its hard to care about people who don't care for themselves. support HONGKONG!
I am an Army retiree and have just relocated, again, to the Augusta area. It was with some surprise, then, that I read about recent events affecting Mercy Ministries "Mercy Ministries ordered to leave," Aug. 9) and, in particular, about the organization HONGKONG, or Harrisburg Organization Networking for Gentrification to Keep Our Neighborhood from becoming a Ghetto.
When I read about this community organization I was confused by one of the words in the acronym. I did not know what "gentrification" meant. So, I looked it up. I discovered it has a strongly negative connotation. Surveys conducted in communities where gentrification has occurred all point to extremely bad effects, particularly on the poorer residents who are forced out because of rising costs.
And the positive effects are limited to lining the pocketbooks of wise investors. They exploit a lucrative market, not caring that ultimately it reverts to an impoverished state. These effects bear most horrifically on the poor and disadvantaged -- the very population that Mercy Ministries serves.
But gentrification need not do so. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an excellent article on how to incorporate the existing residents in the community and to provide meaningful assistance. However, the comments attributed to HONGKONG founder Butch Palmer indicate that his goals mirror sometimes racist and always anti-poor goals that are the most negative aspects of gentrification.
It is such a negative image and so detrimental to the community that compels me to write, and to encourage all in the greater Augusta community to resist his efforts. Augusta has been and should be a proud city. It also should be one where every person is welcome, and where social consciousness includes genuine concern for one another.
Larry Essick
Harlem
Comments
its hard to care about people who don't care for themselves. support HONGKONG!
I personally applaud Butch Palmer in his efforts to help his neighborhood. Mr. Essick, if you have genuine concern for the population served by Mercy Ministries, why don't you invite them to live with you in your home.
Poor doesn't cause problems; sin does. Much poverty is caused by envy of the rich, Un-deserved judgements of the rich made by the poor come back on the one making the judgement.
Since the word gentrification distubs the writer, let's consider it. It is the buying of old houses in a neighborhood by someone who renovates them possibly as an investment, possibly to live in. That's capitalism, free market working for the betterment of a neighborhood. Does it displace the existing residents...probably. But consider the alternative. Either the neighborhood is left alone in a squalid condition or the houses are improved with the residents staying and paying the same rent as before. Do either one of those scenarios seem right? If keeping the current residents there by some government edict is deemed a good thing wouldn't all housing then be controlled by the government. Who lives where would be decided by administrators regardless of the capitalistic forces that determine rents. Would you want to own one of those houses, Mr. Essick?
Well Larry, the proof is in the pudding. Go on down there and invite some of the homeless over to your house until they are back on their feet. Oh yeah if you can't fins the hoeless, a few drug dealers probably need counseling, so go over around 10:00 at night and do some heart-to-heart counceling with them. I am sure they would love to hear from you. Now that would show genuine concern for one another.
Riverman1 - don't give Obama any new ideas. Next he will try to control our neighborhoods and who lives where.
Larry, you approach the Harrisburg problem with the perspective of a hard left social worker in this letter. You miss the point that Harrisburg will not improve without resident involvement, and taking action to draw more of the type resident that the community is trying to rid itself of is just counterproductive. Mercy Ministries seems to have a positive goal, but not for Harrisburg.
I wonder if this is the article Mr.Essick mentioned? http://www.cdc.gov/HEALTHYPLACES/healthtopics/gentrification.htm
This article has an extensive biography.
The problem with society is we have accepted poor to mean dirty and criminal. Just because a person is poor doesn't mean they can't keep a clean house with a maintained lawn and not committ crimes. They are mutually exclusive to me so we can have gentrification just keep the criminals out it is ok to have low income homes for the poor. But if the poor choose to let criminals hang out and not keep their property maintained they should be booted out.
I can appreciate wanting to stop crime in your neighborhood. Go to Butch's website and you will see he is a certifiiable nut. Plus I can understand misspelling on these posts since folks are usually rapidly posting and doing something else at the same time (Lord knows I do it all the time, I have a lot of hinckey keys on the laptop). However, if you have a website ranting about "welfare queens" and the "ghetto" and want to gentrify the area by bringing in more educated upscale people you might want to proofread your website, ie."Summerville Nieghborhood Association". Of course it could be a "mute" point as Butch would say.
concerned: I agree with you totally. There's no rule that says with money comes class.
Larry, if you are so concerned about Harrisburg, maybe you need to retire somewhere else. Support HONKONG!
concernednative, only the government thinks the poor are without class, except on voting day, but that isn't what this LTE is about.
"certifiiable nut" ? More like "Narcissistic Psychopath" (Google it). More than average back-stabbing, self-serving greed. Stay away. You might be near when the ground begins to open up. No insult here. I'm sure hearing about himself in any light is enjoyable. Why does the AC print a letter about this from a guy in Harlem?
opiner, yes it does it accuses Palmer of being anti-poor. I am saying they are lumping the poor as the same as those without class as you put it.
I thought this was about gentrification? The real narcissist is the amateur psychologist who attacks someone doing something he is opposed to with ill understood, psychobabble. We continue to teach people to be more and more reliant on government and in a sense, never grow up. Thus some demand to live in houses, owned by others, they can't pay for. They are victims if they have to move some place where they can pay the rent themselves. This sense of entitlement means if it doesn't happen, the rightful owner is a bad person. Distorted thinking.
Tech - What is so wrong with wanting to keep thugs, drug addicts, prostitutes, drug dealers, etc. out of your neighborhood. You call Butch Palmer a certifiable nut. Do you know him? I don't know the man so I will not resort to name calling. It is not necessary. I can, however, guarantee that if you start having drug dealers, prostitutes, addicts, and thugs move into your neighborhood, you will wish you were a little bit certifiable like he is. But then again, maybe you would like those kind of people in your neighborhood.
Gentrification is merely a proactive response to the natural process of ghettofication that happens in an urban area with Augusta's demographics. Regardless of any other views Mr. Palmer may have, I applaud his effort to attempt to battle the drug dealers and thugs that have invaded this once pleasant neighborhood. As our federal, state, and local governments continue to poor more and more of our taxpayer dollars into subsidized housing and Fannie and Freddie force banks to make mortgage loans to unqualified buyers more and more of the neighborhoods in RC will face the same problems Harrisburg is dealing with now.
roesch: Reread my post. i said, "I can appreciate wanting to stop crime in your neighborhood." Read his website and you'll understand the "nut" part. As far as I know we don't have any drug dealers, prostitutes, addicts, and thugs around us, but we live on 15 acres, as do those around us, except for one who lives on around 200 acres, and the cow pasture that's probably around 100 acres. Those cows do make all kinds of noise night and day so I'm not sure exactly what they're up to. As long as they keep it to themselves, I don't have a problem with them. One did wander into our yard one day but I couldn't tell if she was on drugs.
Tech - the way things are going, you better be careful. The government might think you have too much land and decide you should share it with those who cannot afford as much. Then you may wish there was less government. Or, the government might decide to build a school, Bi-Lo or something else like a Safe House on your land and seize it. Watch the pimps and drug pushers move in then. However, I cannot tell by a web-site if someone is a nut case or not. From the sound of it, some people who post on here are nut cases.
Roeschem, you stated, "if you start having drug dealers, prostitutes, addicts, and thugs move into your neighborhood, you will wish you were a little bit certifiable like he is." Wake up call. Every neighborhood in America has this. lol.
Nope, not my neighborhood, charlie. Don't know where you live.
How dare Butch Palmer and supporters of HONGKONG try to clean up neighborhood blight and rid themselves of houses that are not up to code and rid themselves of the criminal element. He must be a nut or a racist as some of the eloquent liberals have labelled him since he wants people to be held accountable.
Know what Ode, that is so true it is funny. LOL. Here we are debating people trying to clean up a neighborhood. Only in the new, "changed" America.
Not in my neighborhood either. But then of course, we are all educated poeple here. Notice I did not say all white. Nor did I say all older - I said educated and we all have jobs. Even the lady next door to me who is 70 volunteers her time for the Red Cross.
All I know for sure, is that if Palmer carried on in 30906 the way he is down there, he would have been targeted for harassment and worse, and ASAP made to look like HE was the problem instead of someone trying to save the neighborhood. The drug traffickers up in 30906 don't want anyone messing with their customers. Even if he never said one foul, prejudiced or racist thing, they would have made something up to make him look bad, to protect their interests. I've never been a name-caller, prejudiced or a racist, but that didn't stop them from lying about it.
I get what the writer is saying about "gentrification" having negative connotations. Ideally, it wouldn't, but in real life, things have sometimes gone awry when "gentrifying" a neighborhood.
Larry Essick and Tech lover, y'all reject Roeschen's gullibility about the welfare queens and use our evolved empathy for the poor. That is why then young B. Hussein Obama was a community organizer! Why should rational people accept the notion that the poor will always be with us as that cult leader said!
I think he is on to something. Instead of gentrification we should instead push for ghettofication. Perhaps the government should buy up all of the forclosed homes on market, leave them vacant with signs on the front door clearly identifying it as a home slated for ghettofication. and let nature take it's course. In a relatively short time we could provide 1000's of blighted neighborhoods. Nice existing homes would fall in value and become affordable to the less advantaged. New home construction would skyrocket as "more advantaged' people fled these neighborhoods, stimulating the economy and providing jobs. New territory would be opened up for struggling pimps, prostitutes, and drug dealers providing many more jobs for the disadvantaged youth who move into the area. Dang, this is brilliant.
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