Yuppies off the eastside?

Have you seen this graffiti-propaganda posted around town?

Wouldn't it be cool to create acronyms for a living? But what to do with 'Yuppies off the eastside?' Not sure I disagree completely with the message, but YOE is hard to work with. I mean, YOE grabs the attention, but then what? YOE, YOE..

Is it possible this message is talking to me? I'm certainly not Young anymore, having recently completed my 40th trip around the sun. And not really Professional. I do earn a decent wage from the university, but I wear shorts to work most days. I get my hair cut at least once a year, sometimes twice. But Urban.. oh yeah.. maybe..

I did recently buy a home on the near-east side, site of the old Robert Mueller airport, in fact. So maybe they are talking to me..

You can't really call it gentrification, though, if they are turning former runways into homes, can you? I mean, when the development dedicates 25% of housing units to those with low income, it's not quite the same as forcing longtime residents out of their homes by driving up their property values, and thus their property taxes, to levels they cannot afford. Is it? Destroying the fabric of the neighborhoods and such.. But at least they're getting paid a premium for their land, before being shoved out, and their old homes bulldozed to make way for new condos, right?

The problem is not really those people buying houses over here -- close in where they don't have to sit in traffic for hours. Isn't the real problem the system that collects most of its tax money from property owners? When you live in a state with no income tax, the funds to keep it all going have to come from somewhere, right? Everyone knows sales taxes are regressive, falling to a greater extent on the poor, but aren't property taxes more fair? I don't know, but I doubt it, not if people are being forced out of their ancestral homes..

How about this?

CRED: Citizens for Responsible Eastside Development.

Has a nice ring to it, no?