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Gentrification

Housing Activist Asata Tigrai On Gentrification In Providence

June 2, 2017 Andrew Stewart, www.rimediacoop.org ,
By Andrew Stewart for Rhode Island Media Cooperative - Though she is not the tallest person in Providence, one local housing advocate casts a long shadow in her fight against gentrification. The following is a case study of that urban phenomenon that is intended to center her voice in the discourse and emphasize how important it is to provide such venues. In a very broad sense, any sort of journalism that deals with gentrification as an urban phenomenon requires a significant understanding of the process’s political economy and how that informs an understanding of not just a financial dimension but also the geographic and political spheres. Putting it another way, a proper reporter on the issue of gentrification must account for the behavior of landed capital that finances the process, the space in which the process takes place, and the elected officials who pass laws and statutes that permit the process to move forward. Ergo reporting on gentrification in Providence requires a firm connection to both local populations impacted as well as the utility of public records that can illuminate the inner workings of the process and its sponsorship on the state and local level by public and private capital.

Solution To Eviction And Gentrification?

April 1, 2017 Staff, www.rioonwatch.org , , , ,
By Staff of Rioonwatch - This is the second in a series of three articles summarizing reports on Brazilian housing law, organized by the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice at request of Catalytic Communities. The second report, summarized in part below, with additional information compiled by Catalytic Communities’ team, was produced by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP. To read the actual report, click here. Inextricably linked to Rio de Janeiro’s identity for more than a century, favelas today serve the essential function of providing affordable housing to nearly a quarter of the city’s residents. In recent years, however, many favelas have been subject to immense pressure in the form of both forced evictions and gentrification brought on by real estate speculation, that have affected the city as a whole.

Maryland: African Cemetery Protests Win Government Response

March 22, 2017 Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, www.blackagendareport.com , , ,
By Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo for Black Agenda Report. Bethesda, Maryland - After months of public pressure and protests, Montgomery County Government has reluctantly suggested to “bring all parties together to address the various concerns that have been expressed and seek a solution that all can agree upon before we move forward.” The suggestion was made in a March 16, 2017, joint letter from County Executive, Isiah Leggett, and Council President, Roger Berliner, issued to Casey Anderson, Chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board. Black Agenda Report has covered this struggle extensively. From outward appearances, the casual observer would never be able to discern the presence of the cemetery as every day hundreds of cars drive over what now is the Housing Opportunity Commission (HOC) apartment parking lot.

How To Stop Urban Gentrification

January 7, 2017 Penn Loh, www.yesmagazine.org
By Penn Loh for Yes! Magazine - Tony Hernandez remembers playing as a child on the vacant lots in the Dudley Street neighborhood of Boston. In the 1980s, white flight and disinvestment had so devastated this neighborhood that more than 20 percent of the land—1,300 lots—lay vacant. Today, Hernandez owns a home on this land, one of 225 units of permanently affordable housing. His home is surrounded by parks and gardens, a town common, community center, charter school, community greenhouse, and several urban farms. This transformation was led by residents of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative...

Will Detroit Use Funds To Restore Water or Tear Down Homes?

July 31, 2016 Sara Jerome, www.takepart.com , , ,
By Sara Jerome for Takepart. Detroit, MI - Aurora Harris is familiar with the way people sound when they first lose water service. “I try not to let it affect me emotionally, but there are some days where it’s heartbreaking to listen to elderly people crying on the phone, begging for water,” said Harris, cofounder of the community group We the People of Detroit. In Detroit, water and sewer bills have doubled in the last decade for thousands of customers living in poverty, according to the advocacy coalition People’s Water Board. Rates continue to rise. In May, the city resumed its practice of shutting off the water of delinquent customers, and as of July 1, nearly 4,000 households were eligible for disconnection, according to Bryan Peckinpaugh, spokesman for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

Can Neighborhoods Be Revitalized Without Gentrifying Them?

April 16, 2016 Michelle Chen, www.thenation.com ,
By Michelle Chen for The Nation - Last year, the death of Freddie Gray in police custody placed his neighborhood in a tragic spotlight, highlighting an all-too common urban misery: epidemic poverty, blighted lots, and shattered homes. Gray’s Baltimore has become notorious as the site of failed “urban renewal” projects, rife with liberal talking points but showing precious little progress in alleviating poverty and joblessness. There’s now a plan to generate change from the inside out, creating community housing as a source of collective healing.

Blockading Gentrification In Chicago

April 11, 2016 Kelly Hayes, www.liftedvoices.org , ,
By Kelly Hayes for Lifted Voices - Today we take a militant stand against gentrification in Chicago by joining forces with Somos Logan Square to shut down Milwaukee Avenue just outside a major construction site during brunch hours. Power Construction’s ongoing efforts to create high price, luxury apartment towers on Milkwaukee Avenue will drive up rental prices in the community and create yet another space where everyday people simply cannot afford to live.

“We All Have A Right To The City And Must Fight!”

April 9, 2016 Tony Romano, www.thenextsystem.org ,
By Tony Romano for The Next System Project - Tony Romano: Right to the City is a national alliance of organizations rooted in communities of color and working class communities. Prior to Right to the City forming, many of the community groups for years reached out to each other for support, mentorship and study. We were all trying hard to build resident led organizations to combat an onslaught of gentrification and mass displacement. Together, we sought to win community control and achieve development without displacement.

Activists In Bushwick Hope To Illuminate Gentrification

December 27, 2015 NY1 News, www.ny1.com , ,
By NY1 News. Activists in Bushwick have posted signs around the neighborhood as part of a campaign called "Illumination Against Gentrification." They are trying to keep longtime residents from being displaced from their homes. "My mom keeps receiving at home these letters from real estate agents, developers, who have basically been harassing her. They've even gone to the extent of calling her at work to sell. And we don't want to sell. We don't plan on selling the house any time soon," said activist Patricia Rodriguez. "It's always about the story of newcomers, or how newcomers are making Brooklyn hip. But the reality is that in Brooklyn, in New York City, in Queens, the Bronx, there's a whole history that's being erased," said activist Will Giron. The campaign is supported by the NYC Light Brigade.

Activists In Bushwick Hope To Illuminate Gentrification

December 26, 2015 Staff, www.ny1.com ,
By Staff of NY1 News - Some light displays in Brooklyn are spreading awareness of gentrification instead of holiday cheer. Activists in Bushwick have posted signs around the neighborhood as part of a campaign called "Illumination Against Gentrification." They are trying to keep longtime residents from being displaced from their homes. "My mom keeps receiving at home these letters from real estate agents, developers, who have basically been harassing her. They've even gone to the extent of calling her at work to sell.

Protesters Slam Real Estate Summit At Brooklyn Museum

November 18, 2015 Emma Whitford, www.gothamist.com ,
BY Emma Whitford for Gothamist - Hundreds of real estate developers and investors streamed into the Brooklyn Museum on Tuesday morning, past a 65-foot cloth banner proclaiming "Brooklyn Is Not For Sale!" Nearby, dozens of local artists and community activists shouted "Greedy! Greedy!", protesting the institution's decision to host the sixth annual Brooklyn Real Estate Summit. "White dudes in fancy suits is all I see," said Olivia Fox, a performance artist from Queens. Fox, who was holding up one end of the banner, is a member of the Brooklyn Anti-Gentrification Network (BAN). "The Brooklyn Museum is supposed to serve Brooklyn, and it should be serving its most vulnerable population first and foremost," she added.

Control Housing Prices, Stop Gentrification & Aid Urban Farms

November 17, 2015 Penn Loh, www.yesmagazine.org ,
Penn Loh for YES! Magazine - Tony Hernandez remembers playing as a child on the vacant lots in the Dudley Street neighborhood of Boston. In the 1980s, white flight and disinvestment had so devastated this neighborhood that more than 20 percent of the land—1,300 lots—lay vacant. Today, Hernandez owns a home on this land, one of 225 units of permanently affordable housing. His home is surrounded by parks and gardens, a town common, community center, charter school, community greenhouse, and several urban farms. This transformation was led by residents of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, who in the late 1980s established a community land trust to take democratic ownership of the land and guide development.

Portland Declares Official Housing Emergency

October 11, 2015 ShelR. King, www.blogtown.portlandmercury.com , , ,
By Shelby R. King for the Portland Mercury. Portland, OR - Portland City Council today passed an ordinance declaring an official housing emergency in the city. The commissioners unanimously voted to enact an ordinance that will temporarily remove barriers to increasing affordable housing and address Portland's homelessness problem. The emergency declaration also authorizes a proposed request to Governor Kate Brown to officially declare a state of emergency. "The tools we have now are not adequate," says Mayor Charlie Hales. "We need to be more nimble, more flexible, and swifter in our response." The declaration allows the city to temporarily use existing buildings (Hales has looked into using an old Army Reserve building) as shelters. The ordinance also allows the city to fund a pilot program to establish day storage facilities

On 4th Anniversary OWS Takes To The Streets

September 20, 2015 Ashoka Jegroo, www.wagingnonviolence.org , , , ,
By Ashoka Jegroo for Waging Nonviolence - Hundreds of protesters in New York City took to the streets on September 17 in a variety of actions against racism, gentrification and police brutality. The day marked the fourth anniversary of Occupy Wall Street with actions taking place in at least three boroughs. “We had a day of action that was around racism, police brutality and anti-gentrification specifically because we needed to have a way to be very intersectional about all of what’s happening in our communities,” said Imani Henry, an organizer with Equality For Flatbush. “Gentrification is about landlords, corporations, the de Blasio administration, [Brooklyn Borough President] Eric Adams, and every borough president who is allowing developers into our neighborhood. It’s about community boards, re-zoning issues and struggles that we never ask for. And it’s also about the cops occupying our neighborhoods.”

Crown Heights Tenants Fight Court Ruling Doubling Their Rent

September 5, 2015 Emma Whitford, www.gothamist.com , ,
By Emma Whitford in Gothamist - Dozens of Crown Heights tenants and allies gathered for a candlelight vigil near the corner of Schenectady Avenue and Union Street last night, in solidarity with 55 families at 285 Schenectady and 1646 Union who will be evicted on October 1st—unless they agree to sign leases doubling, and in some cases tripling, their rents. In August, after months of tenant organizing, the New York State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the tenants' landlord, Renaissance Realty Group, citing a loophole in the current rent laws that gives Renaissance the right to jack rents. "I've been living in this neighborhood for 26 years," said Natasha Creese, who shares a three-bedroom at 285 Schenectady with three adult siblings, her 18-year-old son, and her five-year-old niece.
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