PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Several Point Breeze residents held a protest Saturday against new development in their neighborhood calling it racist. They want City Council members to address the development policies they currently have in place.
Tiffany Green, with the Point Breeze Stakeholders, said neighbors want Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson to help prevent neighborhood gentrification. The group said planned upscale triplexes, duplexes and a luxury apartment building will drive up prices and push long-time residents out of the area.
"What we're asking from Councilman Johnson is to put a hold on this project and come and meet with us to discuss the plan for the remaining city properties in Point Breeze," said Grant, who described the approach to development in the neighborhood as racist.
"In the white communities, they — at this point — are building the type of development that they want. In the Black community, there's no community process, no community meeting, no [Zoning Board of Adjustment]. So there's no real input from African American residents."
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Grant said developers are taking advantage of low-cost land to make money off of the community instead of investing in it, and she blames city representatives for allowing it to happen.
"With this Neighborhood Preservation Initiative and Housing Trust, we need to start pushing that to subsidize housing so it can remain low price, affordable housing," she said.
Black neighbors held a small protest at the site of one of the future developments. They were met by a couple of the newer white residents including James Kurtz, who came to listen and learn about their concerns.
"I don't take it personally as a white guy. I do take it personally as a member of the community, you know, like I want my neighbors to, you know, like the character of the neighborhood, whatever that may be," he said. "Gentrification is obviously a super-complicated thing, and I don't think I really understand or appreciate it adequately."
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Protesters say their gripes aren't with their fellow residents, but with lawmakers.
"It's about the zoning that has been put in place that is incentivizing housing that is having a negative impact on long-term residents," said Grant.
As neighbor Gail Mapp added, all the new development puts stress on the old houses. "When they come in your property's fine," she said, "but soon as they build up, your property is damaged."
A spokesperson for Johnson's office said the development in question is a "by-right" project, a private business deal that elected officials can do nothing about. But he said the issue of affordable housing is something that needs to be addressed across the city, which takes a majority of Council members to get done.
KYW Newsradio's David Madden contributed to this story.
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