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

[cos]

The way Somerville local politics seems to work, there is in fact a split, though I don't think the labels you quote are useful ones to describe it. The split is between Somerville natives whose families are from Somerville, and new people who have moved into Somerville in the past 20 years. For the most part, until recently, the new people mostly didn't vote in local elections or take part in town governance much, and the natives, though they're a distinct minority in the city they view as theirs, have run things. Recently that has been changing. For the most part, the "newbies" are unaware of the split, and unaware of the resentment on the part of oldtimers, and frankly baffled by it when they do encounter it. They have nothing against the longtime natives, and they don't really see where the differences in interests lie. So you could almost describe the Somerville political divide as being a divide between those who see a divide and those who don't :)

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

When zoning comes into play i think we need more labels. ex. The whole condo conversion thing. Which side wants to limit condo conversions vs. which side wants to deregulate them? Its not so obvious to me, and "yuppies love condos" doesnt quite explain it.

If everybody voted strictly for their pocketbooks i'd expect:

Large, absentee landlords strongly for easy condoization.
Somerville native, live-in landlords somewhat for it. Increases property values for 3-deckers.
Existing condo owners against it. They wouldn't want any more condos.
Prospective condo buyers strongly for it.
Long-term renters, who plan to stay renters, strongly against it.
College students, if aware of the issue, against it.

[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.