Gentrification: really an issue?

The latest protest against the "gentrification" of downtown Phoenix is profiled in this week's Phoenix New Times. Basically, some of the artists who helped colonize this area fear a wave of yuppie lofts and chain stores overrunning the neighborhood. I think these fears are a little ridiculous. It's one thing when gentrification of a neighborhood drives lower-income residents out of their homes. But while that happens a lot in other cities, there's not much evidence of that happening in Phoenix.

Here, most of the new condos and lofts are being built on what were previously dirt lots or underutilized properties (as in the case of 44 Monroe, Artisan Village, and Portland Place). No residents are being forced to leave because of the construction, and it doesn't appear as though rising property values have changed the composure of nearby neighborhoods like Garfield. And thus far, the retail that has come with the new developments has been organic, non-chain type fare such as Cheuvront and Tammie Coe/MJ Bread. True, if the new developments bring more standbys like the generic P.F. Changs (as promised by the CityScape development) that would be a bad thing. But there's no worries of downtown Phoenix becoming another chain-infested Mill Avenue yet.

What downtown needs is more residents. Yuppies, artists, families...there's room for everybody. And what is the alternative to the development...downtown Phoenix remains filled with vacant dirt lots?