Whole Foods halts plans!!! (Pittsburgh, Liberty: rent, eviction, to buy)

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

And you're over-dosing on the Politically-Correct Kool-Aid if you're saying he's out of line on Point 2 especially...

https://newpittsburghcourieronline.c...dable-housing/
Black Homes Matter: The Fate of Affordable Housing in Pittsburgh | Carnegie Museum of Art: Storyboard

Exactly. If poor whites are being told to move to bad neighborhoods to make more room for wealthier whites, then poor blacks should be told the same thing. I'm not going to stay quiet about this racial double-standard that I'm just supposed to "accept". I'm sorry that Baby Boomers and their parents displaced them decades ago from the Lower Hill District, but as a child of the '80's I had NOTHING to do with that. Blaming me for something my ancestors didn't even do (I'm a transplant) because of the color of my skin is racist, too, is it not?

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

So here's the first attack from an "open-minded progressive liberal" implying I should check my privilege and have empathy towards people whose intentions of staying in their neighborhoods are being given attention while the rest of us are told to pound sand. Nice. Why has there been intensive focus on making sure working-class African-Americans aren't priced out of trendy areas by wealthy whites while there's been not only no interest but actual scorn towards working-class whites not wanting to be priced out of the same neighborhoods by wealthy whites? If you don't see a racial double-standard, then I can't help you.

This thread isn't about you, but are you sure that you're not married to the idea of being a victim in this scenario? You've given us a ballpark of what your income is, plus you live with a partner to share expenses. I make about what you do and own a house by myself. There are even first-time homebuyer programs for lower income people that aren't based on race. Yes, affordable housing is an issue in the city, but you not being able to afford the East End isn't necessarily a tragedy.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

This thread isn't about you, but are you sure that you're not married to the idea of being a victim in this scenario? You've given us a ballpark of what your income is, plus you live with a partner to share expenses. I make about what you do and own a house by myself. There are even first-time homebuyer programs for lower income people that aren't based on race. Yes, affordable housing is an issue in the city, but you not being able to afford the East End isn't necessarily a tragedy.

This isn't "only about SCR". Check your OWN socioeconomic privilege if nobody in your circle is a renter who is in jeopardy of being displaced by rising rents and stagnant real wages. I know plenty of working-class whites who have been priced out of my neighborhood and others. Just because YOU don't doesn't mean that THEY don't exist. Who is speaking out on THEIR behalf? Nobody. No special interest groups. No politicians. No rallies or protests. No local media articles. We're just expected to "get out of the way of progress" and accept it.

My displacement isn't a tragedy, yet somehow blacks making roughly what I do and not being able to afford to rent in the East End IS a tragedy? Do any of you not even hear yourselves think in double-standards like this?

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

This isn't "only about SCR". Check your OWN socioeconomic privilege if nobody in your circle is a renter who is in jeopardy of being displaced by rising rents and stagnant real wages. I know plenty of working-class whites who have been priced out of my neighborhood and others. Just because YOU don't doesn't mean that THEY don't exist. Who is speaking out on THEIR behalf? Nobody. No special interest groups. No politicians. No rallies or protests. No local media articles. We're just expected to "get out of the way of progress" and accept it.

My displacement isn't a tragedy, yet somehow blacks making roughly what I do and not being able to afford to rent in the East End IS a tragedy? Do any of you not even hear yourselves think in double-standards like this?

Well, what are you doing, besides complaining on the internet? If you haven't noticed, people are marching in the streets and clogging politicians' voice mailboxes to make their voices heard about all kinds of issues. If you strongly believe this is an issue that needs addressing, why aren't you leading the charge?

[SteelCityRising]

Also, if you think my landlord will give me $2,000 to find suitable housing in a worse neighborhood when she kicks us out to make minor improvements and double the rent, as was done with Penn Plaza's tenants, then I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

[sealie]

Most of the people posting on this thread haven't said the people leaving Penn Plaza is a tragedy. Most think they don't have a birthright to what is now a desirable city neighborhood. Who are you addressing?

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Tyovan4 makes a lot of good points. I expect the "group-think" crowd on here will eviscerate him for sharing a divergent opinion, but how "liberal" is it to say you're "open-minded" while bashing someone who is different?

1.) I've pointed out the working-class racial double-standard on this sub-forum many times before. If you're black, working-class, and want to stay in the trendiest neighborhoods everyone will bend over backwards to accommodate you because of white guilt. If you're white, working-class, and want to stay in borderline trendy neighborhoods you're told "go pound sand, check your privilege, and get out of the way of progress." Much ballyhooing is made about wealthy whites displacing working-class blacks in this city, but wealthy whites displacing poorer whites is viewed on here as being socially acceptable because, as whites, supposedly we should have used our inherent racial privilege better to be an attorney, engineer, surgeon, software developer, etc. like our wealthier white counterparts. Despite my eloquence I am NOT an intelligent person. I cry sometimes because despite how much I read and research to try to heighten my intellectual capabilities I'm still limited in how "smart" I can be. Not everyone can just "learn to be smarter and richer". Not everyone is wired correctly.

2.) I've been preaching about an impending disparity between sluggish real wage growth for the working-class and rapid increase in median rents since moving here in 2010. People on here balked at me. Only now with the Penn Plaza debacle, "Black Homes Matter" movement, City Paper articles, and Kevin Acklin press releases are people on here finally realizing I'm not a moron. I was actually more forward-sighted than they were, but I digress.

3.) This city is doing next to nothing to help struggling working-class white neighborhoods like Carrick, Sheraden, Brighton Heights, and others. The city is too busy pandering to wealthy white transplant neighborhoods and working-class majority-black neighborhoods while the working-class whites who made this city great just a few generations ago are left to rot. There's a very real possibility we may soon be facing eviction, and there's nearly no pet-friendly, affordable, non-subsidized rentals left in this city. My job REQUIRES me to live within city limits, so I can't just "move to the suburbs".

I think this all boils down to something very simple, actually. Black working class folks organize and make their voices heard. Issues of the past (and present) have given folks the will and desire to organize. Democracy at work. The political class cannot ignore the fact that they endanger their chances at reelection if they ignore this voice. I doubt "white guilt" has nearly as much to do with Peduto's stance as does political reality. Tyovan's point about the white working class and middle class being complacent is spot-on, though I am not certain I agree with his (her?) reasoning as to why this is occurring.

It is hard to say what the correct path forward here is, as no solution is perfect. Right now, developers are willing to put up capital to build "luxury" apartments. Most of them do so with tax breaks in one hand and promises to fund affordable housing in the other hand. This seems to work for enough of the voting base to keep the current administration going, and so it is likely to continue. Developers that don't play by that script are going to get attacked from both sides. Whether you believe this is corrupt or not, they are the current rules of the game. If you don't like the rules, organize enough votes to eject the current administration from power. Again, democracy at work.

[fat lou]

Originally Posted by sky329

you are seriously outta line and need to keep the word BLACK out of your mouth.. Have some empathy

Are you being ironic? If not you do realize that you're bolstering his point, right?

[fat lou]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

Well, what are you doing, besides complaining on the internet? If you haven't noticed, people are marching in the streets and clogging politicians' voice mailboxes to make their voices heard about all kinds of issues. If you strongly believe this is an issue that needs addressing, why aren't you leading the charge?

A white guy can march in the streets and clog mailboxes about his right to live in Lawrenceville or Polish Hill or wherever till the cows come home, no one will give a rat's @s$. And that's the point.

And this whole thing is ridiculous anyway. No one is entitled to a cheap place in East Liberty or Bloomfield or Kathmandu or wherever. If your rent is raised and you can no longer afford it it's time to move. It's as simple as that.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by fat lou

A white guy can march in the streets and clog mailboxes about his right to live in Lawrenceville or Polish Hill or wherever till the cows come home, no one will give a rat's @s$. And that's the point.

And this whole thing is ridiculous anyway. No one is entitled to a cheap place in East Liberty or Bloomfield or Kathmandu or wherever. If your rent is raised and you can no longer afford it it's time to move. It's as simple as that.

Bingo.