Richmond, Va - Sustainable East End Development Suggestion for East End Vision Re-development.
Submitted on Fri, 10/01/2010 - 6:16am
The Richmond IWW responded to a plan that will re-develop a historical part of Richmond's East End whose residents are majority working class and African American. The East End Vision is made up of a group of professionals & city officials who held a five day charrette (town hall meeting) in June to allow for the community to give their input on what the community should look like.
We found that residents were concerned about possible gentrification and the overwhelming influx of middle class residents that would be attracted to such a development. Sustainable East End Development was formed by the Richmond IWW and local residents to help unify the voices of the affected residents and ensure that no one is displaced.
Another iniative the Richmond IWW is working on is creating a Richmond Renters Union to help residents organize and politicize themselves around the issue of gentrification.
Sustainable East End Development
St. Stephens Koinonia Church
505 N. 33rd St Richmond, Virginia
[email protected]
804-873-3067
Dear Councilperson Cynthia Newbille, Ashley Peace and Juanita Buster,
In an effort to ensure that residents who are lower income and working poor have a continued and significant presence during the East End Transformation, the Richmond Industrial Workers of the World along side other affected community members have been organizing around relative issues under the banner of Sustainable East End Development (SEED)
SEED would like to extend our support for the East End Vision and the re-development of an area in Richmond that has been neglected for so long, and hope to collaborate beyond the East End Vision process. However, our concern is that redevelopment often leads to gentrification and the displacement of long term residents and community members who are on a fixed or low income.
For example, the majority of redevelopment in the Carver and Jackson Ward communities was around the interests of investors who had very little, if any commitment to the existing residents. Seemingly positive projects claiming beautification and opportunity moved forward without consideration for how increasing property values may affect residents on a fixed or low income. Before long, another working class community had been displaced by middle class interests.
What sort of measures are being taken to assure these patterns of irresponsibility will not continue with the East End Vision?
We believe that redevelopment should be sustainable and progressive. Rather than perpetuating a permanent underclass in which poverty is shuffled from one corner of the city to the next. Why not confront it and usher in opportunities that will help close the gap between those 'with', and those 'without'.
Please consider our concerns and the following proposed solutions which would provide for a more equitable redevelopment process for all involved.
•50% of all labor involved in the construction of East End Vision related development should employ local area residents. All construction contracts, when applicable, should be awarded to minority businesses who are registered with the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise (VDMBE). Businesses must be at least 51%- owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual(s), who is a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident of the U.S.
•A predetermined percentage of housing units built or modified should be made affordable for low income/fixed income residents and/or possible rent control instituted. We propose that this percentage be based on current research as well as a baseline survey of the 2010 existing housing cost. Alternative and affordable, or one-for-one replacement, accommodations in the immediate surrounding neighborhood shall be available for people displaced during re-development/renovation.
•In an effort to provide equitable and efficient public transportation for the Church Hill area, we propose the construction of a GRTC Transit/Transfer Center in the immediate area of 25th and Nine Mile Rd. With the inclusion of routes that run north/south and east/west across Church Hill. A local loop route could serve to ensure that the east end is readily accessible without dependence on a car.
•Food cooperative and distribution hub, encouraging foodstuffs bought locally and from local farmers when possible. A possible reuse of the abandoned 25th street grocery store as a distribution hub for smaller cooperatively owned and operated neighborhood grocery stores located throughout the area. Markets run as a co-operative would promote a local economy, where much of the profit stays within local circulation.
•In addition to a need for fueling stations and grocery stores, we also encourage the inclusion of pharmacies with extended hours through out Church Hill.
•Every neighborhood block, when at all possible, should have a parcel of land set aside for free space or community gardening, ie. one six by six plot per household. Local schools should incorporate extensively the tending of these gardens within their lesson plans and the planned trade school could provide landscaping assistance. Free space such as this would promote a healthy interactive community.
Sincerely,
Sustainable East End Development (SEED)
cc: Peter Paul Development Center, Mayor Dwight C. Jones, Partnership For Smarter Growth, RePHRAME, Church Hill People's News, Edloe's Pharmacy, Union Hill Civic Association, A.C.O.R.N.