prairie fire organizing committee

Community-Friendly Development vs. Gentrification

Presented March 3, 2001 at the Call to Action Conference, Chicago IL

I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me here tonight. My name is John Bartlett and I work with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization. MTO is a member of the Coalition for Fair Community Development.

When I was asked to participate in a panel on development and gentrification I was excited by the possibility of reaching out to and working with people active in the anti-globalization movement. I think that the demonstrations in Seattle have inspired and given hope to millions of people that change is possible and that we can have an effect when we work together.

Development is one of the most important issues facing our cities today. It is especially important to communities of color and low and moderate-income residents. These communities are the ones that most need and want development; yet they are the ones most severely effected by it. Many residents want their housing repaired; the boarded up buildings remodeled. They want more economic opportunities and affordable housing built. The problem is that when development finally comes to their neighborhood so do higher rents and higher property taxes. The economically privileged move in and the community's current residents are forced to move out. The promised economic revitalization of the neighborhood has in the end actually undermined the community.

I think it is important to stop for just a moment to examine and define what community means because when we discuss gentrification we are talking about the destruction of a community. My co-worker lives in the Austin community on the West Side of Chicago. He described the community in the following terms: vibrant, middle class, African American community, an original settlement community for African Americans when they first moved to Chicago. From this description we can see that communities are more than geographic locations on a map. They are centers of culture and ethnic heritage. Most importantly, they are home to the people who live and work there. Communities are people and the relationships that develop between neighbors, businesses and the land.

So why is it that the development happening throughout Chicago in communities such as Kenwood, Rogers Park, Uptown, West Town, Pilsen, Garfield Park and many other neighborhoods is undermining the existence of these communities? It is not by accident. It is planned. The problem is systemic in nature.

Gentrification is the result of the same economic and political forces that create sweatshops in El Salvador and poverty in Africa. Gentrification, sweatshops or poverty are the result of a system that benefits a select few and oppresses the majority. In this system the state and its different agencies work hand-in-hand with private corporations to dictate policies and control the flow of capital and resources to nations, or in the case of gentrification, to communities. On a global level it is the World Bank and the US government. On the local level it is the "local" multinational bank and the Chicago City government. Together the corporations and the state work to maintain their supremacy and to benefit themselves. The result of this alliance is the exploitation of women, people of color and the poor and a system that is undemocratic and prioritizes profits over people.

If there is one idea to take away from this presentation it is that gentrification is planned; it is systemic; it is not an accident. I want to explore some of the systemic problems with gentrification or "development." Gentrification is racist. If you look around at the communities that are being gentrified you will see that they are communities of color. Many different public agencies take an active role in enforcing the racist policies. In a gentrifying neighborhood the police will often increase their harassment of youth of color until families are forced to flee for their children's safety. Building inspectors target apartment buildings and homes of people of color. Even schools are used. In one gentrifying area in Chicago's near West side, the enrolment at a predominantly Puerto Rican High School has within 5 years dropped by nearly 1000 students due to policy changes in that school. Public institutions such as hospitals or schools are often built in the middle of residential neighborhoods in an effort to displace people of color from their neighborhoods. Tonight you will hear about how the county is planning to build a traffic court in the middle of a Black residential neighborhood. (Update: The County withdrew its plans due to large vocal public protest against the project.) There are numerous blocks of vacant land on the West Side. Yet the county government chose a highly populated area that will effectively split the neighborhood in two. With the community divided it will make it easier to develop and improve parts and begin the process of bringing white middle-class people into the neighborhood.

Gentrification is undemocratic and prioritizes profits over people. Gentrification happens because planners, developers, bankers and the rest have prioritized their well being over that of the community. They plan from their downtown or suburban office how to develop our communities. They visualize what they want in our communities. What they want is more money, power and prestige. It is more profitable to build a home for $500,000 than one at half the cost. Higher cost housing means higher taxes which mean more revenue for the city which in turn means fewer low income people can afford to stay in the community. Fewer low-income people living in an area makes it more attractive for the wealthier, white yuppies. Once the poor people are cleared out, they can develop even more expensive housing and make even more money. The cycle goes on.

The City and its developer friends benefit while community residents are left out. This system is not fair and it must be changed. Almost everyone that I have spoken with wants development in his or her community. People want their streets repaired. They want to live in decent and affordable housing. People want to have access to economic opportunities for themselves and their children. They like their communities and their neighbors and want to continue to live in and with them. They want to have a voice in what happens in their community.

So now we get to the question, how do we stop the wrecking ball of development and save our communities? How do we make development benefit the people who live in the community, its current residents? As I said earlier, gentrification does not happen by accident. It is a systemic problem. Therefore we must change the entrenched policies and priorities that foster gentrification. This can only be accomplished by gaining political power through building a strong movement in support of fair development.

The Coalition for Fair Community Development wants to work with others to build a movement. We have developed some principles that look at what fair community development is.

Community friendly development means:

• Development with no displacement.
• Buildings and the community are preserved.
• Housing remains affordable and available to moderate, low and very low-income residents after development. Affordability means no one has to pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent.
• Development does not close off communities to certain groups and is accessible to people with disabilities.
• Community members, not the "market forces," are the planners. The planning process is democratic and involves the entire community.
• Community members and local businesses benefit from the development.
• City services are equally divided among all neighborhoods so that the cycle of disinvestment and speculation is not perpetuated.

How do we create this movement and what are the politics underlying it? On a global level, we must support the right of people and nations to self-determination. People and nations have the right to determine how their labor and resources are used. They have the right to determine what their needs are and how to satisfy those needs. They have the right to determine their future.

In the same way that nations have the right to determine their future so, too, do our communities. People living in a community have the right to decide what resources they need or how their community should be developed.

At the Coalition for Fair Community Development, we believe that one way to build this movement is to support different communities in their struggle against gentrification. Tonight you will here representatives from the Black community in East Garfield Park, the Puerto Rican community in Humboldt Park and the Mexican community in West Town. These leaders and the community organizations they represent are leading the fight to save their communities. I encourage you as to support their struggles and to build solidarity with them. Through supporting local struggles we can unite and build a movement for justice and create a society in which everyone benefits. Thank you.