San Francisco is currently home to a growing and intensifying set of protests against the gentrification which is occurring in a number of its neighborhoods courtesy of high-earning tech-industry workers. The latest escalation in these protests has been to target specific people who the protesters blame for the eviction of existing renters to make room for condo conversions or to otherwise renovate the properties and then rent or sell them for higher prices. The two sides in this conflict have a basic disagreement about property rights. The renters and the protesters supporting them believe that signing a lease gives them property rights to remain in that apartment for as long as they choose. While the lease specifies both a rental payment and the length of the lease, the protesters somehow imagine that their rights extend beyond the terms of the lease.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2014/04/17/renters-and-protesters-in-san-francisco-are-fighting-economics-not-google-employees/
http://www.wochit.com
