“Alcalde, escucha, estamos en la lucha: no más condominios.”

Los inquilinos en un edificio del vecindario de Hyde Park al enfrentar una conversión de sus apartamentos a condominios decidieron que era tiempo de salir a las calles e invitar a sus vecinos. La Organización Metropolitana de Inquilinos invitó a inquilinos de STOP de la comunidad vecina de Woodlawn a juntarse a la marcha contra los condominios. Ebonee Stevenson, organizadora de STOP y miembra de la Asociación de Inquilinos de Kimbark habló al final de la marcha, diciendo que, “mis vecinos y yo nos organizamos para prevenir que los cinco edificios subsidiados en Woodlawn en los cuales vivimos fueran convertidos en condominios el año pasado. También presionamos al departamento de alojamiento y desarrollo urbano (HUD) para que los dueños repararan nuestros apartamentos. Los inquilinos de todas partes tenemos que estar juntos para defender nuestros hogares.”

“¡Inquilinos, unidos, jamás serán vencidos!”

Dos días después, en el Día Internacional de los Derechos de Vivienda, (el 2 de octubre), inquilinos de STOP con la Asociación de Iquilinos de Washington Scene se juntaron con otros miembros de STOP y aliados de toda la ciudad para protestar frente la sede de East Lake Management en la Avenida Michigan. Hartos de ventanas agujereadas, pasillos arruinados, y ascensores rotos, los inquilinos decidieron que tres meses de demandas no-cumplidas significaba que había llegado la hora de tomar acción. “Yo creo que la marcha en contra de East Lake les mostró que no estamos jugando, que hablamos en serio,” dijo la inquilina Brenda Blanks. Los inquilinos aún están enojados porque East Lake solamente ha cumplido algunas de sus demandas. “Pues sí, cumplieron la demanda de mejor seguridad, cambiando compañías de seguridad, pero ya estamos en noviembre y sólo han cambiado una ventana. Me dijeron a mi que pondrían nueva alfombra pero sólo cuando el contratista termine en otro lado. Esta lucha no ha acabado,” dice la Sra. Blanks.

Inquilinos en el edificio municipal de Chicago: “¡No desplazen a los pobres!”

El miércoles de esa misma semana, inquilinos de STOP se juntaron con Beauty Turner, líder de el Movimiento Milenario de los Pobres y escritora de varios periódicos locales, para llevar la lucha al edificio municipal de Chicago. “Estamos aquí para decirles que ya no manden su basura vergonzosa a los suburbios, que ya no desplazen a los pobres de la ciudad,” dijo la Sra. Turner. Inquilinos de vivienda pública y viviendas subsidiadas denunciaron las políticas que están desplazando los pobres de la ciudad. Explicaron a la prensa injusticias como la destrucción de alojamiento público, las restricciones enfrentadas por los recipientes de certificados de subsidios de vivienda, y la exclusión de las voces de inquilinos en las decisiones que les afectan en proyectos subsidiados como Grove Parc Plaza Apartments. “Nosotros, el pueblo, necesitamos estar más conscientes de lo que está pasando políticamente a nuestro alrededor, de quién tiene la autoridad y quién está tomando las decisiones. No debemos creer que los dueños y gerentes respetarán los derechos de sus inquilinos. Estos son nuestros hogares pero sólo es trabajo para ellos. No sólo nos estamos uniendo por una causa justa de vivienda, nos estamos uniendo por el bien de la humanidad,” dice la Sra. Annette Williams, una inquilina de Grove Parc.

Inquilinos de Grove Parc Apartments: “Estamos retomando nuestro poder.”

Una semana después varios inquilinos representando la Asociación de Inquilinos de Grove Parc fueron al Hotel Palmer House Hilton donde políticos, oficiales y bancos se estaban reuniendo en la Conferencia Nacional de Vivienda, pero fueron sacados del hotel sólo por su intento de entregar una carta y peticiones a Alphonso Jackson, el secretario nacional del departamento de Alojamiento de Desarrollo Urbano (HUD). A pesar de eso, las peticiones y la carta llegaron directamente al Sr. Jackson de todas formas. El HUD está amenazando con cerrar los 500 apartamentos de Grove Parc por las condiciones pero los inquilinos se están organizando para asegurar que sus voces sean escuchadas de principio a fin y que se preserven los subsidios. Los inquilinos están exigiendo un asiento en la mesa con los dueños (una organización que se llama WPIC), la Universidad de Chicago (que tiene dos representantes que son directores de WPIC), y HUD. El presidente del Consejo de Inquilinos de los edificios 740 y 742 en Grove Parc, Lonnie Richardson comenta que, “Lo más positivo es que hemos formado un equipo de liderazgo y que los apartamentos con familias se están organizando y que nos estamos uniendo. Estamos haciendo esto por nosotros mismos, levantando nuestras propias voces. La razón por la cual estamos en estas condiciones es por que estamos en edificios como Grove Parc; la gerencia hace lo que quiere si el pueblo se deja. Estamos protestando y uniéndonos para exigir que nos escuchen, y ellos no creen que podemos hacer eso, creen que los pobres estamos arruinando el edificio, nunca ven el lado positivo de la comunidad. Pero estamos retomando nuestro poder.”

#ChicagoIL #PoorPeoplesMovements #STOP

Here is what some of those marching with STOP had to say:

Angalique Rollins, 14-year-old high school student in Woodlawn

“I thought it was a great example of people working together to make something better in the world. Some people thought it wasn’t really important, but I told them it was something to really fight for because some of these people look just like your family and your friends so why wouldn’t you go support them? I heard a lot of people talking about how, ‘OK they can go and do that but if black people went down there they would get beat up,’ so the people in my neighborhood weren’t that positive but I think it is a great thing to go fight for. Some people looked surprised that there were black people out there but they looked like they were happy that we were there. I think that building coalitions is really great, this city and the world needs different races to come together.”

Wardell Lavender, 65-year-old Woodlawn activist:

“The march was beautiful, everybody marched like soldiers for the struggle for all peoples. We have to do it that way, together as one. The African-Americans and Latinos need to march side by side. This might give people in our community an initiative to unite just like the Latinos, so we can show force in numbers. People sometimes say that, ‘they’re just coming to take our jobs, they should stay in their country,’ but some people begin to understand that people from all over the world are being displaced and need to look for a country that can offer a job, something so they can take care of their family – where there’s opportunity they go. I think that it is important that Latino and African-American communities unite and not have this stereotype that ‘they’re taking our jobs away,’ we need to get over that fear, that stereotype and realize that we are stronger together.”

Lonnie Richardson, 66-year-old tenant council president:

“I was glad to be a part of this. The experience I had seeing the different nationalities of people, that’s one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. It gave a lot of energy being there as a group, we learned how to shout slogans in Spanish, and being there with our kids I learned a lot and was impressed with how much they learned. The immigrants being used as cheap labor takes me back to how this country was built on our backs as black people through slavery. The government’s been on the backs of people of color and it’s about time we demonstrate that we’re all tired of it.”

Ebonee Stevenson, organizer:

“This was one of the most kick-ass events I have participated in in my whole life. It’s hard when you work in one individual organization in one small little community but when you see people from all over come together for a common cause it’s just great to know that you’re not alone in the fight.”

#ChicagoIL #News #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #HousingStruggles #tenantsRights #STOP #immigrantRights

But people who thought the cycle of deterioration and gentrification was inevitable are being woken up by the thump of marching feet and the choruses of voices that refuse to be silenced. Tenants with the Student/Tenant Organizing Project (STOP) are taking action against the deterioration and displacement caused by city officials like Mayor Daley, private developers like East Lake Management and large institutions like the University of Chicago.

“Mayor Daley needs to know, condo conversion’s got to go!”

Tenants in a building in the Hyde Park neighborhood facing a condo conversion decided it was time to take it to the streets and invite along their neighbors. The Metropolitan Tenants Organization invited STOP-organized tenants in the neighboring Woodlawn community to join them in a march against condo conversions, Sept. 30.

After the march, STOP organizer and Kimbark Tenants Association member Ebonee Stevenson spoke at the rally, telling the crowd, “Me and my neighbors organized and stopped our five subsidized buildings in Woodlawn from going condo last year and forced HUD to step in and make the owners fix our apartments. Tenants everywhere need to stand together to defend our homes.”

“Ignore us once, ignore us twice, East Lake’s askin’ for a fight!”

On International Housing Rights day, Oct. 2, STOP tenants from Washington Square Tenants Association were joined by other STOP members and allies from around the city for a protest at East Lake Management’s Michigan Avenue headquarters. Fed up with leaky windows, unfinished hallways and broken elevators, tenants decided that three months of unanswered demands meant it was time to make themselves heard.

“I think the march on East Lake showed them that we’re not playing and that we mean business,” said tenant Brenda Blanks. Tenants are still angry because East Lake has only addressed a few of their concerns. “Yeah they are meeting our demand for better security by replacing the security company, but here is November and they’ve only replaced one window. They told me they will replace my carpet, but only once their contractor is done somewhere else. This struggle isn’t over yet,” says Ms. Blanks.

Tenants at City Hall: “Don’t push out the poor!”

On Oct 4, STOP tenants joined Beauty Turner, leader of the Poor People’s Millennium Movement to take the fight to City Hall. “We’re here to tell you, stop sending your shameful waste to the suburbs, stop pushing the poor out of the city,” said Ms. Turner. Public housing as well as subsidized housing tenants denounced the policies that are pushing the poor out of the city. They told the press about injustices such as tearing down of public housing, restricting where Section 8 voucher holders can move and cutting out subsidized tenants’ voices from decisions that are affecting their lives at project-based complexes like Grove Parc Plaza Apartments.

“We the people need to be more conscious and aware of what’s going on politically around us and who’s in authority and who really is saying what is to be did and not just take for granted that someone who owns or manages property will do right by their tenants. This is our homes, but just a job for them. We aren’t just coming together for a just cause concerning housing we are coming together for the sake of humanity,” says Ms. Annette Williams, a tenant at Grove Parc.

HUD tenants at Grove Parc Apartments: “We’re taking our power back”

A week later several tenants representing the Grove Parc Tenants Association went to the Palmer House Hilton Hotel where policymakers and banks were holding the National Housing Conference. They were kicked out just for trying to deliver a letter and petitions to Alphonso Jackson, the Bush-appointed national secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The petitions and letter made their way directly onto Mr. Jackson’s lap nonetheless.

HUD is threatening to foreclose on the 500-unit Grove Parc Apartments because of conditions but tenants are organizing to make sure their voices are heard from start to finish and that the subsidies are preserved. Tenants are demanding a seat at the table with the owners (an organization called WPIC), the University of Chicago (which has two representatives on the WPIC’s board) and HUD.

Tenant Council president for the 740 and 742 buildings at Grove Parc, Lonnie Richardson, says, “The positive thing is that we have gotten this leadership team together now, and now that the family units have started organizing and then we’re coming together as one to unite. We are doing things for ourselves, raising our own voices. The reason we are in the shape we are in now is because at complexes like Grove Parc management does anything they want to if people let it happen. Protesting and coming together like this to demand a seat at the table, they don’t think we can do this, they think the low-income are tearing it down, they don’t ever see the positive side of the community. But we are taking our power back.”

#ChicagoIL #CapitalismAndEconomy #HousingStruggles #tenantsRights #STOP #ParcGrove