Do we need neighborhood "political parties"?

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

I'm from the area, but very confused by some of the "townie vs. yuppie" debates i see online and in the newspapers. Especially when it's about zoning or land use. I don't know who is rooting for what.

Like i'm always hearing "yuppies" and college kids lumped together. The yuppies have been here for ten years and are mostly homeowners by now, and may be at cross-purposes politically even though both groups might like the coffee shops in Davis.

So do we need political labels like "yuppie", "landlord", "long-term-renter", "college student" (rhetorical question) because its very difficult to tell who's who.

Comments

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the class difference; I think that's the most relevant part of the split.

Old-skool residents tend to be blue-collar, new residents tend to be white collar. There's nothing to change the character of a town like replacing all your plumbers and construction workers with web developers and hippie emo college students.

Among other things, it means that a blue-collar family on the edge may not be able to afford the taxes on the house Grandpa bought, so now they have to move. It means their kids can't buy houses down the street anymore.
Yuppies move in and replace the old greasy spoon with a starbucks, or at least make Mary-Jane over there charge three bucks for a cup of coffee.

The differences can come in other forms, but I think most of them come down to class in the end.