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• Archived Blog Post

  Date / Time: 3/19/2009 2:10 AM UTC

  THEY SAID GENTRIFY AND THE HOMELESS SAID OCCUPY
  

  ACTION ALERT:
  They say gentrify... WE SAY OCCUPY.(SPREAD THE WORD!!!)
  
  Homeless people are taking over.
  
  Please rally in solidarity with homeless folks who are fighting back against property warehousing. El Barrio/East Harlem is full of vacant buildings and lots, which are owned by private landlords as well as
  the city, at the same time as rents—and homelessness— continue to climb. In fact, the borough of Manhattan contains enough vacant
  properties to house every homeless family in the city! EL BARRIO SAYS ENOUGH. On Thursday, homeless people will be stepping up the pressure.
  
  “If they fixed up all these buildings and put homeless people in them, I wouldn’t be stuck in a shelter with my kids,” said Picture the Homeless member Lisa Davall. “You can’t imagine the things I’ve been through as a result of being in the shelter. And it’s crazy that with all the people who need housing in this city, no one has done anything
  about all these boarded-up buildings.”
  
  SOLIDARITY RALLY
  Thursday, March 19. 12 NOON Meet us at 116th and Lexington (6 train to 116th)
  For more information, contact Joe at 646-314-6423 or joe@picturethehomel ess.org.
  
  We'll be twittering from inside and outside the building - follow us at http://twitter. com/pthny - please re-tweet, and use hashtag #bldgtakeover
  for all discussion of the event!
  
  For years, homeless people have been organizing to force the city to deal with the massive quantities of vacant property throughout the five boroughs. Mayor Bloomberg won't do anything about the problem, so homeless people are taking matters into their own hands. PTH Board Member Jean Rice says “The current city administration has
  demonstrated that it has no concern for anyone other than the business elite. The current mayor marches to the drumbeat of New York City's status quo. He has failed to understand that being the mayor of New York City is a job for a public administrator whose mandate is the common good. In conclusion, this mayor's tenure has only benefited less than 20% of New York City's citizenry. Picture the Homeless hopes that this mayor will step outside of his comfort zone and and become a public administrator instead of being a CEO.”
  • Tags:
  • HOMELESS
  • PEOPLE
  • SOLIDARITY
  • CHANGE
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