By Jeremy Lybarger
Oakland doesn’t get much love from the national press. Journalists often describe it as either San Francisco’s gritty hipster sibling (“Brooklyn by the Bay,” to quote the New York Times), or as a segregated city wracked by crime. Of course, it’s hard to argue with either of these representations: Parts of Oakland are hipster enclaves, and its crime stats are high (86 homicides in 2014 and more robberies than any other big city in 2013, although crime overall is decreasing), but Oakland is also more than the clichés that typify it.
Business Insider wants to remind everyone that Oakland is actually a pretty vibrant place. The website named Oakland one of 2015’s “hottest American cities,” evaluating it in terms of job growth, population growth, affordability, livability, and the health and well-being of residents, along with the all-important but elusive “cool” factor. Other cities that made the cut include Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Detroit, Washington DC, and Nashville.
In terms of Oakland, BI praised the city for its “vegan restaurants, coffee shops, and trendy clothing stores,” singling out Temescal Alley as a “hipster hotspot.” Granted, these are all enjoyable but fairly superficial markers of a city’s quality of life — I never moved anywhere because of trendy clothing stores — but the spirit of the point is valid. Oakland is an interesting, quirky, lively city in its own right, distinct from the immense gravitational pull of San Francisco.
Unfortunately, it’s not exempt from SF-style rents. As The Bold Italic noted last month, Oakland saw the second highest rent increase nationally: 12.1 percent between January 2014 and January 2015. As San Francisco continues to price out renters, the narrative goes, they flock to Oakland in search of relief. They’re transforming the city, for both good and ill, and the rest of the country is taking notice.
[via Business Insider; photo courtesy of Brian Jackson/Flickr]
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