Comments 1 - 9 of 9 Search these comments
just ask an average black person what they think of the LGBT community or illegal aliens
I don't know what the usual black attitude toward LGBT things is, but of course illegals are directly harming black US citizens by letting employers undercut their wages and break labor laws, and I expect most black people know that and are not too happy about it.
Sure, lots of Hispanic people are in pretty desperate straits, but our first responsibility is to our own citizens, not to foreigners.
Although she expects eventually to take over her uncle's home, Ball is anxious she could be forced to move out of the area as rents continue to rise.
She is part of a lawsuit saying more than a decade of urban development planning aimed at turning Washington into a "world-class city" has been successful in attracting thousands of young, well-educated professionals to the detriment of minority communities, and particularly older people within those groups.
The lawsuit, filed last month, comes as the city grapples with some of the highest rents in the country and amid a national crisis in affordable housing.
Ball is particularly worried by a new 6,000-unit development going up just blocks from where she lives, part of a massive revitalization project that has transformed the Union Market neighbourhood she lives in.
She is "angered that they have replaced her community with another one she largely does not know because the buildings are self-sustaining and residents stay in them," according to the lawsuit.
Ball also says the businesses that have come in to cater to the new population are different from those she uses — while some she used to rely on have closed.
SEEKING CREATIVES
Over the past three mayoral administrations, according to the lawsuit, the District of Columbia, as the U.S. capital is also known, has purposefully sought to attract young residents who are part of the "creative class."
In so doing, the city has overlooked the impacts of these policies on the poorer, often African American neighbourhoods, even when courts have directed officials to take into account "adverse impacts" such as gentrification, according to the attorney bringing the lawsuit.
"I know a lot of cities have followed policies that directly seek to attract people of a certain age and people who make their livings a certain way," attorney Aristotle Theresa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"But to the extent that you alter land-use policy in a way that influences access to housing and public facilities and amenities, then that may be discrimination" based on source of income and age, said Theresa, whose practice, Stoop Law, is located in one of the city's poorest communities.
He said the lawsuit is the result of three years of planning decisions during which he said he found a pattern of "questionable decisions".
In addition to Ball, the lawsuit names two other individuals and the members of an African-American community-development programme, all of whom have testified about gentrification and related issues before city planning officials.
Their testimony was essentially ignored because of the broader economic development policy in place, Theresa says.
"None of the clients fit within the group of people that they wanted to attract to the city: None of them would qualify as 'creative class' members, and none of them are millennials," Theresa said.
In two responses filed on Monday, the city rejected these charges and asked a judge to dismiss the case, in part because the complaint does "not plausibly allege that the District implemented its development policies with the intent to discriminate."
The city also emphasized it "understands" the lawsuit's "concerns about the changing natures of their communities and the challenges they and others face in securing the homes and neighborhoods they desire. Indeed, the District has invested great time and effort to address such concerns for all of its residents."
http://news.trust.org/item/20180628130021-if29i/