Displacement/Gentrification

Check out this from Gihan Perera with the Miami Workers Center

When these guys say 'neighborhood activists' who do they really mean? What are the interests of a bank? Wachovia Foundation's Neighborhood Planning Workshop (Jun 24) The Wachovia Regional Foundation is again offering a series of workshops aimed at helping neighborhood activists through the steps of developing a neighborhood plan. Participants will learn how to identify the challenges, opportunities, and synergies that commonly emerge during a neighborhood planning process. Attending the workshop is particularly important if your organization is considering developing a neighborhood plan or applying for Wachovia Regional Foundation' Neighborhood Planning Grant. Workshops will be held in Philadelphia on June 24th and in Trenton on June 26th.<!--[if !vml]-->

Soon to air on in West Philly on 88.1FM WPEB, ADSC's new radio show explores issues of housing, development and displacement. Through interviews with residents who have been displaced or who are fighting to keep their communities intact and stories highlighting the effects of redevelopment, this show will ask the question, "Who is the 'revitalized' city for?"

This edited interview will air on WXPN 88.5 on Monday, 3 March 2008 at 8pm. The text below is a transcript of the edited interview. Or click here to listen.Interview 1 "The house on H_ Street is place where I grew up at with my mother and my father; we spent many years there. In fact I was like approximately about 9 years old when we moved in the house…I was 62 when I was put out the house so I've lived most of my life there. They took it under eminent domain. Eminent domain is something that most people do not know anything about and I was one of those people. I came home one evening and it was like a flyer in my door and I picked it up and I looked at it and it says ah, These redevelopment proposals call for the new construction of residential properties in a development known as Millcreek. We would like to meet with you to discuss the relocation process. You may be entitled to relocation benefits under the Federal Uniform Relocation Act. The meeting was to be held at Martha Washington School at 44th and Aspen on May the 29th at 6:30 pm. Well it turned out to be very bad because we wanted to know about our homes and they were telling us about how many jobs this would create and how nice it would be for the people in the area because they needed jobs and we're saying to them we don't want to know about jobs we want to know about our homes. What are you talking about? The next thing I know the police was there and they put us out.

Asfolks in New Orleans are fighting to keep public housing alive, and as we here of the attacks on protesters by police today in New Orleans during a city council meeting,here is some info on what the fight is really about.

Erika

Click on any link below.

Save New Orleans public housing

New Orleans Indymedia

A New York Times report on a conference about New York City and whether gentrification will kill what the city has been known for. The comment section is quite lively. New York Calling

I'm sure this is not the first you've heard of this, but alternet offers a short analysis of what is going on in LA:

The LAPD's "Safer Cities Initiative," launched on Skid Row last summer, is based on the "broken windows" theory of law enforcement... What the theory is doing is reading poverty as disorder and using those 'signs of disorder' as an excuse to bring additional police attention and additional sanctioning to areas where poor people live."

Full story >>

(espanol abajo)

Movement for Justice in El Barrio in Philadelphia for two special events.

The East Harlem based organization of Mexican immigrants will link their local antigentrification work to the larger global struggle for dignity and against neoliberalism. The presentation will feature short videos documenting the dialogue between Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio and the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) who send a message to those struggling for justice all over the world and include a special message for historically marginalized peoples.

This is the first installment of the most recent addition of the newsletter of the African American Business and Residents Association in Brewerytown. They have uncovered some of the pro-gentrification bloggers in the city and have tracked their conversations which are reproduced here, preceded by AABRA;s own community strategy as well as some basic background information.--------

While most new residents in North Philly live in peace with their neighbors, AABRA has uncovered an insidious network of other newcomers who are anti-community soldiers in the campaign to replace the poor of North Philly with the upper-income. Curiously, they have been documenting their contempt for North Philadelphians – and plans for your home – even as they smile at you in public. Today, we invite you to crash their secret party. Special Edition.

Wachovia Bank has played a major role in funding 'community planning' in various neighborhoods in Philadelphia. I think the relationship between the city, community development corporations/developers, and community organizations needs further exploration. I know of several community organizations that I feel are being bamboozled in their alliances with CDC's and developers. Especially when this is happening in neighborhoods in the early stages of gentrification, or next to neighborhoods that have already gentrified, I believe that residents should do more research before they enter into agreements to put their names on 'community plans' and therefore imply the community's consent. Here are some things to look out for: