We must ask what will be the benefits and the implications of walled-off cooperative apartments whose inhabitants are not going to be encouraged to draw from community resources. Instead of revitalizing Vernon Boulevard and joining our community, the new neighborhood is encouraged to exist in a parasitic relationship with the community, taxing its transportation and environmental systems without being true contributing members. This is the same phenomenon that is ruining our downtowns and mainstreets throughout the country.
Some speculators will be happy. But those of us in danger of being displaced by rising rents, should observe how we have let consensus be manufactured by those institutions such as HUD, that were originally designed to safeguard and promote community interests.2 Even before the waterfront development has been completed, the neighborhood has seen a surge in rent increases. By the end of 1996, my own rent will have risen by 40% over the amount I originally paid in 1993. Many local tenants, first attracted to the neighborhood as a place friendly to artists, artisans, and educators, are rapidly becoming disillusioned, as their concerns are ignored in favor of business and real estate interests.
1Jurgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1993.)
2Minimum income needed to purchase the smallest unit (483 sq. ft) is approximately $34,000 with a maintenance of $850.00 (not including utilities), according to information listed in the Coalition newsletter (above information was obtained by the Coalition under the Freedom of Information Act).
By Elizabeth Pallitto, Hunters Point Resident
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