There has been much gnashing of teeth over SF's Japantown -- which had already been leveled after the war and replaced with a urban renewal mall. A few years ago the Japanese-based firm that owned the mall was looking to sell and one of the buyers was Chinese American! Which definitely brought up old tensions.
Oakland's Chinatown has had growing pains as well as much of the new residents are Korean and Vietnamese -- but the branch of the Oakland Public Library and the apartments and retirement homes have been controlled by the old guard Chinese. The new residents wanted a seat at that table but were being rebuffed.
It's weird that DC doesn't have more nuanced zoning, what with all the ANCs and stuff -- a form of representational democracy that Californians would only dream about. But there are strong interest groups that push city council people to set up specially zoned districts all the time. It's one reason that the SF's South of Market staved off the loss of the types of entertainment -- bars, rock clubs, night clubs, strip clubs -- that DC lost with the ball park. Although their are new condos and lofts in South of Market -- it's also classified as an entertainment district. And I credit that to the Late Night Coalition, a coalition of clubbers, that lobbied to protect those businesses. Mark Leno, who represents SF in the California Assembly, was instrumental in setting up those types of night life zones. He was always something of a night owl -- regularly seen at drag shows and gay clubs in that area.
Perhaps CM Graham wouldn't be such a prude if he got out more. Just thinking.
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