Community-based activism was the driving force behind the fight against development and gentrification in the SOMA and Tenderloin neighborhoods, and even across the bay in Oakland. In the video, “Oakland: Our City” the narrator describes the benefits of urban renewal on blighted neighborhoods, but never addresses the impact it may have on the people who live in these areas. Revitalization of the city’s life and value is a key motivating force to development. Another motivating force is high-rise downtown development. In the South of Market district, residents fought to protect their neighborhoods from being over developed into a new Manhattan. In his chapter, “The Anti-High Rise Movement,” Chester Hartman describes the many impacts high-rise
