Polk Street Transformed

As someone who used to live in San Francisco, this short hit VERY close to home. Gentrification has its positive and negative aspects. The positives are very apparent, but most people tend to looks past its negative aspects. The Polk Gulch is a shameful reminder of happened (and is currently happening) to the SoMa and the Mission. Thank you for addressing this issue! If San Francisco is to keep her identity, San Franciscans MUST be made aware of the affects higher income and higher rent are doing to each of the City's charming and unique neighborhoods!

You did a great job establishing the conflict through use of historical information and compelling interviews from both sides. Very well done. However, I'm not a big fan of the voiceover narration, and I think a great deal of the information could be told through interviews or even visually. The conflict is so interesting though that I was compelled to keep watching.

I think your coverage of the story is excellent. You've got diverse interviews with some really unique characters on all sides of the debate, and besides that the cinematography is really well done. I think the voiceover track hurts the piece, however, because it clashes with how good all your visuals are. I want to hear this story in the characters voices even if it means I dont get all the details in. Besides that I also think the scope of the story got a little too big for this format. Its the history of Polk Gulch, the future, the conflict over gentrification, the homeless issue, the LGBT issue, its enough material for a feature length really, which I guess is why you need the VO to tie it all together. Itd be great to see this trimmed in to focus on a narrower piece of the story that gives us an angle on the issue as a whole. At a shorter length with a narrower scope I think youd have way more than enough tell that smaller story well, rather than having to stretch the material to tell a larger story with less depth.

This video is a bit long, it could be shortened for the audience's interests, but it is also well shot and comprehensive with the information. The character was interesting, but I feel you could have perhaps pulled a little more interesting conversation out of the interview.

On a side note, consider the facts here, I mean the reality that certain stereotypes attract similar people and the whole area will be a "party" if that is the type of people they attract. I am just proposing the obvious connection that the street life condition and the transgender/ gay bar scene go hand in hand. Didn't you consider that connection, I mean beyond your initial assumptions, that there is this reality to it?

Wow! I moved to Berkeley a few months ago for school, and have visited Polk Street but never knew about its steamy history and current controversies. It was really interesting to learn something new about my home-away-from-home. I have heard a lot about gentrification since moving here, but had never heard so much about the potentially negative effects it could have on certain members of society. Great job on finding a different angle to look at gentrification from. The characters in your pod are really interesting and I?m glad that you gave people from opposing sides a chance to voice their arguments and concerns. The pod is well shot and well edited. Well done!

Interesting angle on gentrification. Good job!