Diversification. Development. Displacement.
These are all terms associated with gentrification that many people have experienced, heard of or been warned about occurring in South Los Angeles neighborhoods and communities across the nation.
While the word more often than not has a negative connotation to it, many argue that it is subjective to the places and people it affects.
Long-time Jefferson Park, California resident Lizy Moromisato says, “I am not one willing to say, ‘Oh, gentrification is terrible.’ Gentrification can be a good thing if everybody is considered and everybody is brought on into the good new things that come to the area.”
According to real estate websites like "Zillow" and major media organizations like The Los Angeles Times, her South Los Angeles neighborhood Jefferson Park is considered to be one of those who are “up and coming,” which makes it a target for gentrification.
However, South Central has not always been the apple of consumers’ eyes. According to South Central History, the murder rate was the highest in the city’s history just a little over two decades ago because of the Rodney King Riots. The area was associated with drug use, gang violence and poverty.
Moromisato, who moved to Jefferson Park 26-years-ago, has first handedly witnessed the community progress from being over looked to being enticing.
She attributes the reinvigorated interest in the area in recent years to its prime location in one of the most desirable cities in the world, new transportation developments like the extension of the Metro and the fact that Jefferson Park is one of the largest Historic Preservation Overlay Zones in L.A.
“Some issues still linger on, but as a whole, we have seen steady and dramatic changes,” she said. “The challenges we are facing now as a community is how to welcome the improvements, but also make sure that our neighbors and stakeholders are comfortable with the changes and be able to transition and not be left out.”
Jefferson Park resident and real estate agent Adam Janeiro sees the region’s evolution in a different way.
“Gentrification doesn’t exist in California nor in Los Angeles nor in Jefferson Park,” he said.
While he does not dispute that it occurs in other places, Janeiro says he believes the area is experiencing a degree of upscaling.
He says that California’s rent control and fixed property taxes do not allow displacement in the way other communities in the U.S. like Cincinnati have experienced the negative effects of gentrification.
Janeiro, who has lived in Jefferson Park for twenty years, also argues that the recomposition of the neighborhood is nothing new to L.A.
“The economics have changed, but the economics have changed everywhere. It’s not gentrification, but simply shifting demographics and that’s always gone on here. It’s always gone on,” said Janeiro. “In fact, at no point has it ever been the same for long. Jefferson Park has always changed from the very beginning and it continues to change so at this point.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the racial demographics have actually changed in Jefferson Park from 2000-2010. The black population has gone from 44.97% to 31.88% and the Hispanic population has gone from 48.81% to 60.41%. These numbers reflect Janeiro’s view of inevitable diversity in the area.
The real estate agent says although Jefferson Park sees many continuous shifts, some aspects of change “are really uncomfortable to talk about.”
“There are some people who would prefer to be surrounded by like. They want the person who lives next to them to resemble them,” he said. “It could be cosmetically or in terms of class. That’s not only an affliction of the well to do. That’s sometimes an affliction of the poor or even the middle class.”
While Moromisato and Janeiro are both long time Jefferson Park residents with their own abstract views, they exemplify how the concept of gentrification is not a black or white issue, but rather, a multifaceted notion to consider as their community develops.
As Jefferson Park continues to evolve, so will the ideas of what gentrification does in South Los Angeles and across the nation.