dallas like? Are they any better?

This 45-minute interview with Nikki Williams touches on the hilarious and the heartbreaking. Williams is, as always, biting, straightforward and willing to be vulnerable with some of the most sensitive issues in her life.

Find more information about Nikki and the two films we’ve produced about her at https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

Detroit is like a failed state. A place where capitalism has failed for half a century and where even local democracy has fallen as the city’s government was handed over to a federal manager. Much has been written about the city’s epic slow-motion collapse and its sudden rise from the ashes. This week on the Priced Out Podcast we talk about how Detroit’s turn around has been funded and control by only four players, two billionaires the Illitch family of Little Caesars Pizza and Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans, one private entity Mid Town Inc., and one quasi-governmental body, the Detroit Land Bank. Between them, the city has been carved up into separate kingdoms governed by powers way beyond public accountability. But they are getting things done. New investment and jobs have poured into quarters like downtown and Midtown and are reshaping, restoring and rebuilding them. But the rebuilding is not happening everywhere. And what place does the common man have when big powers see vast stretches of a city as their personal playgrounds. It’s the return of the kings and it's not clear who will win the game of thrones that is being played for the future of this once mighty city.

Our guest is reporter Louis Aguilar, a 14-year veteran of the Detroit News and native Detroiter. Cornelius and Louis go through the nitty-gritty of the city’s comeback at the level of land deal, developers and power players.

Hat tip to Nicole Macdonald and her film The Last Days of Chinatown, which were the inspiration for this podcast.

https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/movies/2018/04/08/last-days-chinatown-detroit-nicole-macdonald-freep-film-festival/492119002/

Links to more stories on Detroit:

http://www.bridgemi.com/detroit-journalism-cooperative/what-gentrification-much-detroit-getting-worse

https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2017/09/20/dan-gilbert-bedrock-jobs-detroit/684344001/

http://michiganradio.org/post/detroit-city-council-passes-affordable-housing-ordinance-fight-gentrification

https://www.yahoo.com/news/detroits-mayor-walks-line-recovery-gentrification-can-work-cities-090025888.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHLaWw_PnQY

Priced Out: The Documentary

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

Today is the first part in a new series called LEFT OUT of Priced Out. We are going to cover a lot of issues, points of view, and stories that were not included in our 2017 documentary on gentrification, Priced Out.

In Episode 13, we are going to roll back, beyond Priced Out, to our first film. In 2002, we released our first gentrification documentary, NorthEast Passage: The Inner City and the American Dream. In that film, we watched Nikki Williams work with her neighbors and police to close down the drug houses on her block. But the film never asks the people in the “drug houses” what their view was.

Today we hope to correct that with a truly fascinating talk with Rahsaan Muhamaad, a man who grew up in the black neighborhoods of Portland during the 1980s. He knew of Nikki and he knew the “trap houses” on her block because he was running drugs at the time. He describes the experiences of being in a “gang” in Portland before and after California gangsters started to move into town, and before the media started to glorify and portray that culture. He talks about how guns changed the game and how the community was policed (or not) and how policing changed over time as the area gentrified.

He also talks about the how he saw gentrification at that time and how he sees it now that he has turned his life around and found a spiritual and moral path of his own.

This is really one of our most compelling podcasts. We hope you enjoy it.

If you have a beef with Rahsaan take, his view of the facts, or you want to add something please contact us or leave a comment. Maybe we can even have you on the show. [email protected]

Priced Out: The Documentary

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

Our first film

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/northeast-passage/

This week on the Priced Out podcast, a live recording of Cornelius Swart at Turn On, an annual lecture series sponsored the real estate branding and marketing firm 1000 Watt. The company brings in hundreds of their real estate clients from across the nation, include companies like Berkshire Hathaway, to wine them and dine them and treat them to two days of presentations from artists, industry leaders and interesting people.

To Swart's surprise, company lead Marc Davidson invited him to talk about gentrification. Here is the unedited presentation.

Priced Out: The Documentary

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

Episode 11 of Priced Out the Podcast is about the great city of St. Louis, MO. The city is a wonderful place with great people and a lot of new potential. There is new energy and growth going on, but the city has a long and troubling past and continues to be challenged by vast poverty, discrimination and neglect.

We talk with two residents Rebeca Carlos, host of the podcast Explain to Me and artist and community activist Kevin Hopkins.

We talk about the city's deep history of segregation, the Delmar Divide, the Riots of 1916, the poverty and abandonment of East Louis Louis and North St. Louis White Flight in Spanish Lakes and speculate if big property owners are playing games and driving down land values like they have done in Detroit.

We also talk about the early signs of gentrification or "revitalization" in the Delmar Loop, Benton Park, South City the Grove and elsewhere.

Important links

Segregation in St. Louis today

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/8/18/st-louis-segregation.html

The riots

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/missouri-history-museum-tweets-retelling-the-events-of-the-east/html_e11843ae-283f-599b-bf1d-eeb5281f1fb7.html

North St. Louis and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/after-nga-picked-new-hq-site-residents-helped-document-north/article_22bfeb9c-1768-5039-a6a5-854a88a0770e.html

White Flight in the documentary Spanish Lake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjcCwQfXTx4

Spanish Lake Documentary

https://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Lake-Raphael-Bostic/dp/B00OOLNMJM

A report's look at East St. Louis

https://www.facebook.com/ElliottDavisTV/videos/1873065089661106/?fref=mentions

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

Zoning determines what can and cannot be built on a given piece of property. It's a powerful tool that has been used to promote segregation, concentrate poverty and spur investment in neighborhoods across the country for the last 100 years.

The stuff of epic NIMBY battles, this dry subject comes alive thanks to special guest Michael Andersen, a senior fellow at Sightlines Institute, a progressive think tank dedicated to sustainable community growth and development.

We talk about zoning's dark history as well as the modern way progressives try to use zoning to build walkable alternatives to sprawl. Zoning changes can increase affordable housing in a neighborhood, but it can also bring in new rich residents and become a "can opener" for gentrification.

TIP: When a zone change is proposed in your area, look to see who is opposing it, and how much money they make.

Give a listen and let us know what you think in the comments section.

http://www.sightline.org/

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/67728

Michael's recent stories about Portland's Residential Infill Strategy.

https://medium.com/@pdx4all/every-month-portlands-infill-rules-aren-t-changed-the-city-looks-more-like-this-23686e1b9179

http://www.sightline.org/2018/05/21/four-ways-to-get-a-housing-reform-thats-more-than-window-dressing/

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

In this podcast we discuss stories of displacement, the negative health impacts inherent with displacement, Portland’s right-to-return policy, the creative class and activism in Portland, and the Fair Housing Act.

City Life/Vida Urbana

http://www.clvu.org/

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

This week on the Priced Out Podcast we discuss how filmmakers portray the character of a gentrifying community.

The discussion was at NW Documentary in Portland, Oregon, after the screening of a film about gentrification in Detroit entitled Last Days of Chinatown.

https://www.facebook.com/events/584036978607902/

The discussion is with Last Days director Nicole MacDonald as well as Sika Stanton, co-director of The Numbers, a short film about East Portland, and Priced Out director Cornelius Swart.

Priced Out: The Documentary

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

The Numbers

https://oregonhumanities.org/this-land/stories/the-numbers/

NW Documentary

https://nwdocumentary.org/

More on Nicole MacDonald

http://www.ncolemacdonald.com/

And the Last Days of Chinatown

https://hyperallergic.com/438298/nicole-macdonald-last-days-of-chinatown-cass-corridor-detroit/

Priced Out: The Documentary

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/

Show notes:

This edition of the Priced Out we have an hour-long show packed with conversations about housing and the upcoming election in Oregon.

We talk with Rachel Monahan, housing and City Hall Reporter for the Willamette Week. We talk about Portland's housing relocation fee, landlords in the legislature and the primary battle of Democrat Rod Monroe.

Part 2 of our conversation with Alissa Keny-Guyer, talking about Rod Monroe and Republican Julie Parrish. (NOTE: Julie Parrish's office did not respond to a request for an interview).

Lastly, we talk with Portland City Hall candidate Andrea Valderrama about her views and solutions to the city's housing crisis. Valderama is currently senior policy advisor for Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and sits on the David Douglas School District board.

https://www.facebook.com/Valderrama4Pdx/

More about the other candidates running for Position 3 on Portland City Council.

Jo Ann Hardesty

https://www.facebook.com/joannforportland/

Loretta Smith

https://www.lorettaforportland.com/meet/

Stuart Emmons

http://www.stuartemmons.com/

Felicia Williams

https://www.feliciaforportland.com/

Lew Humble

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/Auditor/article/44904

Priced Out: The Documentary

https://www.pricedoutmovie.com/