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This is the first in a series of weekend meetings aimed at fostering discussion among neighborhood groups about ways to coordinate a response to efforts by private developers to gentrify the largely Hispanic West Side neighborhood. Two more meetings of this sort will take place before scores of citizens converge on the City Planning Commission’s March 18 public hearing concerning the impending 13 acre Rising Sun Mills development project. Rising Sun is dually financed by Baltimore based Struever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse and the local Armory Revival Company who hope to receive the help of federal, state and city tax breaks. The amalgamation of Olneyville residents, who are concerned about the steadily rising rents and ensuing displacements, sit with cups of coffee and homemade brownies discussing the issues surrounding gentrification in their neighborhood. Gentrification is a process by which a lower income neighborhood is converted into a middle class residence. Olneyville’s many abandoned historic mills present major development opportunities for investors. The recent Mill Building Revitalization Act gives tax incentives to the owners of certified mill buildings, lenders making loans to businesses located in the building, and businesses located in the buildings. It is primarily artists who currently occupy the area’s many Mill buildings, and it is their opposition to encroaching development that has dominated recent press. However, there are many others who are being threatened by a general increase in rents throughout the neighborhood, in which 82% of the residential population rent their homes. People at the Saturday meeting, who represent numerous neighborhood organizations, discuss how they can work together to define community goals concerning gentrification, affordable housing, and alternatives to displacement in Olneyville. The featured speakers
at the meeting, Mark Pedulla and Cheryl Lawrence, have come down from
Jamaica Plain, MA to talk about their efforts in the Boston area, through
City Life/Vida Urbana, to protect low income residents from injustices
of the capitalist housing market. Their grassroots organization is committed
to preserving existing affordable housing and pushing for the creation
of more. They have come here to assist residents in assessing the threats
and opportunities that the Rising Sun Mills Project presents for the neighborhood,
and help formulate a course of action to make sure that residents are
engaged in the process of development in their neighborhood. The Sun Also Rises In cities like Chicago, Boston and New York, it has become a popular practice to fashion “hip” residences out of the high ceilings, exposed original brick walls, and hardwood floors of abandoned factory buildings. Amy Bonitz , who spoke to the Independent from the Struever Bros. office in Baltimore, explained that the Rising Sun Mills development is meant to be an “alternative living product at more affordable rates than other new projects down town.” Armory Revival developer Steve Dupre expects area college students, young professionals, and empty nesters bored with suburbia’s numbing serenity, to grab up the housing units. But while Rising Sun promises cheaper rents for these middle income people relative to other new developments downtown, the monthly rents for the spaces, which will probably range from $600 to 1,600 are out of reach for most in a neighborhood where the median family income is only $18,000. Mayor David Ciciline heralds the project as “a dramatic example of the opportunities we can bring to our neighborhoods. The project will offer affordable housing, job creation, and creative and environmentally minded reuse of an historic site.” However, Olneyville resident Anissa Weinraub B’03 contends, “This is not planning with community members in mind,” because Rising Sun is being planned with hopes of drawing wealthier residents to Olneyville, rather than creating housing for the areas current residents. “People like Rising Sun and the smaller incubator project can talk about sustainability until they are blue in the face, but there needs to be a question of: sustainable for whom?” she says. A beautiful day in
the neighborhood It is the hope of many Olneyville residents that they will be able to force developers to pay attention to resident desires for affordable housing, increased ownership occupancy, and job creation. RI Jobs with Justice Director Matthew Jerzyk says that his organization hopes that responsible employers and local contractors, who are committed to the training of local workers, will be hired for the construction. The developers do have some plans to provide housing that will be affordable by current Olneyville standards. Though they are not past the discussion stage, Struever Brothers have committed themselves to trying to work with the OHC to create some equitable development in non-mill buildings around the neighborhood. Dupre revealed that Struever Bros. and the Armory Revival Co, in conjunction with the OHC, plan to purchase about ten or so three flats in the area (or 30 units). One-third of these would be owner occupied and sold at cost, and another one-third would be rent restricted (for between 7 and 10 years), thus providing residents the kind of security that they are desirous of. Amy Bonitz is managing the third of the project that will be devoted to commercial development. One third of the development will be devoted to commercial space that is projected to employ over 300 people involved in what she hopes will be targeted at “arts economies” The Olneyville community is still developing a strategy to have a voice in shaping Rising Sun Mills, and ensuring that the development benefits the community. Many residents have their eyes on the acquisition of the added tax revenue, which can be brought into the community through a government negotiated Tax Increment Financing district (TIF). Residents would like to see the community capture those funds and put them toward the creation of affordable housing units. There are no easy answers for residents of Olneyville, and no certainty for their fate. But citizens are interested in being heard by private investors and city officials. Time will only tell whether the concerns of people threatened by impending gentrification will be addressed. Anissa Weinraub believes that the community response to Rising Sun is just the beginning of a larger movement. “There is a sense that organizing needs to surpass and continue beyond the time that the foundation is poured. That we are not just organizing around Rising Sun. It is about Olneyville in general, and more broadly, about the ways in which real estate is happening in the state of Rhode Island.” Rachel Terp B’04,
O! Cha! |
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Hill Independent
last updated 03 14 03
