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me, it would be impos-
sible to live anywhere else
in Palo Alto,” says Marti-
nez, who works as a ban-
quet server at the nearby
Four Seasons Hotel.
Buena Vista started
out as a road-stop general
store and motel in the
1920s. Over the years, it
grew into one of the last
sources of low-income
housing in Palo Alto.
In 2012 its then owners
informed the residents
of the mobile home park
that they wanted to sell
the property to an apart-
ment complex developer.
The plan included some
restitution for residents,
who would be evicted.
“I didn’t want the
money,” says Don Roberto
Munoz, one of Martinez’s
neighbors. “I wanted my
daughters to stay in the
schools here.”
Martinez and others
echoed the sentiment.
So they banded together,
aided by supporters
from Palo Alto. In 2017
the Santa Clara County
Housing Authority
purchased the property
for $40 million, allowing
tenants to stay put.
Martinez’s sister
Maria now serves as the
president of Buena Vista’s
residents association. “It
is important to show that
there isn’t just one way
of thinking,” Maria says.
Just a few miles west of
her one-room trailer, the
founder of Sun Micro-
systems is selling his
four-story mansion. The
price? $96.8 million.
46%
income
growth
for middle
class
between
1979 and
2015,
slower
than upper
middle
class (78%)
and poor
(79%)
brookings
institution65%+
households
in 25
advanced
economies
with flat or
falling
incomes
during 2005
to 2014
mckinsey &
companySECTION 1: THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRSSPECIAL REPORTAfighttopreserve
his public pension
Louisville teacher
MatthewKaufmann,
39, stands his ground.
AS TOLD TO RICHARD MORGANI DO FINE—for
now. I’m a
high school English
teacher. I have a
condo, a girlfriend,
and $70,000 a year.
We glamp. But
sitting in comfort
isn’t comfortable if
you’re doing it only
because standing
up marks you as an
enemy. In 2018, I
stood up.
The governor of
Kentucky rushed a
bad pension reform
bill through the leg-TECHTOPIA(CONT.)
PHOTOGRAPHBYLUKESHARRETT