It is not starting the process of gentrification, it is continuing it. It is not an issue of pro development vs. anti development, but rather of who is involed in determining what development is done and by whom. The city has a long history of acting on the neighborhood when people outside the neighborhood decide they want to do so while not acting when people inside the neighborhood want change. Giving large discounts to wealthy developers with no connection to the neighborhood without any discussion with people who live in the neighborhood shows that this process continues today. Here is one analysis of the historical process (pdf from 2007): http://www.kingneighborhood.org/history/Bleeding%20Albina:%2...