Contact: Helen “Homefries” Matthews, Communications Manager, City Life/Vida Urbana, Darnell Johnson, Coordinator of Right to The City Boston coalition, (617) 858-6116
Saturday, March 23rd — On a windy early Spring day, about two hundred fifty people filed into the sanctuary of the First Church of Roxbury, many wearing colorful t-shirts that proudly pronounced affiliations with various grassroots neighborhood groups around Boston. Others wandered into the space for the first time, curious about the experiment in democracy that was afoot.
The gathering was the second in a series of popular assemblies aimed at crafting a “Boston People’s Plan” for the future of housing in the city. The series is planned to stretch through December, 2019, including five gatherings in total.
Ten neighborhood groups which are led by residents impacted by the city’s displacement crisis – including Dorchester is Not For Sale and Reclaim Roxbury among others – are planning the assemblies and helping to scaffold the emerging vision for equitable housing. The groups work together in a coalition called Right to The City Boston.
“The power we are building, we are building together, led by the people most impacted by displacement” said Mimi Ramos of New England United for Justice while facilitating the assembly.At the kickoff of the series of gatherings last September, three core tenets of the Boston People’s Plan emerged – that special zones should be established in vulnerable areas of the city to protect residents from displacement, that half of all new housing in Boston should be affordable, and that neighborhood resident boards should be established (where non-existant) and empowered in the face of
redevelopment.
“We now have 3 ongoing working committees that are really helping us tease out these demands between the assemblies,” saidRamos.
At this latest gathering, participants broke out into several smaller groups by neighborhood. Each group tackled questions such as “Where should anti-displacement zones be located?” and “How can new housing be funded so that half of it can be affordable?” The breakout groups shared and prioritized proposed answers to these questions.
The next assembly in the Boston People’s Plan series is scheduled for Saturday, June 29th.
Helen “Homefries” Matthews, Communications Coordinator, City Life/Vida Urbana
