Fewer Blacks mean better neighborhoods
http://www.michronicleonline.com/articlelive/articles/2665/1/Fewer-Blacks-mean-better-neighborhoods/Page1.html
Deanna Dunham
By Deanna Dunham
Published on 05/7/2008
VIEW OF Erskine St.
DILAPIDATED apartment complex. – Photos by Deanna Dunham
DILAPIDATED HOUSE on Watson that has a Masonry jurisdiction plaque built into the mortar.
The ongoing criticism has been that African American residents are the primary targets of exodus planning when it comes to the redevelopment of urban communities.
Better known as gentrification, the practice of acquiring typically Black, low- to middle-income neighborhoods for redevelopment into higher-income communities financially displaces Blacks from their homes, a practice widely seen in many urban communities, like Chicago, New York, Jersey, D.C., New Orleans and Detroit, including in its historic Brush Park District.
Recently, the FrontPage obtained a document identified by sources as part of Detroit’s 2002 proposed plan entitled “Attachment B, Brush Park Rehabilitation Project, Relocation Plan,” for which a planning survey was conducted by the Relocation staff of the Planning and Development Department.
The purpose of the survey, it states, was to “determine the size and general demographics of the workload to be displaced.”
The document states that based on a census in 2000, there are 471 residents living in Brush Park: “Of these, there are 21 households (18 tenants and three owners) and eight businesses that already have been or will be relocated.”
The document lists the 21 households “that have been or will be displaced” as all “black, not of Hispanic origin.”
It also lists the income characteristics of these households: 12 that fall below the $10,000 income level and two that are in the $10,000-$19,999 income range. The document does not state whether the income was based on an annual amount.
There was no information available accounting for the other seven households.
The New Brush Park
In 1994, the city received $100 million in federal grant monies and tax breaks to attract residents and businesses, including developers, to benefit from the 12-year, 60 percent tax breaks in Detroit’s designated Empowerment Zones (EZ).
One of the designated areas was inside the Historical Brush Park District, a 24-block radius that encompasses Woodward, running east to Beaubien; and Mack, running south to Winder, also one of Paradise Valley’s more thriving Black communities that vanished after the construction of I-75.
By May of ’99, Crosswinds Communities’ owner Bernie Glieberman of Novi began work on a $90 million construction deal that included building 400 new townhomes on 31 acres just north of I-75 according to the Empowerment Zone’s website.
To date, the Crosswinds Communities has built Woodward Place at Brush Park, a 700-unit complex located in the heart of the Historic District, homes starting at $230,000. Deposits are being accepted for the Garden Lofts at Woodward Place, located nearby, starting in the mid-$200s, and The Avenue at Brush Park is in the works. The property values of these new homes are significantly higher than those of the long-term residents of Brush Park.
The EZ website also states that part of the Crosswinds Communities plan included “…a limited number of houses in the area (that) will be rehabilitated.”
According to sources, a recently renovated structure at the corner of Brush and Watson is occupied by a White homeowner. It has not been determined whether Crosswinds Communities was responsible for the renovation.
They want the land
In 2006, the home of Gwen Mingo, African American resident and elected official of the Brush Park Citizens District Council, was bank-appraised for $52,000, citing that she had no equity in her house for improvements. Twelve years earlier, the house was appraised at over $300,000 by an independent broker.
Mingo never received any offers to rehabilitate her home.
Instead, she says there has been rumors to acquisition her house in an attempt to clear land for a parking lot for Comerica Park and Ford Field which are both located less than three-quarters of a mile away from her house.
She is suing city, state, federal and other officials in federal court as an individual to obtain the title to her house free and clear.
In a recent briefing in conjunction to the lawsuit she has filed in federal court, Mingo states:
“Plaintiff’s gas mains have been deliberately disrupted shooting gas at least ten (10) feet in the air at least three times, and holes at least 20 feet deep and twenty feet wide have been dug and left open in plaintiffs’ driveway by contractors who worked for the Economic Growth Corporation.”
It goes onto say, “Plaintiff was informed that the Economic Growth Corporation had an interest in plaintiff’s property because it was their contractors that were doing damage to plaintiff’s property.”
FrontPage repeatedly tried to contact a representative from the Economic Growth Corporation but no one was available for comment.
Mingo is also suing city, state, federal and other officials as an elected official and chairperson of the Brush Park-CDC and Coordinating Council for Re-Development.
In the same briefing, it states they breached their Oaths of Office preventing her from being able to carry out her mandated duties as an elected official to protect the health, welfare and safety of the citizens.
It further states that they are also illegally carrying out development plans in urban renewal areas citing “Exclusion of citizens from participating in the planning for development and the financing thereof (bring them plans to approve that have already been made).”
Clinging to life
Mingo, though one of many African American victims of urban renewal, has still managed to hold onto her house. Others aren’t so lucky.
In 1993, senior citizen couple Nathaniel and Annie Jackson lived in their garage for several years with no electricity, no heat or running water after a wrecking ball demolished their home. The city is accused of destroying their home to acquire their property for redevelopment. Nathaniel Jackson since haspassed and Annie Jackson moved with relatives.
In December 2000, as chairperson of CDC, Mingo filed a class action lawsuit claiming that 300 tenants and owners, mostly senior citizens, were displaced in a ten-year time span and were entitled to relocation benefits and compensation. The case is still pending in State Appeals Court. Many of the senior citizens now are deceased.
Saturday afternoon, the FrontPage spotted Detroit Thermal, a company that provides steam service to residents and businesses for their heating and cooling needs, doing underground work near Brush and Watson. When FrontPage contacted a representative Monday afternoon, Detroit Thermal stated they were ordered to cap the lines for Brewster Housing, a predominantly low-income Black housing project because they were being torn down.
A representative from the Detroit City Housing Commission confirmed in a later phone call they are in the beginning stages of relocating families out of the Brewsters. However, the person overseeing the relocation project could not be reached for comment to provide information on where they were being relocated.
Contact Deanna Dunham at deannadunham@yahoo.com or visit www.deannadunham.com
The ongoing criticism has been that African American residents are the primary targets of exodus planning when it comes to the redevelopment of urban communities.
Gentrification
VIEW OF Erskine St.
DILAPIDATED apartment complex. – Photos by Deanna Dunham
DILAPIDATED HOUSE on Watson that has a Masonry jurisdiction plaque built into the mortar.
The ongoing criticism has been that African American residents are the primary targets of exodus planning when it comes to the redevelopment of urban communities.
Better known as gentrification, the practice of acquiring typically Black, low- to middle-income neighborhoods for redevelopment into higher-income communities financially displaces Blacks from their homes, a practice widely seen in many urban communities, like Chicago, New York, Jersey, D.C., New Orleans and Detroit, including in its historic Brush Park District.
Recently, the FrontPage obtained a document identified by sources as part of Detroit’s 2002 proposed plan entitled “Attachment B, Brush Park Rehabilitation Project, Relocation Plan,” for which a planning survey was conducted by the Relocation staff of the Planning and Development Department.
The purpose of the survey, it states, was to “determine the size and general demographics of the workload to be displaced.”
The document states that based on a census in 2000, there are 471 residents living in Brush Park: “Of these, there are 21 households (18 tenants and three owners) and eight businesses that already have been or will be relocated.”
The document lists the 21 households “that have been or will be displaced” as all “black, not of Hispanic origin.”
It also lists the income characteristics of these households: 12 that fall below the $10,000 income level and two that are in the $10,000-$19,999 income range. The document does not state whether the income was based on an annual amount.
There was no information available accounting for the other seven households.
The New Brush Park
In 1994, the city received $100 million in federal grant monies and tax breaks to attract residents and businesses, including developers, to benefit from the 12-year, 60 percent tax breaks in Detroit’s designated Empowerment Zones (EZ).
One of the designated areas was inside the Historical Brush Park District, a 24-block radius that encompasses Woodward, running east to Beaubien; and Mack, running south to Winder, also one of Paradise Valley’s more thriving Black communities that vanished after the construction of I-75.
By May of ’99, Crosswinds Communities’ owner Bernie Glieberman of Novi began work on a $90 million construction deal that included building 400 new townhomes on 31 acres just north of I-75 according to the Empowerment Zone’s website.
To date, the Crosswinds Communities has built Woodward Place at Brush Park, a 700-unit complex located in the heart of the Historic District, homes starting at $230,000. Deposits are being accepted for the Garden Lofts at Woodward Place, located nearby, starting in the mid-$200s, and The Avenue at Brush Park is in the works. The property values of these new homes are significantly higher than those of the long-term residents of Brush Park.
The EZ website also states that part of the Crosswinds Communities plan included “…a limited number of houses in the area (that) will be rehabilitated.”
According to sources, a recently renovated structure at the corner of Brush and Watson is occupied by a White homeowner. It has not been determined whether Crosswinds Communities was responsible for the renovation.
They want the land
In 2006, the home of Gwen Mingo, African American resident and elected official of the Brush Park Citizens District Council, was bank-appraised for $52,000, citing that she had no equity in her house for improvements. Twelve years earlier, the house was appraised at over $300,000 by an independent broker.
Mingo never received any offers to rehabilitate her home.
Instead, she says there has been rumors to acquisition her house in an attempt to clear land for a parking lot for Comerica Park and Ford Field which are both located less than three-quarters of a mile away from her house.
She is suing city, state, federal and other officials in federal court as an individual to obtain the title to her house free and clear.
In a recent briefing in conjunction to the lawsuit she has filed in federal court, Mingo states:
“Plaintiff’s gas mains have been deliberately disrupted shooting gas at least ten (10) feet in the air at least three times, and holes at least 20 feet deep and twenty feet wide have been dug and left open in plaintiffs’ driveway by contractors who worked for the Economic Growth Corporation.”
It goes onto say, “Plaintiff was informed that the Economic Growth Corporation had an interest in plaintiff’s property because it was their contractors that were doing damage to plaintiff’s property.”
FrontPage repeatedly tried to contact a representative from the Economic Growth Corporation but no one was available for comment.
Mingo is also suing city, state, federal and other officials as an elected official and chairperson of the Brush Park-CDC and Coordinating Council for Re-Development.
In the same briefing, it states they breached their Oaths of Office preventing her from being able to carry out her mandated duties as an elected official to protect the health, welfare and safety of the citizens.
It further states that they are also illegally carrying out development plans in urban renewal areas citing “Exclusion of citizens from participating in the planning for development and the financing thereof (bring them plans to approve that have already been made).”
Clinging to life
Mingo, though one of many African American victims of urban renewal, has still managed to hold onto her house. Others aren’t so lucky.
In 1993, senior citizen couple Nathaniel and Annie Jackson lived in their garage for several years with no electricity, no heat or running water after a wrecking ball demolished their home. The city is accused of destroying their home to acquire their property for redevelopment. Nathaniel Jackson since haspassed and Annie Jackson moved with relatives.
In December 2000, as chairperson of CDC, Mingo filed a class action lawsuit claiming that 300 tenants and owners, mostly senior citizens, were displaced in a ten-year time span and were entitled to relocation benefits and compensation. The case is still pending in State Appeals Court. Many of the senior citizens now are deceased.
Saturday afternoon, the FrontPage spotted Detroit Thermal, a company that provides steam service to residents and businesses for their heating and cooling needs, doing underground work near Brush and Watson. When FrontPage contacted a representative Monday afternoon, Detroit Thermal stated they were ordered to cap the lines for Brewster Housing, a predominantly low-income Black housing project because they were being torn down.
A representative from the Detroit City Housing Commission confirmed in a later phone call they are in the beginning stages of relocating families out of the Brewsters. However, the person overseeing the relocation project could not be reached for comment to provide information on where they were being relocated.
Contact Deanna Dunham at deannadunham@yahoo.com or visit www.deannadunham.com