Today it is a strange and somber ghost town, except for small beehives of activity where construction crews — actually deconstruction crews — are working to tear down and clear out mobile homes whose owners have decided they’re never coming back.
Once 80 families lived here. Now, along the U-shaped drive that they called home, blue and ochre and yellow mobile homes sit vacant, still displaying the gaily striped awnings or porches, American flags and flower boxes that marked stability and a sense of place. Amidst a sea of very green grass and soft mud, some homes have windows knocked out or tilted slightly askew, others appear hardly untouched, only the wrinkled siding or a dim mud line part way up the walls hinting at the fetid devastation that awaits inside.Not surprising. Mobile home parks are usually not in the most "desirable" neighborhoods; people choose the location because it's affordable. This type of devastation is common whereever hurricanes land - flood zones in Florida, Lousiana, Texas, the Carolinas; where the rivers rise in the spring and summer (e.g. Mississippi); and also in the tornado alleys in the south and midwest.
... its board has already approved a master plan that would clear much of the area for galleries, sculptures and program-related buildings.Will the character of an already changing character of the Montrose be changed for ever?
However, the details on exactly what would replace Richmont Square remain part of “a flexible plan” that will likely not be implemented for “five or 10 years, even longer,” according to Vance Muse, communications director for Menil.
“We now have to decide how to implement it, emphasizing careful growth,” Muse said.
In its current form, the approved master plan for the Menil-owned area, adjacent to Richmond Avenue, calls for dense residential use and commercial development.
“We’d like to keep it bohemian, if at all possible,” he said. “There has always been a commitment (by Menil) to offering a break.”
If not, Richmont Square would join the ranks of other large, moderately priced rental properties in the area that have been replaced in recent years by more expensive dwellings — or by nothing at all.
To paraphrase Kurt Wright, this is not a question that can get a straightforward yes or no answer.
If I'm thinking of more affordable housing developed downtown, then I would pick "yes" (even mixed-use - businesses and housing - buildings would be a "yes" as my choice). If it's just for more business development downtown, I'd go with "no." If increased height allowances happen, we must remind city council and the governing committees/boards of their shameful role in the horrible Westlake/Marriott fiasco and its ultimate outcome with no affordable housing.
I have primulas and chives flowering alongside roses, nicotiana and summer stocks, not to mention that the tomatoes are still going strong (Letters, passim). I'm planting a banana next spring.And the second,
I was idly casting an eye over an estate agent's offerings this week when a smart young man emerged from the office to politely inquire if there was anything that took my interest. Now we know things are bad.
Today Jocelyn Voltaire will lose her home . . . unless bloggers and activists can intervene. On Wednesday, ANP reported on the economic plight of people in Hempstead, NY, the location of the third and final presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. Jocelyn's story in particular inspired an outpouring of support on the web. Jocelyn fell victim to a predatory loan that ANP has traced back to Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street firm whose CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, made over $70 million last year. We will continue following this story.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- The plight of an Ohio woman who shot herself as deputies tried evict her from her foreclosed home was part of congressional debate on the $700 billion bailout.THE GUARDIAN
Addie Polk, 90, was being treated at Akron General Medical Center after shooting herself Wednesday as deputies were at her door with eviction papers, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, said Friday during floor debate on the rescue plan for U.S. financial markets. Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) foreclosed Polk's home after acquiring the mortgage in 2007.
Kucinich used Polk's circumstances as he spoke against the rescue plan that eventually passed the U.S. House of Representatives 263-171.
"This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world," Kucinich said. "This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners who are facing foreclosure."
The bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday, "will take care of Wall Street," Kucinich said, "but democracy is going down here."
Robert Dillion, a neighbor, climbed a ladder to enter a second-story window in Polk's home after he and the deputies heard the noise from inside, CNN reported.
In 2004, Polk took out a 30-year mortgage for $45,620 with a Countrywide Home Loan office in Ohio, CNN said. Polk had missed payments on her home during the next few years. In 2007 the Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCPK:FDRNP), or Fannie Mae, assumed the mortgage and later filed for foreclosure.
I have to believe that our city officials were energized and empowered by the knowledge that there were 300 people in seven congregations who cared enough about affordable housing to give up a Sunday afternoon to fight for it. Surely that level of support helped them complete the negotiations so successfully.
I still have two questions. Will the city adopt the "open and transparent development process" that VIA has asked for so that we can avoid a recurrence of what happened at Westlake? I am confident that VIA will continue to hold their feet to the fire.
My second question is this: Why did a well-advertised meeting that was deemed important enough for the mayor, the new director of the Community and Economic Development Office, five city councilors, the city attorney and 300 citizens to attend fail to warrant any coverage in The Burlington Free Press?
The Burlington School Board resolution asking the City Council to spread low-income housing more evenly around the city adds a twist that would place more obstacles in the way of creating low-cost housing.COMMENT: Always loyal to it's corporate and developer interests, the Free Press is dead wrong. Integrating affordable housing in all parts of the city, not segregating it in certain areas only, is not utopian at all. It is a moral issue to keep our neighborhoods diverse and representative of the whole range of people who make up our communities, rather than create pockets of privilege and pockets of the poor.
The School Board resolution passed Oct. 9 was part of the search for a way to reduce the concentration of students from poor families in the two elementary schools in the Old North End where much of the city's low-cost housing is found.
Low-cost housing faces enough controversies that create barriers toward serving people in real need. Too many people see such housing simply as a government handout and a magnet for people who need expensive taxpayer-funded services. Brian Pine, the city's Community and Economic Development Office assistant director for housing, is right to worry that the School Board resolution might lead the City Council to slow down efforts to add subsidized units in the Old North End.
The city planning tools for creating a diverse neighborhood of households with varying income levels is the kind of policy initiative that has a better chance of succeeding -- if at all -- in new developments. Forced attempts to change the socio-economic makeup of an existing neighborhood in a mature city near full development, like Burlington, can be cost-prohibitive and disruptive.
There are solid economic reasons low-cost housing tends to be clustered in certain parts of a community, mainly cost. The tight housing market is putting the squeeze on even solidly middle-income families.
A policy that would create low-cost housing in existing higher-rent neighborhoods makes little sense. Creating a low-cost home in such a neighborhood would require a much greater subsidy than in some other areas of the city. Targeting areas with relatively cheaper housing costs allows those doing the necessary subsidizing -- often with taxpayer dollars -- to get the most for their money.
Also, few people living in a neighborhood of single-family homes are likely to welcome seeing apartments go up in their midst because such buildings would be out of character with what's already there.
For most people who have trouble finding a home they can afford -- different from a home they like that they can afford -- the chief issue is availability, not location. North Street resident Mary Davis put that concern succinctly when she told the Free Press, "It could be anywhere. Just get it to where people can actually afford to live in Burlington."
While the School Board's action might be well-intentioned, the vision behind the resolution is disturbingly utopian, creating a Burlington where each neighborhood reflects the broad diversity -- social, economic, cultural, racial and ethnic -- of the entire city. Solutions to real-world problems are rarely found in utopia.
We all know that health care is increasingly unaffordable to many Americans, and that the coverage that they receive, if they can afford it, is often mediocre. Sicko merely gave cinematic expression to the lived experiences of millions. We are now discovering, as a consequence of the housing bubble, that housing, as measured by home ownership, is also increasingly unaffordable to many people as well. This is true revelation of the proliferation of exotic credit instruments for home purchases in recent years.
Of course, they now have their own problems, as you can read on all over the web, but what about the people who are losing their homes? What is going to happen to them? The answer is, as we all know, it is going to be brutal. Many of them are going to be pushed into the rental market for the rest of their lives, and many are going to have to leave the locations where they currently reside because even the cost of rent is going to be too much for them. So, we are looking at the prospect of two migrations, one from houses to rentals, and the other from expensive parts of the country to less expensive ones. Furthermore, quite a number of communities built for home owners will rapidly become rental ones. Some may even resemble ghost towns, as it becomes impossible to fill all of the homes with residents.
June 7, 2007
Daniel Mark Fogel
President
To Our Friends at Vermont Interfaith Action:
Since I cannot be with you for your gathering on June 10 at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, I wanted to share this brief personal overview of the results of our recent discussion about the potential for the construction of affordable housing on UVM land.
I think we had a very frank and productive meeting on May 31st. Although we did not see eye to eye on everything, we found much comment ground among us; we have a good foundation from which we can move ahead and make progress on creating more affordable housing. - particularly for UVM employees.
VIA has worked hard to bring attention and awareness to these problems, and I greatly respect the energy, passion and persistence with which you have approached this issue. Although I did not agree with some aspects of your analysis with respect to UVM's role in creating current affordable housing shortages to the local community, we did not spend much time debating these differences. Rather, we quickly moved to what I think is a genuine "win-win" strategy.
That strategy involves the University's sincere commitment to pursue the construction of affordable housing units for our employees on an appropriate site or sites. Such a project needs to be consistent with our University mission, which includes our need to recruit and retain high quality faculty and staff who need to find housing they can afford. On a priority basis we are moving forward to identify, for such a project, potential sites that are consistent with our Campus Master Plan, will not interfere with future academic and other facilities needs, and can be accomplished within our available resources. We will keep this process moving as quickly as possible, and will keep VIA regularly and appropriately informed as to our progress.
In the near term, we will be working behind the scenes with local officials in the municipalities in which the properties we are considering are located. Once we have identified our preferred site(s), a more public phase of discussion will begin.
I am proud of the countless ways UVM positively impacts the greater Burlington community every day. These impacts will be enhanced and strengthened when this project comes to fruition. Be assured that this effort has my full personal commitment and support.
I wish to thank Vermont Interfaith Action for its possible role in helping to address important set of issues, and, with your help and encouragement, I have every confidence that we will succeed in this effort to create more affordable housing at UVM.
With every good wish, sincerely,
Daniel Mark Fogel
Be assured that this effort has my full personal commitment and support.
We will keep this process moving as quickly as possible...
