Redevelopment Stall Article

So there's another article. Sadly not everyone is represented again, but at least this time it sounds like the writer actually visited the area. She represented the voices of a building owner next door who lost all of his tenants and owes taxes on a building that provides him with no income at this point.

It is terrible and insane. There is a salon two doors down from me that moved when we were first strong armed in the Spring. They are $10,000 in debt from the move and have received none of it, as promised. It makes me wonder if moving then would have been a blessing or not. I'm stuck here. Maria (the tailor) and I discuss how terrible business is. How no cars come by. How residents stop in to discuss how depressing it is. That state of mind is really not the best for customers.

So where are the voices of those of us left here hanging on? As of now, on this side of the block (the first to get "redeveloped") there are only two. Two of us. And no one has heard from us yet. Finally the people that moved and got screwed are being heard. I am glad for that. It makes me realize I am not alone in my hard place - a suffering business that may never recover. I myself have had to take on other jobs to support myself. The business had accounted for classes, for long term advertising, for lots of things that I have been unable to commit to thanks to the town's fantasies over dollar bills.

Move? What an investment. I would need help, and it is clear now that those who thought they would get help were wrong. Close? I would lose such a part of me and walk away with so much debt from these last few months - again assistance would be helpful. Stay open? I am defaulting on so many of my financial obligations I can't even afford a telephone anymore. It is near impossible to be here, but near impossible to move on.

This is supposed to be my life, my passion, my business. This is supposed to be a community of local supporters, patrons, businesses, and more that all contribute to culture. The culture now is my suffering shop and the homeless people on the street being harassed who I do everything I can to help. I understand more about displacement now and I refuse to allow people to be displaced from the only place they have left.

The town has chosen money over its own people in so many ways.