Latest news with #gentrification
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fricker Center renovation sparks tension as Black residents tell city: We don't trust you
More than 100 people packed into the Fricker Community Center early this week for an input meeting on the center's renovations, and a large contingent of that group delivered a clear message to the city of Pensacola: We don't trust you. Several who spoke at the July 23 community engagement meeting in the predominantly Black neighborhood were full of fear and concern that the renovations of the Fricker Center would lead to more gentrification and even the closing of the nearby public housing complex Attucks Court. The meeting was publicly live-streamed on Facebook by multiple attendees. What is planned for the Fricker Center? Pensacola has $9.5 million in state grants to fund a renovation of The Fricker Center. The first grant was awarded in 2023 as part of the Hurricane Sally Infrastructure Repair Program, and a $4 million grant from the Florida Commerce Department. The grants must improve stormwater infrastructure on the property, but will also upgrade the center's classrooms, restrooms, playground, kitchen facilities, computer lab, and add a senior center that will be a health education and outreach facility with Baptist Health Care. The grant also calls for part of the building to be demolished and replaced with a two-story multipurpose space. The meeting on July 23 was meant to get input and suggestions from the public on the project. Loss of trust with Black residents The grants were some of the first won by Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves' administration, and Reeves has noted no previous city government has invested more in the city's westside than his administration, with the Fricker Center and efforts to create affordable housing on the former Baptist Hospital campus as two key examples. However, it's evident from recordings of the July 23 meeting those investments have not translated into trust. Pensacola resident Gerald Graham said he was disappointed that Mayor D.C. Reeves was not at the meeting and believes the city has an ulterior motive with the project. 'The renovations of the building is fine,' Graham said. 'I'm cool with that; however, I know the city of Pensacola and the officials of Pensacola have an ulterior motive. There's something more behind it.' He said he believes the city's gentrification is going to cross to the north side of Cervantes Street, and that Attucks Court will be shut down. "Pensacola is changing," Graham said. Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Tonya Byrd was the most senior city official at the meeting, and she said there are no plans to close Attucks Court, and the city doesn't control Attucks Court. 'We're not here to take Attucks Court from you,' Byrd said. 'We're here to improve this community center for this neighborhood.' All public housing complexes are under the Area Housing Commission, which is made up of five members appointed by both the city and Escambia County, and one selected from the Tenants' Association. Pensacola resident Jermaine Williams was not convinced and didn't trust those in office downtown. 'I've never seen the city of Pensacola dump $9 million into the Black community," Williams said. Pensacola has seen a loss of Black residents in the last 20 years While there are no plans to close Attucks Court, the anger expressed at the sense of loss of Black neighborhoods is reflected in real trends in local population data. In the last 20 years, the city of Pensacola has seen a decline in the number of Black residents, according to U.S. Census data, while the overall population has remained between 51,00 and 56,000 over that time period. In 2000, the city was 30% Black, but in 2020 that number had fallen to 22.19%, a raw number loss of 5,034 people. The number of Black residents in the Escambia County communities immediately surrounding the city limits – like Myrtle Grove, Bellview and Ferry Pass – has seen a corresponding growth in the share of Black residents. Census estimates show that the number is continuing to decline, with the most recent 2023 estimate at 21.2%. Another meeting at the Fricker Center is planned for July 31 at 6:30 p.m. Pensacola spokesperson Dominque Epps said Interim Parks and Recreation Director Kerry Shanaghan will be in attendance. The mayor and City Councilman Delarian Wiggins, who represents the area, will also hold a general town hall in August, though the exact time and location haven't been set yet. This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Fricker Center renovation sparks gentrification concerns Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mayor D.C. Reeves postpones Fricker Center meeting after backlash from Black residents
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves postponed a second public input meeting on the Fricker Center renovation – a day before it was set to take place – after the city was met with anger from some Black residents over gentrification in the city. The newly scheduled meeting at the Fricker Center will be at 8 a.m. Aug. 13, instead of at 6:30 p.m. July 31 as originally planned. Reeves said the purpose of moving the meeting was to ensure the meeting was about feedback on the community center and not other issues, which he said can be addressed at a town hall he will host on the evening of Aug. 26 with Councilman Delarian Wiggins. The location hasn't been set yet. 'This is a rescheduling of an event,' Reeves said. 'It's not the cancellation of an event. We've just given you the dates, and certainly folks can go there, or they can go to a town hall as well and share some of those issues." Gentrification fears: Fricker Center renovation sparks tension as Black residents tell city: We don't trust you Pensacola has $9.5 million in state grants to fund a renovation of The Fricker Center and held a public meeting on July 23 to get feedback on the center's renovation. A large portion of the meeting was dominated by concern about the gentrification of historically Black neighborhoods, anger over the mayor's absence, and several commenters who voiced distrust of the city's motivation for renovating the center. 'I've never seen the city of Pensacola dump $9 million into the Black community," Pensacola resident Jermaine Williams said at the July 23 meeting. The share of Pensacola residents who identify only as Black has fallen from about 30% of the city in 2000 to about 21%, according to the most recent Census estimates. 'Anybody bringing any concern that they have with the city, it is important to allow that opportunity,' Reeves said. 'But I think in this specific case, there were things that might be more relevant as a town hall discussion and a larger discussion about the community at large, and concern about the changing community and what does or doesn't cause that.' Reeves also pushed back on the idea that there was some ulterior motive behind the renovation. 'I don't take it personally when someone says it's hard to believe that the city is going to just come in and put in $9.5 million and there's not be some ulterior motive,' Reeves said. 'We have no ulterior motive other than we want to take a facility that has been left behind – the same way we've done with the Cobb Center, that's about to take on $1.7 million, so it wasn't going to need to be on the list of being in danger – because we want these to stay. We want these to thrive." Reeves said if the community doesn't want $9.5 million spent on their center to be renovated, then he would 'take heed to that.' 'The community as a whole, not one or two people,' Reeves added. Reeves also pointed to the benefits of a renovated community center for current neighborhood residents, which will upgrade the center's classrooms, restrooms, playground, kitchen facilities, computer lab, and add a senior center that will be a health education and outreach facility with Baptist Health Care. 'There can be no better definition of the actual term community center than what's being discussed right now,' Reeves said. Reeves said he would put his track record of engaging with the community in public meetings and town halls over that of any previous Pensacola mayor. 'In almost three years I've been here, I think we're up at over 100 on every project,' Reeves said. As far as moving the meeting to the morning, Reeves said that most public input meetings happen at different times, so people with varying schedules of work can attend. He said the Fricker Center meetings happening back-to-back a week apart at the same time is an unusual schedule compared to most public meetings. "We thought we had some limiting factors with the Florida (Department of) Commerce to have it done by Aug. 1, but with some of the condition issues we're looking at in the building right now, we have an extension on that,' Reeves said. 'So we were able to not have to jam these in, two within eight days.' This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Mayor D.C. Reeves postpones Fricker Center meeting after backlash Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Daily Mail
Our suburb has been named one of the most gentrified, but it's a complete hellhole! It's 'crack central' and full of rats and chicken shops
Residents living in a London suburb are bemused it has been named as being among the most gentrified parts of the capital - instead insisting it is a 'complete hellhole'. Plumstead, in south east London, has been classed as being among the London neighbourhoods which have gentrified the most rapidly over the last decade, new analysis has found. A study by the Trust for London charity has identified 53 areas where average income has grown by an average of 11 per cent between 2012 and 2020 - compared with a one per cent rise across London. Plumstead High Street is number 38 on the list. The idea of gentrification is typically described as a formerly poor urban area changing in character with wealthier people moving in, an increase in house prices and new businesses being attracted to move in. But residents in the area - both new and old - could not disagree more. Gregory Roberts, 75, who has lived in Plumstead for 52 years, said: 'That's a joke.' He added: 'It's not gentrified, it's abandoned. These surveys are a joke. Why not spend time, effort and money on actually doing something about it rather than just putting labels on things? A study by the Trust for London charity has identified 53 areas where average income has grown by an average of 11 per cent between 2012 and 2020 - Plumstead High Street is number 38 on the list 'It's full of chicken shops, betting shops, corner shops and vape shops. 'There's no hope or opportunity for improvement. All the more traditional shops have gone. The community feeling has gone. 'I don't feel unsafe but it's not great. I'd move if I could.' One resident, who did not want to be named, launched into a passionate tirade against the area. She said: 'It's a rat infested s***hole. It's hell on earth. I hate it. I want to move. It's disgusting. It's dirty. It's a complete hellhole. 'It stinks. There's criminals everywhere. There's crime happening everyday. 'What's gentrified about that? It's crack central. There's drug users and drunks everywhere. 'It's terrible. There's no hope or aspiration. People aren't moving in to better the area. Gentrification means improvement. Nothing has improved.' Shop worker Ahamed Limras, 27, started work at a Premier store in the area on Thursday. On his first day, he said there were four cases of shoplifting in the first six hours. He said: 'Yes, it's been a weird start. I was told to expect shoplifting. But they've just gone mad. They take anything, alcohol, food. 'One was quite a lot. They're very quick. I was warned there would be problems but this has been mad. 'It's a rundown area. It doesn't feel up and coming to me. 'I am not sure what I will do now.' Retired teaching assistant Pat Page, 70, said she does 'not feel safe'. She said: 'I've lived in Plumstead for 45 years. It's as bad as it ever has been. Have the people doing these surveys and analysis actually been here? 'Come and live here for a week, see how gentrified you think it is then. 'In the 1970s it had everything. Now it's chicken shops and corner shops and bookies. 'There used to be 12 pubs, now there's one. That's a decent pub but there used to be 12. They've all gone. It's got worse, so how can someone say it's improving? 'Christ knows what the other areas are like on the list if they think Plumstead is up and coming. It's really, really sad. I used to love it here.' Dinner lady Dianne Lorryman, 70, agreed. She said: 'It's not gentrified. It's dirty for a start. There's no aspiration. 'It's gone right down hill. I don't feel excited about living here. 'It's not good. Look at how run down it is. If people actually put proper effort in to change it and improve, rather than just give it fancy titles, it would help the place a lot more.' Margaret O'Rourke, 81, said: 'Gentrified? That's a joke. There's a lot of crime and anti-social behaviour. There's crackdens everywhere. 'They think having a few high rise buildings will improve property prices and then they can call it gentrified. It certainly isn't that.'
Jordan Times
24-07-2025
- Business
- Jordan Times
'Class war': outsiders moving to Puerto Rico trigger displacement
CABO ROJO, Puerto Rico — Gloria Cuevas thought she would live forever in her pink, century-old house on Puerto Rico's west coast -- but then her landlord decided to transform the home into an Airbnb. Cuevas left her home -- now purple and split in two -- and her beloved city for another further south, forced out by the rising cost of living and an explosion of short-term rentals on the US Caribbean island territory. Puerto Rico -- long a draw for sun-worshipping tourists -- is also a hotspot for foreign investment and offers tax incentives to attract outsiders. "At first, I couldn't come back here," Cuevas, 68, told AFP, gazing at the home she once made her own. "It made me feel sad and angry at the same time." Cuevas's experience is becoming an all too familiar tale across the island, where signs promote mansions for sale, and the Airbnb logo is plastered on homes where locals once lived. Intensifying Puerto Rico's gentrification are laws that encourage primarily wealthy mainland Americans to move there in exchange for preferential tax treatment. The programme originally enacted in 2012 was meant to spur economic growth and attract investment on the island, an unincorporated territory under US control since 1898. Those relocating must acquire residency and buy property to keep the significant incentives -- but many Puerto Ricans as well as some US lawmakers say this is driving up housing prices and encouraging tax evasion. "Colonialism kills us, it suffocates us," Cuevas said. "It's a global theme. It's a class war." 'Unfair' - Ricki Rebeiro, 30, moved to San Juan more than a year ago, bringing his packaging and marketing business that services cannabis companies with him. He told AFP that basing his work in Puerto Rico saves his company millions of dollars annually, and that he pays zero personal income tax -- what amounts to the equivalent of "a whole second income" that he says he tries to reinvest locally. "I believe that the locals are probably upset that they're not reaping the same benefits of somebody like me," said the entrepreneur, whose family is based in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. The system is "unfair," Rebeiro said, "but I also don't believe that I should be the one to blame for that. I didn't structure the programme". Puerto Ricans in recent years have slammed their government for what they say is a hyperfocus on outsiders at the expense of locals, as the rich -- including people like the famous content creator-turned-boxer Jake Paul -- move in. 'This is ours' In Cabo Rojo, a seaside city about an hour's drive south of Rincon on the island's western coast, some residents are taking the matter into their own hands. During a recent canvassing effort, a group of activists urged their neighbours to protest a massive development project called Esencia, which would transform more than 810 hectares of recreational land and more than three miles of beaches into a $2 billion luxury resort and residential development. Dafne Javier's family goes back generations in this area -- her great-grandfather was the last mayor in the municipality under Spanish occupation, and the first under US rule. The 77-year-old said the Esencia project would "totally change the landscape", creating a gated town within a town. Protesters say it would destroy the natural habitat of some endangered species, while exacerbating problems with potable water, electricity supply and trash pick-up. Project investors have called Puerto Rico "one of the most promising growth markets in the world" and vowed Esencia would create "thousands of jobs". But those jobs will be minimum wage, Javier predicted, and the wealthy newcomers "won't mix with us". Christopher Powers is married to a Puerto Rican with whom he has children, and has lived in Cabo Rojo for 20 years. "They have no idea what they're destroying, and if they do have an idea what they're destroying, then they should be ashamed," he told AFP of the developers. "Not only is it ecologically destructive, not only will it be an economic disaster for those of us who live here, but it's also against the sort of spirit or values of the Caborojinos." Cuevas is hopeful her story and others like it will crystallise for her fellow Puerto Ricans what they stand to lose. "We have to keep fighting. We have to educate our youth. Have you heard of Bad Bunny?" she said, referring to the Puerto Rican global superstar whose music and current residency in San Juan has amplified discussion of gentrification and cultural dilution, on the island and beyond. "This is ours," Cuevas said. "We're not going to leave."
Al Jazeera
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
How the gentrification crisis is hitting Mexico City
Mexico City has seen an influx of foreign renters, including those calling themselves digital nomads. This has led to increasing housing prices, displacement of residents, changes to the city's culture – and growing protests. How is Mexico City's fight mirroring a global crisis of gentrification?
