Love didn’t faze the Redevelopment Authority, which labeled the Black Bottom “blighted” to invoke the right of “eminent domain” in 1966. “I come from a place where I had no love.my whole community showed me love,” says long-time activist Gerald Bolling, who grew up in the Black Bottom and has insisted on reparations for over 30 years. In 1959 the West Philadelphia Corporation – with Penn the majority shareholder – formed to redevelop West Philly as “University City.” Working with the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, the Corporation targeted the 105 acres between 34th and 40th Streets, stretching from Chestnut and Ludlow Streets in the south to Lancaster and Powelton Avenues in the north, for “renewal.” This was the Black Bottom, a vibrant Black working-class community that took care of its own. Indeed, the struggle to stop Penn-trification led to the creation of the University City Townhomes in the first place.
However, a closer look at the local history reveals that Penn community members also have a vital role to play in resisting this violence. Neither “natural” nor “inevitable,” such forced displacements are the result of concrete choices made by city and Penn administrators past and present. Those who hold federal Section 8 vouchers face a closed waiting list 40,000 households long. The eviction is scheduled for July 2022, and residents will confront Philadelphia’s extreme shortage of low-income housing. University City’s insatiable expansion has ensured that the site now constitutes “prime real estate.” Developers contemplate demolishing the Townhomes in favor of yet another mixed-use building boasting luxury condominiums, commercial space, or science labs. In 2021 the Altman Group announced plans to sell the Townhomes, refusing to renew its affordable-housing subsidies. Just blocks off campus, the University City Townhomes at 3900-3999 Market Street are a private development of federally subsidized units, offering below-market rates to residents, some of whom have lived there a lifetime. New York: Dover Publications, c1976.As we write, 69 homes in “University City” and hundreds of Black and working-class residents are Penn-trification’s next target. Reprinted in: Old Philadelphia in early photographs, 1839-1914/edited by Robert F. Steeple of Old Swedes'Ĭhurch in the background, along with Navy Yard, waterfront warehouses and docks, tall ships on the river. Left corner, in the foreground, Bethel Baptist Church.
Residential and commercial buildings along streets. 14) looks down upon the intersection of 2nd and Christian Streets and Moyamensing Avenue."-OPEP, p.įor commercial image use please contact Bridgeman Art, Īerial southeast view of the city, facing the Delaware River. 13) is along Carpenter Street, and the northwest view (No. 11 and 12) above Old Swedes' Church (with the white spire) and Bethel Baptist Church in Front Street. The tall ship houses and dry dock of the Navy Yard, and the waterfront warehouses and docks are visible in the east and east-southwest views (Nos. "The old city as viewed from Sparks' shot tower, located not far from Old Swedes' Church in Southwark, appeared to be busy and crowded with residences as well as buildings for trade and commerce. Additional Title: East southeast from shot tower, January 1870 Media Type:
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