mardi 25 février 2014

San Francisco, ville divisée: la position difficile du Maire Lee


Je n'ai jamais caché mon intérêt pour la ville de San Francisco, ma seconde ville américaine préférée derrière Boston. Le maire de la ville, Edwin M. Lee est actuellement confronté à une réalité associée à la croissance de sa ville. Comment composer avec tous ces gens qui paient le prix de la croissance de la ville? Peut-on encore habiter la ville si on appartient à la classe moyenne? La question des inégalités sociale qui touche l'ensemble du pays s'applique particulièrement à San Francisco.

 "Edwin M. Lee, the mayor of San Francisco, began his career as a lawyer fighting for public housing tenants in the city’s Chinatown and likes to think of himself as a champion for those who are struggling.

 But with his city flourishing and dotted with construction cranes and tech start-ups, he finds himself in an unexpected position: backed by the city’s new and powerful technology elite, and condemned by housing advocates who accuse him of aggravating a shortage of affordable units and making life difficult for middle-class residents increasingly anxious about rising prices.

 Perhaps nowhere in America is the debate over income inequality being carried out as fiercely as in San Francisco, where the technology industry’s success has led to a roaring economy, social disruption and widespread protests.

 “Probably 25 years ago I would have been in this cultural war on the advocacy side,” Mr. Lee, a Democrat, said in a recent interview, describing himself as “a little bit” surprised by the intensity of the anger.

“When I represented tenants in Chinatown, it was a cultural war about low-income seniors and immigrant families trying to make the city respect them,” he said. “Fix the elevators in public housing, fix the lights. Some of the advocates remind me that we’ve got to keep paying attention to this, because there is poverty in the city. There are people struggling.”

 La suite:
  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/us/a-mayor-in-the-middle-of-two-san-franciscos.html?src=me

Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire

Les Tours de Laliberté migrent: rejoignez-moi sur le site du Journal de Québec et du Journal de Montréal

Depuis un certain temps je me demandais comment faire évoluer mon petit carnet web. La réponse m'est parvenue par le biais d'u...