"From the places with plenty / to the space with no pity / forces changing our city / If I don't change what's been given / what can I say to my children / who going to be claiming this city?" --Macklemore & Abyssinian Creole, "Claimin' the City"

Seattle today is a tale of two cities. For developers, government officials, and many new residents, Seattle is about its places of plenty: shopping opportunities, property values, beautiful views, and potential profits. Look beyond the skyscrapers and a different image of Seattle emerges: that of a blue-collar port city with an immigrant soul--a place of strength, survival, and struggle against racism and poverty. When these two Seattles collide, it's called gentrification: the displacement of poor and working class people by upper-income residents. It's a conflict over values, over purpose: who is claiming the city?

Before gentrification, there was Jim Crow segregation. The Central District (CD) was one of the few areas black residents could live. As they moved there, the predominately Jewish community fled. Now, with gentrification, white residents are returning. This dates back to the 1970s, when deindustrialization forced US cities to reorder their economies. Since then, Seattle officials have scrambled to build a profitable economy around those who don't even live here: suburbanites, tourists, and international investors. In the 1990s alone, over $700 million in public money went to developers to build upper-class amenities like convention centers, museums, and retail stores, a decade that also saw the city lose large amounts of its working-class residents. [Ed. note: plus over $1 billion in new sports stadiums, "needed" primarily due to their lucrative luxury suites.]

The trend continues today, as rising housing prices push people of color further South--even out of Seattle altogether--and new sweeps on homeless encampments physically remove people from public property. Yet people are resisting across the city. In February, when the new South Lake Union Trolley was tagged with graffiti, it was not hard to see it as a statement against the city's priorities and the millions of dollars spent on a trolley that goes nowhere except Paul Allen-owned real estate. But the resistance goes well beyond small isolated acts.

In Little Saigon, Seattle's Vietnamese district, lies the Goodwill site on Dearborn St. and Rainer Ave. This prime piece of real estate is the location of a proposed new development, including retail space three-quarters the size of Northgate Mall and 550 housing units. Fearing the project threatens the vitality of their neighborhood, community members formed the Dearborn Street Coalition for Livable Neighborhoods. After several years of protest and pressure, they are now in negotiations with the developer to reach a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) which would ensure good jobs, low-income housing, traffic mitigation, and support for Little Saigon are part of the development.

Elana Dix, an organizer with Puget Sound SAGE, one of the coalition's 40 organizations, explains, "Reshaping how redevelopment and growth happens in the city is a good way to build a movement for workers." According to Dix, the CBA is a potential model for other neighborhoods in the city threatened by harmful development. She also admits, though, the strategy is limited to instances where a large development is planned. If the Dearborn Coalition succeeds, it will represent a massive victory. But fighting gentrification in other areas proves harder if the forces changing the area cannot be attributed to a single site or developer.

"All I want to do is live quietly, take care of my property , pay my taxes, and listen to the Commodores at Red Apple when I buy groceries." --anonymous new CD resident, blog post

New residents bring with them a different culture, a feeling of entitlement to comfort often confused with "safety," and an ignorance of the history and cultures already in place. For the Hidmo Eritrean Restaurant in the CD, this has translated into attacks from neighbors and the Seattle Police Department (SPD).

Just two years ago, sisters' Rahwa and Asmeret Habte created Hidmo "conceived from love of culture and structured after the village model of family." Their restaurant has grown into a community and cultural center that has supported the growth of local Hip Hop by hosting five regular shows, including a monthly all-female Hip Hop show, a weekly youth writing circle, and weekly African music.

Lately, however, the Hidmo has been targeted as a "nuisance" business and an attraction to a "dangerous criminal element." About a year ago, the Habte sisters were summoned to a meeting, held in a police station, to hear racist fears from some of their newer neighbors. They were told stories of being too scared to leave a car or come to a house window if men were spotted hanging out in front of the restaurant. The Habte's responded by hosting a community gathering and extending invitations for future events to concerned neighbors.

Unfortunately, the Habte business has continued to receive a disproportionate amount of attention from the SPD. With nightly visits, the police continue to harass the restaurant by randomly carding patrons, ticketing people for smoking outside, and persistently threatening to pull the liquor and health licenses.

The stories of the Hidmo and Little Saigon represent only two stories in an on-going battle over what Seattle looks like. Gentrification can just as easily be seen in development in the Columbia City neighborhood, in sweeps on homeless encampments, or redevelopment foreseen for Yesler Terrace Public Housing.  These are only stories in a larger battle over what the United States looks like. All across the country working class people and communities of color are also being displaced by sky-high rents, mass evictions, and low-wage jobs. Will the struggles of working people take priority, or will the business motives of the rich?

Thank you to Elana Dix, Lynn Domingo, Rahwa Habte, and Lynn Sereda for their generous help with this article, and all those struggling to fight gentrification. Support Hidmo Eritrean Cuisine: 2000 S. Jackson St., Seattle. For more information, please visit: Dearborn Coaliton: http://www.dearbornstreetcoalition.org; Puget Sound Sage: http://www.pugetsoundsage.org; Hidmo: http://www.hidmo.com.