poverty

An Open Letter to Columbia University...
 
Dear Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation,
 
I had the wonderful experience of meeting some of your students this
weekend in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with some professors while
staying at my bed and breakfast.  They were a young and eager group
ready to fulfill whatever you set out for them to do and with full
confidence in your institution.  Every day they went out to measure,
excavate, and research on how to preserve three old buildings you plan
to restore for an art space in the Port of Rio, one of the poorest
neighborhoods in the city.  Well, in one of those homes on the second
floor, guess what… lives a family.

In this video by Huffington Post Investigative Fund, we learn the story Vicky Valentine who had her home seized by Sunrise Atlantic LLC, an arm of Bank Atlantic, because of an unpaid water bill of $362.  Ms Valentine's bill was owed to the City of Baltimore, which then sold the right to collect on the bill to a series of banks and real estate companies (third party investors) in a tax lien auction that quickly inflated the bill to over three thousand dollars. Investors then seized the home and put Ms Valentine and her family on the street. As the video details, this is a growing practice between strapped city governments and private investors (usually banks) which is dispossessing the poor and working class of their property.

Originally Posted at Philadelphia Daily News'

Two amazing women, Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman, just won the Pulitzer for their work for the Daily News- and for our city. They investigated narcotics cops who lied about evidence. Their series, "Tainted Justice," bubbles like the best potboiler - until you remember that real people were brought down by this corrupt team of police.

By Gregory Jordan-Detamore & Dylan Washington
 
In late 2007, a Costing Out Study was released. It was commissioned by the state to find out how much money is needed to give all students in Pennsylvania an adequate education, broken down by school district. It took into account factors such as poverty, English language learners, and cost of living. The results were not surprising, but nonetheless were very important.

The Philadelphia Joint Board has filed a complaint in court that accuses AraMark of not paying earned overtime to workers at Citizens Bank Park, home the Phillies baseball team, Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Eagles NFL football team, and the Spectrum, home of the Flyers NHL hockey team. The complaint further alledges that AraMark deducts a half hour from any worker who puts in six hours or more whether they took a break or not. The Philadelphia Joint Board says this is "wage theft" plain and simple.
 

In January of 2010, the Poverty Initiatve, a group based in New York that aims to reignite Dr. Martin Luther King's Poor People's Campaign, visited Philadelphia for an immersion tour. The tour highlighted the history of the struggles of poor people in this city. Willie Baptist and Liz Theoharis, of the Poverty Initiative,  shared stories about the struggle of the homeless in 1995 and 1996.

In the fight against displacement and gentrification the Harlem Anti-Displacement Task Force held it's 3rd Annual March.