|
|
|
Today in protests!
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Today in protests!
Intrepid CP contributor Daniel Schwartz went to some protest today that we didn't even know about, and wrote about it. So here's his report.
Today, at 11 a.m., the Poor Peopleâs Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) led a protest against the wave of foreclosures sweeping across Philadelphia and the rest of the country. National Organizer for the PPEHRC, Cheri Honkala, directed the protest at Sixth and Arch, assembling more than 60 individuals and representatives from local groups like the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Casino Free Philadelphia, and Pennâs anti-poverty activist group, Penn Haven.
With the housing crisis hitting poor homeowners especially hard, hundreds of thousands across the country have either had their houses foreclosed or are vulnerable to going "underwater.â Explaining the protest, Honkala pulls out a barrage of statistics. "Every 13 seconds, a house goes into foreclosure here in Philadelphia.â Depending on whose statistics you look at, anywhere from 10,000 to 16,000 Philadelphia homeowners have been evicted due to foreclosure since the markets crashed last year. In a recent New York Times article Philadelphiaâs primary civil court received accolades for providing the nationâs most successful foreclosure reconciliation program. But Honkala disputes the notion. "Itâs not that Philadelphia has been the best at preventing foreclosure, itâs that weâve been the best at delaying it.â Honkala exhales with exasperation and asks, "Is it really so great that we know how to drag out the inevitable?â
Tim, a worker for the Kensington Welfare Rights Union describes the situation as madness. "You have a stressed-out banking system that somehow makes it cheaper to foreclose on a homeowner rather than modify their loan payments. You can use all the economic theory you want to justify that fact, but at the end of the day, itâs insane.â Other protesters, like Jimmy Tobias from Penn Haven, chanted about the city having more vacant properties than homeless people. "How does our government justify a commitment to spend billions bailing out the banks and on the Afghan War but canât find the money to house its own citizens?â
The protesters marched and rolled in wheelchairs from the Federal building to Sixth and Market where they clogged the busy crossroads. Police threatened to arrest the activists as they blocked all four sides of the intersection before the crowd finally consolidated and traffic resumed.
"If the situation doesnât change,â Honkala called through her megaphone, "weâll be back here in late January with at least 1,000 people. Thatâs a promise.â
Good on ya! Give those greedy rich guys hell.
Thank you for publicizing this, Daniel.
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
