Saturday scenes: annals of San Francisco displacement

These days, when so many Black residents are being driven out of the city by rising rents and other living costs, some Black San Franciscans have taken to calling themselves the last 3 percent.

The present dispersal of the longstanding clusters of residents of color is the latest phase of an "urban renewal" process that ran thoughout the late 1940s through early 1980s in the Fillmore and Western Addition. Much of the city's famously ornate late 19th century housing was torn down, some replaced by two story apartment-style housing projects. Some African American-oriented community buildings were also built, including the Rosa Parks Senior Center and Ella Hill Hutch Community Center.

Through the center of this area, San Francisco Rec and Park has created the Buchanan Mall.

Banners trumpet this "greenway".

It seems unlikely that uplifting signage can revive a bygone community, there it is.

The story of the area is well told in "How Urban Renewal Destroyed The Fillmore In Order to Save It."

I encountered the Buchanan Mall while Walking San Francisco.