Plotting on Brewerytown

This is the first installment of the most recent addition of the newsletter of the African American Business and Residents Association in Brewerytown. They have uncovered some of the pro-gentrification bloggers in the city and have tracked their conversations which are reproduced here, preceded by AABRA;s own community strategy as well as some basic background information.--------

While most new residents in North Philly live in peace with their neighbors, AABRA has uncovered an insidious network of other newcomers who are anti-community soldiers in the campaign to replace the poor of North Philly with the upper-income. Curiously, they have been documenting their contempt for North Philadelphians – and plans for your home – even as they smile at you in public. Today, we invite you to crash their secret party. Special Edition. This article is Copyrighted © 2007 by AABRA. All rights reserved. Special Edition.

AABRA has learned that a vocal, angry and activist contingent of new North Philly homeowners, speculators and renters, often based in Brewerytown, have been expressing their feelings about North Philly and North Philly' long-time residents on a website called www.phillyblog.com.

AABRA believes that the hate messages on this site are unworthy of First Amendment protections and clearly prove our worst fears about the ongoing gentrification of our community. Therefore, we are compelled to notify the long-time residents of words that define and describe the undeclared war that is being taken to every corner of our community by (previously) unseen actors.

I. What They’re Discussing There are at least seven recurring themes in the newcomer entries, most are disturbing and some have racial subtexts: 1. Evidence of a planned takeover 2. Fear of long-time residents 3. How to manipulate long-time residents 4. Anti-black ideas through misrepresentation 5. General paranoia 6. White racial identity as common ground 7. Good character of nearby long-time residents . In this edition of AABRA Update!, we provide excerpts of the above highlighted themes (#1, #2, #7). In the next edition, we will cover the other topics. While there is subtlety in some of the quotations presented, taken as a whole, they paint a portrait of aggressors helping to divide a community by class and race. This division was precisely what AABRA warned would occur should major projects (Westrum, Pennrose, etc.) win approval and if the city continued to neglect its long-time residents. in the time i've been in my place (almost a year), i've seen the street completely change. - new resident, code name wysong

Renewing Community Strategy AABRA' historical reliance on a multi-pronged strategy to ensure our presence and prosperity in Brewerytown and the rest of North Philly is more relevant than ever. We must defend our community, while growing it, always remembering a simple equation: either we improve our community for ourselves and our families or others will improve it for themselves and their families.

Along the way, we must keep in mind North Philly' longstanding tradition of racial and ethnic tolerance, so that our defense never manifests itself as an attack on another racial or ethnic group. Let us increase diversity, not displacement.

What is Gentrification? We begin by defining gentrification as the process by which a community becomes economically and socially overwhelmed by those financially better off than the long-time residents. As such, gentrification is an ostensibly economic phenomenon, not racial, though it can have strong racial overtones when those gentrifying a community are of a different race than the longtime residents.

The impacts are that housing prices and the overall cost of living rise, ultimately either directly or indirectly leading to displacement. There are cultural/class changes that invariably force the dwindling number of long-time residents to seem out of place and unwelcome in a community they once dominated. The neighborhood improves physically and new businesses tend to appear, due to the influx of capital and a relaxation of any redlining that existed there, but the long-time residents experience little of that growth.

The immorality of gentrification stems from the fact that the long-time residents lose their community, while the newcomers get to settle into a newly refurbished, suddenly desirable part of town. The city benefits at some level, because the tax base increases. But, the civil strife, neighborhood instability and overall injustice of the transition create a less wholesome, spiritually barren city.

Our challenge in North Philadelphia, particularly Brewerytown, is to ensure that gentrification never reaches a critical mass, that it withers on the vine, and that the long-time residents ultimately rejuvenate – and prosper in – their own community.

Fundamentals of the Strategy

AABRA' strategy for ensuring our continued presence here and spurring a renaissance that will benefit all residents has changed little over the past five years. Our successes include helping to educate and foster a sense of community in the longneglected neighborhood of Brewerytown, as well as slowing the pace of gentrification.

We have further exposed Philly' urban policy as favoring importing a middle class, rather than growing one from among the decimated existing population. However, we are re-examining our strategy so that we can give far more emphasis to the economic aspects. As well, we must address the impact of the most bigoted gentrifiers. In its current form, that strategy contains the elements below.

1. Education & Outreach: We must continue to inform residents and businesses about their right to remain in their own communities, as well as their responsibility and opportunities to improve them. We must inform the people of the value of their homes and help them to resist attempts to sell or to obtain predatory loans. We must encourage them to sell only when facing financial catastrophe, and never for pennies. We must arm them with the financial skills to refinance, purchase real estate, fund renovations, etc. We will continue utilizing newsletters, the web, media, regular community meetings.

2. Investment: Residents must purchase all available real estate, renovate when necessary and ensure that any profits stay in the community. We must attract investment that will be supportive of the long-time residents (concepts similar to the full Songhai City plan). We must bring businesses back to our commercial strips, starting new businesses whenever possible. We must patronize African-American businesses and encourage all businesses to hire neighborhood youth.

3. Developer Opposition: We must oppose all new development that is harmful to long-time residents (e.g., benefits gentrification). We will work with developers attempting to create mixed-income projects, but will strongly oppose any attempts to create 100% market-rate developments.

4. Community Improvement: Ultimately, we must demonstrate that the faith of long-time residents in their community is well-placed: that jobs and career training are coming; crime is being addressed; economic futility is waning and a bright future for all of us is inevitable – provided we work together. To this end, we must create and/or support myriad community investment initiatives (see above); undertake community beautification projects; maintain great relationships with both the police and the youth likely to turn to crime; and, put out the clarion call for native sons and daughters to return home to rebuild their old neighborhoods.

5. Membership: We must continue to grow the membership of AABRA and host more fundraisers. Join AABRA today by calling 215-769-3333. Let' strategize for a better community for all of us. We will be sharing and expanding these concepts in the months to come. Stay tuned!

---- II. Disclaimers First, we note that this article describes the effort to displace the long-time residents of North Philly through the words of the very newcomers perpetrating this offense. Unfortunately, our investigation of their subterfuge could not determine how representative of all newcomers their hostility is. We choose to leave the gauge of how widespread these ideas are to larger publications, with greater research capacities. We do caution long-time residents, however, not to assume that all of their new neighbors harbor the kind of ignorance, fear and hatred we describe below. As many of these quotations inadvertently demonstrate, North Philadelphians are generous, trusting and peace-loving. Our innate fairness and decency should prevent us from judging all newcomers to be the kind of individuals that these quotes lay bare. We must continue to treat every newcomer with respect, even while realizing that some are secretly planning or awaiting our removal from our homes and the destruction of our community as we know it. The reader is advised that the term whiteyin the following seems to be used only by white newcomers. Please be warned that some readers might find other terms offensive, particularly the racial mocking by merkin,who is a white male. We provide a link (the location on the internet) where the full text of the excerpts can be found – so that the reader may judge the matter for him or herself. Each link is given in an endnote and applies to all excerpts following it, until a new link is provided. Finally, the race of a newcomer is noted only when relevant.

III. Quotes - Evidence of a planned takeover The single most common discussion item, with the possible exception of irrational fears of crime, is how quickly North Philadelphia, particularly Brewerytown, will be gentrified. when the word on the street is - the government wants white people to move in... you know something is happening. - new resident, white male, code name gorilla

There are open laments that the neighborhood still has too many African-Americans and too many of the poor. There are discussions about how to attract more whites and upperincome. Note the linkage between black/poor and white/wealth. Evoking race at every turn is an obsession. Almost never are there discussions of displacement, what will happen to the poor should gentrification accelerate, cultural losses, whether gentrification is morally acceptable. Most disturbing is the odds-making, planning, or belief in the inevitability of gentrification in North Philadelphia. ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ gorilla i : right now [Brewerytown] is predominately black, there are a lot of home owners, despite the word on the street that the government wants white people to move in - if black residents stay it can be a nice mixed community. Editor' Comment: Note that gorilla is a white male new arrival. He speaks of disturbing government repopulation policy matter-of-factly and in ways that indicate, at minimum, passive approval. Parsing the statement IF black residents stay...,we note that gorilla has skillfully reversed the facts to make himself appear conciliatory, even generous. There is no IFabout African-Americans voluntarily staying. The only IFis whether we will be forced to leave by the ravages of gentrification as other gorillas plan to move here and make their respective fortunes at the expense of long-time residents. This kind of contorted, placating, wishful thinking is a recurring theme among the newcomers. ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

eldondre ii : I'd recomend finding an undervalued neighborhood or at leats a propertly valued neighborhood. If you want risk, I think the area between girard-ridge-broad is a good one. don't know pricing.

merkin: as for [Brewerytown] being affordable. it is starting to sharply rise. the investor have bought up most of the properties in the area and payed of leans and put on new roofs and now the properties are 2 or 3 times what they where last year. people are starting to buy who are not investors, people like me who cant afford most of anything anywhere within a stones throw of CC. and i feel that this summer it will keep rising as more and more people slowly "invest" and fix up the area. this will not happen in a couple of years. NL was still a dump not too long ago and it was call the next hot area in the late 80's, 15 years it took.

gorilla: Dumpsters are a good sign for how quickly things are changing. I've seen a lot latetly.

wysong: i live right in the w. college ave/26th and girard vicinity, pretty much at the three corners of fairmount, b'town, and sharswood (i'd like to start calling it girard college, but that's another thread). ... in the time i've been in my place (almost a year), i've seen the street completely change. one renovation is already complete and a row of 4 should be done by the summer. when they're done the "blight" on my block will be virtually eliminated. i'm seeing people enthusiastically moving in. around the corner on girard ave. there's 4 renovations going on. ... but as merkin said (i think), change won't happen over night and not everyone can deal w/ it. but it WILL happen.

i am trying to buy the pha/rda homes next to mine - code name fairmounterpolo

dave: As far as making a good investment, you want to buy where and when nobody else wants to buy. I would second El's recomendation of the Ridge/Broad/Girard triangle as an area that will probably take off but still isn't getting much attention. I actually know a couple people who have bought there and I considered it before deciding on West Powelton. Another area worth looking into is Mantua/Parkside, which is immediately across the Girard Ave bridge from Brewerytown and, just from eyeballing realtor.com listings, appears to offer more bang for the buck than Brewerytown. Both those areas have huge potential because of their proximity to nice areas and Universities (Temple U and Penn/Drexel, respectively). Chances are that Brewerytown will take off before either of those areas, but it also wouldn't surprise me if it's been so overhyped and overpriced (at least the area north of Girard) that it ends up lagging behind both.

eldondre: ... those [strawberry mansion] houses require some dough to fix up. on the other hand, it offers excellent park access if the city can improve its park maintenance. BUT, it's one of the cities worst schools and neighborhoods once you get off 33rd by the park.

gorilla: What is interesting is... this conversation would not have happened last Feb. A lot has changed.

fairmounterpolo: where are there improvements in b-town.... on girard ave, as wysong already pointed out near her on 26th street. new office on corner of 30th and girard. new renovation on 30th +girard (sounth side) went for close to $400k (mercy!) new home same block, north side-$300K+-owner occupied. the bar at 30th and stiles has been open for 3 weeks. corner of 29th and stiles-3 story storefront and apartments being done. 1200 hundred block of 30th- 2 renos under way. 4 homes+ on 1400 corlies being done. 2+ homes being done 2900 block of thompson. 1400 block of 29th-4 active renos under way. plus according to a realtor that specializes in b-town-there are only 6 active listings right now-20+ props have been sold in last 4 weeks.

Editor' Comment: fairmounterpolo knows much more than a casual neighbor. From his numerous postings, he is a well-connected conservative activist, who has been speculating in African-American neighborhoods for years. Men who possess access to power, have financing and exhibit predatory instincts might be the most dangerous of the gentrifiers.

swinefeld: I'm all a twitter. ;-) I was asking because I drive through Brewerytown almost on a weekly basis trying to find signs of change. I thought I was either looking in the wrong places or B-town was being overly hyped up.

fairmounterpolo: funny story to pass on. having dinner last saturday night in south philly. councilman kenney walks in with his wife. second time i have seen him there in 2 months. my fiancee and i walk over to him, re-introduce ourselves to him, and then i talk about what i am doing about in b-town. how i am trying to buy the pha/rda homes next to mine, etc. he says,"call me. here are my numbers/email.etc. we do constituent service all the time." ... his executive aide called me on monday to get the addresses of what i am trying to get. Phase ... whether i get the properties or not, it was amazing that he reached back. ... (and i can't even get MY OWN councilmanclarke-to return my phone calls....)

Editor' Comment: When was the last time you learned of a long-time resident who was helped by a councilperson to purchase RDA, PHA or city-owned properties? ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

mja iii : I noticed that a building on the west side of Broad below Fairmount Ave. was being converted into condo's. 640 N. Broad. I then saw an ad in the paper for this same conversion project. ... Does this project really give a shot in the arm to the Divine Lorraine project, and in turn, turn N. Broad into the next hot fringe area?

josef: ... they also recently said they're going to do the same 'Avenue of the Arts' idea as on South Broad up there.

niel: I had heard something was up with the Met, but I'm delighted to hear things are actually happening. So many rumored projects never get off the ground.

eldondre: I was poking around behind lofts 640 this weekend. it's really nice back there. there's def'ly money flowing. hahnema got broad st renovations, the phx across the st got a complete face lift, Pafa expanded next door, Roman is now well lit (when I lived up there it was dark and a haven for bums), 511 N. Broad, the school district, Lofts 640, Temple.

Editor' Comment: There was no discussion of the historical significance of the Divine Lorraine hotel in this thread. The projectwould bring luxury condos to that former civil rights complex. Is this giddy aspiration for development at any cost, ignorance of national treasures, contempt for history? ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

rapscallion iv : I see all of the buzz that the two new places on the other side of Fairmount Avenue have generated and wish for something like that at this location [28 th & Poplar – at the ERA Bar and Restaurant]. It' too soon for that now but hopefully it will happen as gentrification pushes out and outposts are established on the fringe. I think that it would have enormous impacts on the quality of life in this part ....

Editor' Comment: These people see the gentrification of our community as inevitable. Observe the use of the word fringes, as though gentrifiers were in a frontier land. Perhaps they would do well to recognize that there are people on those fringeswho are subsidizing the gentrifiers through ever-increasing real estate taxes, while so many of the gentrifiers have 10-years tax abatements. ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

Girard Ave will need to be gentrified before people start crossing into BTown proper. - code name malloy

sparco : I am a resident of Btown Square and know who lives here. There are more families here than what your statement implies... and more moving in as time goes on. Phase 1 construction in a gentrifying area is not exactly 'ideal' for a young family. This area will appeal to more familes once Phase 2 begins

malloy: My point stands....Girard Ave will need to be gentrified (by definition) before people start crossing into BTown proper. That is how this urban stuff typically works and I doubt BTown will be an exception. BTown is one of the most dangerous parts of the most dangerous big city in the US....lets not forget that. m: I hear you. I know of quite a few unreported murders in my old hood...they never made it to the news or paper. That said, you are more likeky to get clapped in BTown over Fishtown... ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

you probably don't want to live on Seybert - code name raider.adam

sandfury vi : Hi all. I am interested in the 21st & Master area. Does anyone here live in that area and have any anecdotal info on what goes on in that 'hood? I am a single female and have some concern about safety, etc.

raider.adam: I live at 21st and Master. Have been for two years now and very involved with the community. I can let you know anything you would like. First piece ... you probably don't want to live on Seybert.

sandfury: Hi Adam. I am looking into buying a shell on the 2100 block of Master. I'd be doing alot of the renovating myself and likely living there alone for a bit, until I could find a roommate (or not).

raider.adam: Get in touch with me. (Email or PM me ... I can give you my phone number.) You can point out the shell you are going to work on and I can take you around the neighborhood and introduce you to some people. I will give you a heads up right now ....

Editor' Comment: Note how helpful gentrifiers are to each other. They clearly identify with each other – even when they know nothing else about each other. ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

Lots more young white artsy-bike messenger types, often coming from or going to the North side of Girard - code name sandfury

brooklyncat vii : I think 29th and Poplar is really fine in terms of safety (as much as anywhere), but it's still an "up and coming" area and doesn't look that pretty.

sandfury: I have seen a demographic shift in my immediate area over the last year. Lots more young white artsy-bike messenger types, often coming from or going to the North side of Girard. For this area, it's ugliness and the nuisance stuff means lower rent. You might be pleasantly surprised to see what the people are like here if you decide to call it home. And then you can laugh as you are able to buy your first house long before your friends as they have been throwing so much money at rent for so long.

Ms. Ann Thorpe: Just because you've been here a few years and potted some flowers doesn't mean you and other recent residents are necessarily a "betterment." There are generations that have preceded you in the neighborhood who have worked hard, raised good children, cleaned their fronts [without organizing a "cleaning day"], and looked out for each other. ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

"Up & coming" indeed. The contributions on this site consistently ignore the history of Fairmount & Brewerytown families. These neighborhoods were not discovered by the "Betterment Coalition.

brooklyncat: My apologies if "up and coming" sounded like an insult. I like the neighborhood very much and have been househunting there.

Ms. Ann Thorpe: the truth is there are plenty here who think they have discovered Fairmount & Brewerytown; like the young professional who was so upset with the older man on my street (who has lived there all his life) because he had the uncouth gall to sit out in his beach chair in the warm weather wearing an a-shirt. I guess he spoiled her "idea" of the perfect street. ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

cafethoughts viii : I've been musing about 29th & Master (Ricky's Jewel Box) and wondering whether y'all think it's a decent spot for a cafe - or whether those blocks to Girard and Brewerytown Square are just too long.

gorilla: 29th street has potential... while there are a lot of eating establishments on Girard. One that is differentiated will do well- whitey is venturing to girard on a regular basis now. if you have a dog your are fine.

gorilla ix : when the word on the street is - the government wants white people to move in... you know something is happening.

earl1003: 10 years ago there was a pretty decent supermarket at 27th and girard, a shop-n-btag, the store closed and reopened twice, lack of whitey support was the reason, the area hasn't changed that much over the years, girard ave is a glass barrier that probably will never breach.

Editor' Comment: That market was unpleasant, poorly maintained, suffered from massive employee theft. It never had significant white support – even during its prosperous days. It closed because it was poorly run, not because there was a lack of white support.

IV. Quotes - Fear of long-time residents I won't be leaving home without my pepper spray. - new resident, code name sparco One of the most common discussion topics is the fear that newcomers have of the long-time residents. With such concerns, it seems reasonable to ask why they would choose to move here. That question, regrettably, is largely answered by the previous section: convenience, profit and the chance for profit. ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

sparco x : I have decided to purchase one of the homes in Brewerytown Square. I don't know about how often it is "patrolled." Once more buildings go up there will be a gated entry way to the housing block/where the rear garages are. I can't say I'm thrilled about the area right now... I sure won't feel as safe as I would when I'm walking around Rittenhouse Sq. but I'm taking the chance. ... P.S. I won't be leaving home without my pepper spray.