With all the 99% vs. 1% talk flying around these days, it is important to keep a local perspective on these kinds of things. For today's perspective, the Bay Citizen offers: "In the home of Chez Panisse, ten percent of households live on less than $10,000." Which: ouch, Chez Panisse, how could you be so cruel? Alice Waters-shaming aside, it turns out Berkeley's progressive wealthy class (Chez Panisse patrons, presumably) are responsible for the chasm between the lowest earners and the highest.
As Alan Berube, a scholar with the nonprofit public policy organization the Brookings Institution explained the Census Bureau's recent findings to the Bay Citizen: Berkeley scores high on the Gini Index — a measure of an area's concentration of wealth. That high score is, "in part a reflection of the fact that the city’s wealthier residents were willing to finance generous social programs and approve zoning ordinances that allowed for affordable apartments and residential hotels."
In other words, Berkeley's own progressive values have created this income gap. Compare that to the less welcoming suburban neighbors to the East: "You won't see an income inequality like that in Orinda," Berube says, "because there is simply nowhere there for poor people to live."
For the record: Berkeley scored lower than Manhattan or Los Angeles by the same measure, and San Francisco isn't too far behind either.
