Oakland Affordability Becoming A Growing Concern
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- In Oakland, unemployment is down, but still high. Homicides are down, but home invasions spiked. Now, questions about affordability are creeping into the conversations about Oakland.
Oakland's Telegraph neighborhood is quickly becoming the place to be, and Kristen Nickel is thinking she might move there.
"It's becoming really cool. And the young people like it here, which I think is really cool," Nickel said.
Unemployment has dropped two percentage points in one year, from 11.4-percent to 9.4-percent.
New shops like Concept 47 have started staffing up.
"It feels great to be able to provide jobs for people," Concept 47 owner Stevonne Ratliff said.
But, that success comes with a price, which is something Scott Nanos knows all too well.
"Artists and good independent businesses are getting pushed out," Nanos, owner of Temporary Book Shop said.
Nanos' shop is getting kicked out of the Temescal District for new condos.
Nanos is concerned for Oakland's soul. "There's something very essential that you lose with gentrification and new development."
But, Oakland still can't seem to shake its reputation for crime.
"When I tell my Texas family that I live in Oakland, they're like 'Oh my god, oh my god.'" Annt Mary's Café manager Starla Garvey said.
