This is sad news.

This article also makes a strong case for the need to reveal the connection between homelessness and displacement.

Donald Stokes, an antipoverty activist makes a good comment in the article - "Right now it's about money with developers coming into the city," not about affordable housing, he said.

Poverty Central Amid hopes of an economic revival sparked by the surge in condos and waterfront development, Philadelphia and Camden remain dogged by striking poverty levels, new census figures show.

Below are four short video clips that are from the film "All for the Taking" by George McCollough, released earlier this year (available at Berkeley Media) These clips are deleted scenes that did not make it into the final cut of the film due to length considerations.

monday august 21, 2006

RE YOUR editorial "Cease-Fire Declared with State Gaming Board":

This is a joke, right?

Beyond the fact of your making light of the very destructive and terrible bloodshed that was being waged in the Middle East on a daily basis, the mainstream Philadelphia news media has been operating under an implicit "cease-fire" agreement in their reporting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board since I have been following the gambling issue over the last several months.

The esteemed editors of the Daily News might do well to peruse the columns and Web sites of major newspapers from other regions to get some sense of how poor their own coverage of the gambling legislation has been before patting themselves on the back so heartily.

Papers and online news sites like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, centredaily.com in central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley's Morning Call have published thousands of provocative and insightful words on the gambling issue. As journalists, your job is to report the facts about issues relevant to your readers, to reveal the motives, decisions and processes that our elected official feel content to undertake in secret out of the public eye.

Legalized gambling is probably the most significant legislation to be "passed" in decades. Your obligation is to your readership, the public, not the gaming control board.

Jeremy Beaudry, Philadelphia

RDA Takes 132 More Properties

(taken from the most recent newsletter of the African American Business and Residents Association in Brewerytown)

On July 11, 2006, the RDA Board of Directors voted to condemn (seize via eminent domain) 132 properties in Brewerytown, Strawberry Mansion and other parts of North Philadelphia. Unless their owners fight the condemnation within approximately 30 days, the RDA will succeed in paying as little as $1,000.00 per lot, instead of the more realistic price of $25,000.00 - $100,000.00 per lot.

It is imperative that anyone reading this examine the list of addresses seized by the RDA and let the owners know that their options to protect their personal property are fast expiring. AABRA can assist once the owners are located. As a fundamental strategy, we recommend that all owners file preliminary objectionsand force the RDA to deal with 132 different cases simultaneously. They will likely commence negotiation.