Monday, April 26, 2010
Insights from Georgette Norman
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In Montgomery the March to Fulfill the Dream met up with Georgette Norman, the director of the Rosa Parks Museum and she graciously share with us some of her wisdom.
Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, gardening, georgette norman, march to fulfill the dream, montgomery, PPEHRC, rosa parks, USSF 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tues, Feb 23rd: Homelessness Marathon Begins at 7PM
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BROADCAST TO ASK, "WHY NOT END HOMELESSNESS NOW?"
13th Annual Homelessness Marathon begins 7 p.m., EST, Tues. Feb 23rd
and run for 14 hours until 9 a.m., EST, Wed. Feb. 24th
"We have a mindset in this country that homelessness is a problem that can wait," comments Jeremy Weir Alderson, founder of the Homelessness Marathon, "but it's a dire emergency for the people who are homeless, a drain on our economy, and a stain on our national honor. We ought to solve this problem, and we could if we would only turn our attention to it."
The Homelessness Marathon will address the problem of homelessness by speaking directly with homeless people, who will give their first-hand testimony on how they became homeless and the obstacles they face before they can be housed again.
Hundreds of homeless people will be brought by bus (in rotating shifts) so that they can participate in this event and speak directly to the nation. They will be brought by shelters, advocacy groups, and grass roots organizations formed by homeless people themselves.
The broadcast will feature, as well, such speakers as Senator Carl Levin; Ron Gettlefinger, president of the United Auto Workers; and two of America's most outstanding anti-poverty advocates, Cheri Honkala, director of the Poor Peoples' Economic Human Rights Campaign and Paul Boden, director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project.
Prominent advocates from Detroit will participate, including Rev. Faith Fowler, director of Cass Community Social Services and Maureen Taylor, the state chairperson of Michigan Welfare Rights Organization.
Experts from elsewhere in the country will also participate, including Kathleen Johnson, director of Katrina Relief in Mississippi and Mike Rhodes, editor of the Community Alliance newspaper in Fresno, California, arguably, the cruelest city in America towards its homeless citizens.
The broadcast will originate from 12025 Woodrow Wilson St., a "green gym" recently opened by Cass Community Social Services for the use of its homeless clients. Detroit area radio stations participating in the broadcast will include, WHFR in Dearborn, the broadcast's host station; WHPR in Highland Park and CJAM in Windsor, Ontario.
The Homelessness Marathon is a consciousness-raising not a fund-raising broadcast. There will be no on-air solicitations.
More information about the broadcast can be found at: http://www.homelessnessmarathon.org.
Acclaim for the broadcast can be found at:
http://homelessnessmarathon.org/2008/2009/thank-yous-acclaim.html
To donate to the Homelessness Marathon go to:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=8154
13th Annual Homelessness Marathon begins 7 p.m., EST, Tues. Feb 23rd
and run for 14 hours until 9 a.m., EST, Wed. Feb. 24th
"We have a mindset in this country that homelessness is a problem that can wait," comments Jeremy Weir Alderson, founder of the Homelessness Marathon, "but it's a dire emergency for the people who are homeless, a drain on our economy, and a stain on our national honor. We ought to solve this problem, and we could if we would only turn our attention to it."
The Homelessness Marathon will address the problem of homelessness by speaking directly with homeless people, who will give their first-hand testimony on how they became homeless and the obstacles they face before they can be housed again.
Hundreds of homeless people will be brought by bus (in rotating shifts) so that they can participate in this event and speak directly to the nation. They will be brought by shelters, advocacy groups, and grass roots organizations formed by homeless people themselves.
The broadcast will feature, as well, such speakers as Senator Carl Levin; Ron Gettlefinger, president of the United Auto Workers; and two of America's most outstanding anti-poverty advocates, Cheri Honkala, director of the Poor Peoples' Economic Human Rights Campaign and Paul Boden, director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project.
Prominent advocates from Detroit will participate, including Rev. Faith Fowler, director of Cass Community Social Services and Maureen Taylor, the state chairperson of Michigan Welfare Rights Organization.
Experts from elsewhere in the country will also participate, including Kathleen Johnson, director of Katrina Relief in Mississippi and Mike Rhodes, editor of the Community Alliance newspaper in Fresno, California, arguably, the cruelest city in America towards its homeless citizens.
The broadcast will originate from 12025 Woodrow Wilson St., a "green gym" recently opened by Cass Community Social Services for the use of its homeless clients. Detroit area radio stations participating in the broadcast will include, WHFR in Dearborn, the broadcast's host station; WHPR in Highland Park and CJAM in Windsor, Ontario.
The Homelessness Marathon is a consciousness-raising not a fund-raising broadcast. There will be no on-air solicitations.
More information about the broadcast can be found at: http://www.homelessnessmarathon.org.
Acclaim for the broadcast can be found at:
http://homelessnessmarathon.org/2008/2009/thank-yous-acclaim.html
To donate to the Homelessness Marathon go to:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=8154
Labels: Carl Levin, Cheri Honkala, Homelessness Marathon, Kathleen Johnson, Maureen Taylor, Mike Rhodes, MWRO, Paul Boden, PPEHRC, Rev. Faith Folwer, Ron Gettlefinger, WRAP
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Philadelphia Weekly: Fighting Against Foreclosures
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Homeowners take a radical stance on foreclosures.
By Daniel Denvir
Posted Feb. 16, 2010
Original Article: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/Fighting-Against-Foreclosures.html
Kensington Welfare Rights Union Coordinator Galen Tyler was on the march in 2000.
Ray Sanchez is three months behind on his mortgage payments. The North Philadelphia native is confident that Bank of America, which took over his mortgage after subprime connoisseurs Countrywide Financial went south, will soon move to foreclose. But Sanchez isn’t looking for an apartment or thinking about crashing with friends—he’s not going anywhere.
“I couldn’t just give up all my hard work. The house is basically my dream come true,” says 30-year-old Sanchez, who was laid off last year after working four years at Home Depot. “I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do.“
Standing up to save his home, Sanchez has joined a movement of homeowners that are preparing to resist foreclosure—and face arrest if need be. The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign is currently reaching out to property owners across the city and linking them up with neighbors who are in a similar predicament so that they can resist en masse. If the police come to evict them, homeowners and community supporters will employ non-violent civil disobedience and refuse to leave the property.
The Campaign is a national organization that grew out of Philly’s Kensington Welfare Rights Union, whose housing takeovers and protests during the economic boom of the ’90s drew national attention to the plight of the working poor and homeless. With the foreclosure epidemic now dragging even middle-class families into crisis, Philadelphia is once again poised to become the epicenter for the radical housing rights movement.
“It’s like a finger in the dam,” says the Campaign’s executive director Cheri Honkala, discussing an expected surge of home foreclosures. “And it’s going to burst.”
The foreclosure crisis has already forced millions from their homes and brought the global economy to its knees. In January alone, 88,000 people had their homes repossessed, a 31 percent increase from last year. By this June, an estimated 5.1 million Americans are expected to be “underwater,” according to The New York Times, meaning they will owe more on their home than the property is worth.
Activists say Obama has gone soft on banks that refuse to modify loans, occasional tough talk notwithstanding. Now, the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign says grassroots action is the only option left.
“People always say ‘Cheri doesn’t work within the system,’” says Honkala. “Well, the system doesn’t work.”
Honkala, 47, has been an irritant to Philadelphia officials over the past decades. The brash and energetic founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign has led building takeovers and established tent cities full of the homeless and poor. After leaving the city for two years, the formerly homeless mother of two and longtime welfare recipient is back in town and busy organizing homeowners facing foreclosure—and she knows what she’s doing.
The Kensington Welfare Rights Union was founded in 1991 to protest for the rights of welfare recipients, demonized in the media as lazy welfare queens. Honkala and the organization were immortalized in Inquirer reporter David Zucchino’s 1997 book The Myth of the Welfare Queen .
The Union’s first action was to take over an abandoned welfare office at the corner of Front and York, which they turned into a community center—until police arrested them. Many arrests would follow: in houses, apartments, churches and at the Liberty Bell. Honkala says the Union has secured housing for hundreds of Philadelphia families, many of whom have also been arrested in protest actions. Honkala has been arrested over 80 times.
During the late ’70s Honkala became pregnant at age 16 after years bouncing around the Minnesota child welfare system. She and her 8-year-old ended up homeless and sleeping in her car until a drunk driver totaled it. Hearing that the government kept the heat on in publicly owned properties so the pipes wouldn’t freeze, she moved into an empty house owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was arrested so she moved in to another. And then another.
Honkala has spent the last two years organizing back in her native Twin Cities, helping five local women resist foreclosure and organizing raucous protests against the 2008 Republican National Convention. Having established a new Campaign chapter, she returned to Philadelphia in August and is working out of offices in a Fishtown Lutheran church.
Housing activism in Philly slowed down in her absence, and Honkala says the powers that be are not happy she’s back.
“When I came back to the city, I went down to the foreclosure court,” says a bemused Honkala. “They ID’d me and escorted me out.”
In an ironic twist, Honkala says the city offered her work as a housing counselor after hearing of her return, a job she unsurprisingly refused.
“She just got back into town. Let’s offer her money so she doesn’t do the crazy shit she does,” says Honkala, laughing as she imagines what people in City Hall must have been thinking.
Philadelphia has received accolades for its foreclosure prevention program, which has helped keep a number of homeowners off the street. But while she concedes the situation in Philly is slightly better than in most cities, Honkala is not impressed. “What Philly has done is put you on life support even though they’re eventually going to pull the plug.”
The political and legal climate to resist foreclosures couldn’t be better. For one, almost everyone hates the banks. Secondly, the courts seem to be coming around. Banks packaged mortgages into complex securities and sold them off during the housing bubble. It made them a lot of money in the short run, even though it eventually brought down the economy. But in their rush to make big money, many banks didn’t keep accurate records of property ownership, and courts have recently ruled that if a bank can’t definitively prove that it owns a home, it can’t foreclose on it.
By Daniel Denvir
Posted Feb. 16, 2010
Original Article: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/Fighting-Against-Foreclosures.html
Kensington Welfare Rights Union Coordinator Galen Tyler was on the march in 2000.
Ray Sanchez is three months behind on his mortgage payments. The North Philadelphia native is confident that Bank of America, which took over his mortgage after subprime connoisseurs Countrywide Financial went south, will soon move to foreclose. But Sanchez isn’t looking for an apartment or thinking about crashing with friends—he’s not going anywhere.
“I couldn’t just give up all my hard work. The house is basically my dream come true,” says 30-year-old Sanchez, who was laid off last year after working four years at Home Depot. “I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do.“
Standing up to save his home, Sanchez has joined a movement of homeowners that are preparing to resist foreclosure—and face arrest if need be. The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign is currently reaching out to property owners across the city and linking them up with neighbors who are in a similar predicament so that they can resist en masse. If the police come to evict them, homeowners and community supporters will employ non-violent civil disobedience and refuse to leave the property.
The Campaign is a national organization that grew out of Philly’s Kensington Welfare Rights Union, whose housing takeovers and protests during the economic boom of the ’90s drew national attention to the plight of the working poor and homeless. With the foreclosure epidemic now dragging even middle-class families into crisis, Philadelphia is once again poised to become the epicenter for the radical housing rights movement.
“It’s like a finger in the dam,” says the Campaign’s executive director Cheri Honkala, discussing an expected surge of home foreclosures. “And it’s going to burst.”
The foreclosure crisis has already forced millions from their homes and brought the global economy to its knees. In January alone, 88,000 people had their homes repossessed, a 31 percent increase from last year. By this June, an estimated 5.1 million Americans are expected to be “underwater,” according to The New York Times, meaning they will owe more on their home than the property is worth.
Activists say Obama has gone soft on banks that refuse to modify loans, occasional tough talk notwithstanding. Now, the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign says grassroots action is the only option left.
“People always say ‘Cheri doesn’t work within the system,’” says Honkala. “Well, the system doesn’t work.”
Honkala, 47, has been an irritant to Philadelphia officials over the past decades. The brash and energetic founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign has led building takeovers and established tent cities full of the homeless and poor. After leaving the city for two years, the formerly homeless mother of two and longtime welfare recipient is back in town and busy organizing homeowners facing foreclosure—and she knows what she’s doing.
The Kensington Welfare Rights Union was founded in 1991 to protest for the rights of welfare recipients, demonized in the media as lazy welfare queens. Honkala and the organization were immortalized in Inquirer reporter David Zucchino’s 1997 book The Myth of the Welfare Queen .
The Union’s first action was to take over an abandoned welfare office at the corner of Front and York, which they turned into a community center—until police arrested them. Many arrests would follow: in houses, apartments, churches and at the Liberty Bell. Honkala says the Union has secured housing for hundreds of Philadelphia families, many of whom have also been arrested in protest actions. Honkala has been arrested over 80 times.
During the late ’70s Honkala became pregnant at age 16 after years bouncing around the Minnesota child welfare system. She and her 8-year-old ended up homeless and sleeping in her car until a drunk driver totaled it. Hearing that the government kept the heat on in publicly owned properties so the pipes wouldn’t freeze, she moved into an empty house owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was arrested so she moved in to another. And then another.
Honkala has spent the last two years organizing back in her native Twin Cities, helping five local women resist foreclosure and organizing raucous protests against the 2008 Republican National Convention. Having established a new Campaign chapter, she returned to Philadelphia in August and is working out of offices in a Fishtown Lutheran church.
Housing activism in Philly slowed down in her absence, and Honkala says the powers that be are not happy she’s back.
“When I came back to the city, I went down to the foreclosure court,” says a bemused Honkala. “They ID’d me and escorted me out.”
In an ironic twist, Honkala says the city offered her work as a housing counselor after hearing of her return, a job she unsurprisingly refused.
“She just got back into town. Let’s offer her money so she doesn’t do the crazy shit she does,” says Honkala, laughing as she imagines what people in City Hall must have been thinking.
Philadelphia has received accolades for its foreclosure prevention program, which has helped keep a number of homeowners off the street. But while she concedes the situation in Philly is slightly better than in most cities, Honkala is not impressed. “What Philly has done is put you on life support even though they’re eventually going to pull the plug.”
The political and legal climate to resist foreclosures couldn’t be better. For one, almost everyone hates the banks. Secondly, the courts seem to be coming around. Banks packaged mortgages into complex securities and sold them off during the housing bubble. It made them a lot of money in the short run, even though it eventually brought down the economy. But in their rush to make big money, many banks didn’t keep accurate records of property ownership, and courts have recently ruled that if a bank can’t definitively prove that it owns a home, it can’t foreclose on it.
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Countrywide, Galen Tyler, KWRU, Obama, PPEHRC
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Penn Haven protests poverty
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Original Article: http://thedp.com/article/penn-haven-protests-poverty
1/29/2010
Students from Penn Haven join other activist groups in a Center City demonstration against federal foreclosures
A group of about 50 protesters blocked off the junction outside the Federal Building. The rally was among a series of protests aross the country calling for a freeze on foreclosures.
Amid a chorus of chanting, drumming and singing, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign member Jeff Rousset said, “I might get arrested later.”
A group of about 50 protesters blocked off the junction outside the Federal Building. The rally was among a series of protests aross the country calling for a freeze on foreclosures.
Spearheaded by PPEHRC, the protesters included students from Penn Haven.
Penn Haven’s mission is to learn how to best serve the homeless community, and it is “looking into all methods of getting equality for the homeless” College senior and Penn Haven member Jessie Streich-Kest said.
According to lead organizer, Cheri Honkala, “We have a federal emergency.”
As the recession drives more and more people from their homes out on to the streets, the group of demonstrators took to the streets. In addition to PPEHRC and Penn Haven, Kensington Welfare Rights Union and others partook in the rally.
“Last night Obama didn’t really mention anything about housing,” said KWRU member Natasha Euler.
According to Euler, the protesters were there to make sure that the government resolves the housing crisis.
“We see families everyday who come in to our office with small children who are homeless — we think that this is an emergency,” she said.
The activists’ answer to the housing crisis is a combination of protests for long-term gain and setting up the homeless in abandoned homes until the housing crisis abates, according to Honkala and Rousset.
Rousset’s explained his justification for squatting: “People are more important than property.”
The winter is especially cruel to the homeless, according to Honkala, and “it’s more important to keep people alive” than to stay within the bounds of the law.
No one was arrested at yesterday’s rally. Philadelphia Police Captain William Fisher said, “As long as it’s a peaceful protest … we’ll tolerate street blockages.”
But Honkala, who has been arrested during the course of prior protests, said facing down the police is part of PPEHRC’s plan to draw attention its cause.
“We really need to show our elected officials that we’re serious,” Honkala said.
Honkala said, “We will start to have arrests.”
Penn Haven Activism Coordinator and former Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer College senior Jimmy Tobias had prepared himself for arrest. He was one of the eight Penn students who attended.
“What we’re trying to do … is to be in solidarity with [the community],” Tobias said.
PThe housing crisis isn’t exactly going to disappear anytime soon, College senior and Penn Haven member Elena Stein said. But “as we listen to out neighbors … it becomes more clear how to help.”
For now, she said, the answer is still nebulous. “Come back to me in 10 years about that.”
01/29/2010
1/29/2010
Students from Penn Haven join other activist groups in a Center City demonstration against federal foreclosures
A group of about 50 protesters blocked off the junction outside the Federal Building. The rally was among a series of protests aross the country calling for a freeze on foreclosures.
Amid a chorus of chanting, drumming and singing, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign member Jeff Rousset said, “I might get arrested later.”
A group of about 50 protesters blocked off the junction outside the Federal Building. The rally was among a series of protests aross the country calling for a freeze on foreclosures.
Spearheaded by PPEHRC, the protesters included students from Penn Haven.
Penn Haven’s mission is to learn how to best serve the homeless community, and it is “looking into all methods of getting equality for the homeless” College senior and Penn Haven member Jessie Streich-Kest said.
According to lead organizer, Cheri Honkala, “We have a federal emergency.”
As the recession drives more and more people from their homes out on to the streets, the group of demonstrators took to the streets. In addition to PPEHRC and Penn Haven, Kensington Welfare Rights Union and others partook in the rally.
“Last night Obama didn’t really mention anything about housing,” said KWRU member Natasha Euler.
According to Euler, the protesters were there to make sure that the government resolves the housing crisis.
“We see families everyday who come in to our office with small children who are homeless — we think that this is an emergency,” she said.
The activists’ answer to the housing crisis is a combination of protests for long-term gain and setting up the homeless in abandoned homes until the housing crisis abates, according to Honkala and Rousset.
Rousset’s explained his justification for squatting: “People are more important than property.”
The winter is especially cruel to the homeless, according to Honkala, and “it’s more important to keep people alive” than to stay within the bounds of the law.
No one was arrested at yesterday’s rally. Philadelphia Police Captain William Fisher said, “As long as it’s a peaceful protest … we’ll tolerate street blockages.”
But Honkala, who has been arrested during the course of prior protests, said facing down the police is part of PPEHRC’s plan to draw attention its cause.
“We really need to show our elected officials that we’re serious,” Honkala said.
Honkala said, “We will start to have arrests.”
Penn Haven Activism Coordinator and former Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer College senior Jimmy Tobias had prepared himself for arrest. He was one of the eight Penn students who attended.
“What we’re trying to do … is to be in solidarity with [the community],” Tobias said.
PThe housing crisis isn’t exactly going to disappear anytime soon, College senior and Penn Haven member Elena Stein said. But “as we listen to out neighbors … it becomes more clear how to help.”
For now, she said, the answer is still nebulous. “Come back to me in 10 years about that.”
01/29/2010
Labels: Federal Building, Foreclosure, KWRU, Penn Haven, PPEHRC
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Come to PPEHRC's First National Leadership Training at our National Center in Philadelphia!
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The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) will conduct an education and training session on the Right to Housing and Housing Actions from Feb 5th-Feb 7th at its National Center for Education, Organizing and Culture in Philadelphia, PA, USA.
DOWNLOAD THE FLYER
The nature and causes of the “housing crisis”--which is actually a chronic reality for millions in the United States—will be analyzed. A primary skill focus will be on non-violent direct actions to promote the Zero Evictions Campaign and to secure the Right to Housing as defined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Global and National Zero Evictions Campaign and the struggle for the Right to HOusing will be tied to the upcoming United States Social Forum in Detroit and PPEHRC's March for Our Lives from New Orleans to the US Social Forum this spring.
The sessions and lodging will be held at:
PPEHRC Center for Education, Organizing and Culture
1542 E. Montgomery Ave., 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19125
267-273-093
DOWNLOAD THE FLYER
The nature and causes of the “housing crisis”--which is actually a chronic reality for millions in the United States—will be analyzed. A primary skill focus will be on non-violent direct actions to promote the Zero Evictions Campaign and to secure the Right to Housing as defined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Global and National Zero Evictions Campaign and the struggle for the Right to HOusing will be tied to the upcoming United States Social Forum in Detroit and PPEHRC's March for Our Lives from New Orleans to the US Social Forum this spring.
The sessions and lodging will be held at:
PPEHRC Center for Education, Organizing and Culture
1542 E. Montgomery Ave., 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19125
267-273-093
Labels: Foreclosure, PPEHRC, Training
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Coverage from Action to save Eduardo's life
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Art Auction Held For Teen Needing Heart Transplant
KMBC's Jim Flink reports on Eduardo Loredo.
http://www.kmbc.com/video/22027836/
Metro Teen Waits for New Heart
A metro teen is hoping for a life-saving heart transplant this Christmas.
http://www.kctv5.com/video/22030076/index.html
KMBC's Jim Flink reports on Eduardo Loredo.
http://www.kmbc.com/video/22027836/
Metro Teen Waits for New Heart
A metro teen is hoping for a life-saving heart transplant this Christmas.
http://www.kctv5.com/video/22030076/index.html
Labels: Eduardo Loredo, Kansas City, PPEHRC
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Philly Protesters Seize Street to Demand Housing Rights
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by Jeff Rousset | Philly Indymedia Center | 12.05.2009
Original Article: http://phillyimc.org/en/philly-protesters-seize-street-demand-housing-rights
Police watched as more than 100 people blocked a busy intersection at 6th and Market yesterday, near the Federal Building, to call attention to the nation's housing crisis.
Police watched as more than 100 people blocked a busy intersection at 6th and Market yesterday, near the Federal Building, to call attention to the nation's housing crisis. Speakers questioned national priorities, with President Obama sending 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan as thousands of Americans continue to be pushed into poverty and homelessness. The group, organized by Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, demanded a moratorium on evictions, and vowed massive nationwide civil disobedience at the end of January if Obama has not taken adequate steps to address the housing issue.
Protesters gathered at the Federal Building at 11 am holding signs and banners, wearing colorful cardboard houses, beating drums in rhythm, and chanting “What do we want? Housing! When do we want it? Now!” Lead by about a dozen disabled individuals in wheelchairs, the group marched to the intersection of 6th and Market and picketed in a large circle, blockading the entire intersection, before converging on the south side of the intersection and blocking traffic across all of 6th Street. A number of people spoke to the gathered crowd, including two women whose homes were recently foreclosed.
“I was renting a home and received a letter stating my house was going up for foreclosure because the owner had not been paying his mortgage. A week later the sheriff was knocking on my door giving me five minutes to leave,” said Starleen Pringle, a longtime resident of Philadelphia.
Pringle said she was forced to immediately leave her home of three years, along with her nine year old daughter and seven year old son, even though she already paid full rent for the month.
“I wasn't even allowed to get school clothes for my daughter the next day,” said Pringle. “They said, 'If you touch or take anything we're gonna lock you up.'” She had to make an appointment to later return to her house and collect all her belongings under a sheriff's supervision.
“Every 15 seconds in this country someone's home is foreclosed!” announced Cheri Honkala, one of the rally organizers, and a national organizer for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC). “We want to know what the government is going to do for these people!”
PPEHRC organized similar rallies across the country and demanded that the Obama administration make housing its top priority and increase the federal government's funding for affordable housing to the $83 billion dollar level it was at in 1978.
Honkala criticized the government for bailing out banks and corporations, and spending tens of billions of dollars to escalate war, while neglecting the swelling masses of Americans who are living in poverty and homelessness.
“Bail out the people, not the banks!” the group chanted in unison.
Another Philadelphia woman whose home was recently foreclosed spoke on the megaphone. “I'm homeless with my children,” she said with both her daughters, aged two and four, by her side. “I'm living in my car now. I want the government to get me a house so my kids don't get taken away from me by DHS.”
PPEHRC is demanding that Philadelphia immediately take measures to house its entire homeless population, which numbers around 4,000 people on any given day.
Last month dozens of people gathered at City Hall with the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) to pressure Mayor Nutter to provide housing for the 8,000 people living in Philadelphia with HIV/AIDS who do not have access to adequate housing, one of the worst records for AIDS housing in any American city. People who are disabled and/or living with diseases are particularly hard hit by the nation's lack of housing and health care.
As the economic crisis continues to strangle poor and working Americans, the numbers of homeless keep rising in Philadelphia and throughout the country. Meanwhile, many of the banks that received billions of dollars in federal taxpayer bailout funds are the same ones evicting people and taking their homes. The banks keep posting high and even record profits. The people keep paying the price.
PPEHRC and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union announced that if President Obama does not adequately address the housing crisis there will be massive civil disobedience planned at federal buildings across the nation at the end of January, including Philadelphia. The highly energized crowd seemed fearless and ready for this escalation, even with police officers watching closely.
As one of the speakers said to the crowd, “The war is not over there in Afghanistan. It's right here in America!” The nonviolent soldiers seemed determined to keep fighting for economic justice until all their demands are met, and everyone has access to adequate housing.
The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is a national coalition of over a hundred groups building a multiracial movement to unite the poor and fight for economic justice and human rights. Their website is http://www.economichumanrights.org
The Kensington Welfare Rights Union, according to their website, is “a multiracial organization led by poor and homeless families organizing for Economic Human Rights in the poorest district of Pennsylvania.” Their website is http://www.kwru.org
Original Article: http://phillyimc.org/en/philly-protesters-seize-street-demand-housing-rights
Police watched as more than 100 people blocked a busy intersection at 6th and Market yesterday, near the Federal Building, to call attention to the nation's housing crisis.
Police watched as more than 100 people blocked a busy intersection at 6th and Market yesterday, near the Federal Building, to call attention to the nation's housing crisis. Speakers questioned national priorities, with President Obama sending 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan as thousands of Americans continue to be pushed into poverty and homelessness. The group, organized by Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, demanded a moratorium on evictions, and vowed massive nationwide civil disobedience at the end of January if Obama has not taken adequate steps to address the housing issue.
Protesters gathered at the Federal Building at 11 am holding signs and banners, wearing colorful cardboard houses, beating drums in rhythm, and chanting “What do we want? Housing! When do we want it? Now!” Lead by about a dozen disabled individuals in wheelchairs, the group marched to the intersection of 6th and Market and picketed in a large circle, blockading the entire intersection, before converging on the south side of the intersection and blocking traffic across all of 6th Street. A number of people spoke to the gathered crowd, including two women whose homes were recently foreclosed.
“I was renting a home and received a letter stating my house was going up for foreclosure because the owner had not been paying his mortgage. A week later the sheriff was knocking on my door giving me five minutes to leave,” said Starleen Pringle, a longtime resident of Philadelphia.
Pringle said she was forced to immediately leave her home of three years, along with her nine year old daughter and seven year old son, even though she already paid full rent for the month.
“I wasn't even allowed to get school clothes for my daughter the next day,” said Pringle. “They said, 'If you touch or take anything we're gonna lock you up.'” She had to make an appointment to later return to her house and collect all her belongings under a sheriff's supervision.
“Every 15 seconds in this country someone's home is foreclosed!” announced Cheri Honkala, one of the rally organizers, and a national organizer for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC). “We want to know what the government is going to do for these people!”
PPEHRC organized similar rallies across the country and demanded that the Obama administration make housing its top priority and increase the federal government's funding for affordable housing to the $83 billion dollar level it was at in 1978.
Honkala criticized the government for bailing out banks and corporations, and spending tens of billions of dollars to escalate war, while neglecting the swelling masses of Americans who are living in poverty and homelessness.
“Bail out the people, not the banks!” the group chanted in unison.
Another Philadelphia woman whose home was recently foreclosed spoke on the megaphone. “I'm homeless with my children,” she said with both her daughters, aged two and four, by her side. “I'm living in my car now. I want the government to get me a house so my kids don't get taken away from me by DHS.”
PPEHRC is demanding that Philadelphia immediately take measures to house its entire homeless population, which numbers around 4,000 people on any given day.
Last month dozens of people gathered at City Hall with the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) to pressure Mayor Nutter to provide housing for the 8,000 people living in Philadelphia with HIV/AIDS who do not have access to adequate housing, one of the worst records for AIDS housing in any American city. People who are disabled and/or living with diseases are particularly hard hit by the nation's lack of housing and health care.
As the economic crisis continues to strangle poor and working Americans, the numbers of homeless keep rising in Philadelphia and throughout the country. Meanwhile, many of the banks that received billions of dollars in federal taxpayer bailout funds are the same ones evicting people and taking their homes. The banks keep posting high and even record profits. The people keep paying the price.
PPEHRC and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union announced that if President Obama does not adequately address the housing crisis there will be massive civil disobedience planned at federal buildings across the nation at the end of January, including Philadelphia. The highly energized crowd seemed fearless and ready for this escalation, even with police officers watching closely.
As one of the speakers said to the crowd, “The war is not over there in Afghanistan. It's right here in America!” The nonviolent soldiers seemed determined to keep fighting for economic justice until all their demands are met, and everyone has access to adequate housing.
The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is a national coalition of over a hundred groups building a multiracial movement to unite the poor and fight for economic justice and human rights. Their website is http://www.economichumanrights.org
The Kensington Welfare Rights Union, according to their website, is “a multiracial organization led by poor and homeless families organizing for Economic Human Rights in the poorest district of Pennsylvania.” Their website is http://www.kwru.org
Labels: Affordable Housing, Cheri Honkala, Foreclosure, KWRU, Obama, Philadelphia, PPEHRC, Starleen Pringle
The Criminalization of American Homelessness: Testimony presented to UN Special Rapportuer on Adequate Housing, Raquel Rolnik
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Oral testimony from GW Rolle (St. Petersburg, FL) exploring the criminalization of homelessness and its effect on housing the American citizenry presented to the Special Rapportuer on Adequate Housing for the United Nations, Raquel Rolnik, which is to be submitted to the General Assembly in March of 2010.
The Criminalization of American Homelessness
I would like to thank the special rapporteur holding this important hearing on adequate housing. This is an important conversation, in some cases, regarding life and death. I am deeply honored to be asked to participate.
I am a VISTA Volunteer, who is attached to the Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless in St. Petersburg, FL, as the Faces of Homelessness Speaker’s Bureau Director, most of my work in the area of homelessness comes in an at large capacity. The Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless is a countywide organization charged with coordinating services to homeless individuals and families, generating revenue to help fund homeless service, and providing information and education to the general public about homelessness in the county.
My personal expertise in regards to the issue of homelessness stems from the fact that I first experienced homelessness at the age of fourteen. I last experienced a five year episode of homelessness two and a half years ago. My five year experience with homelessness in St. Petersburg, FL began when I was the victim of a house fire.
During the five years that I was homeless I lived under freeway overpasses, under bridges, in tents, in abandoned buildings, at construction sites and on the floor of tenement rooms. No matter where I lived, upon being discovered, I was warned by the police to leave the area.
When my house burned, I was employed as a chef on a day gambling cruise ship. As a renter, I had no insurance and received no compensation. As the house was rendered uninhabitable with no damage to the bathroom and my personal room, I would sneak in at night and leave early in the morning,. When I was caught and forbidden to stay there, I started paying people to stay on there couches. Because of my job as a cook, it was necessary for me to bath and have clean clothes.
I found it impossible to save money while having to take care of the needs of the often unemployed people who would let me stay on their couches. Determined to be independent so I could save the money for a new home (about a two paycheck period a month). I moved outside.
I quickly lost most of my property, my job, and my way. Without a job, it became impossible to “save” anything. Every resource became incorporated into the survival process. I found that living outside was legislated against, and dangerous.
Anti-homelessness ordinances had been passed to make every location where I tried to sleep subject to law enforcement. In St. Petersburg, the City Council has crafted local ordinances which have in effect, made it illegal to be homeless.
The reason I became homeless in the first place after my house burned is that I could not afford to transition into other housing with the barriers of first months rent, last month’s rent and a security deposit, which landlords required.
At the time of the fire, I was paying one hundred fifty dollars a week for an apartment attached to a house. The home owner was my friend and I occasionally worked for him at his accounting business, plus I performed yard work. My salary was approximately four hundred ninety dollars every two weeks. I had no savings. Post fire I could not generate the money necessary to move into another apartment.
The Pinellas County Comprehensive Plan suggests one reason the number of street homeless and persons at risk of homelessness is increasing is the lack of affordable housing.(Pinellas County Planning Report, 2008)
In Pinellas County, the 2008 US Dept of Housing and Urban Development states, the fair market rent is $658. per month for a modest studio apartment, $730. for a one bedroom, $993 for a two bedroom, $1,119., for a three bedroom, $1351. for a four bedroom. (Florida Housing Data Clearing House)
The above figures do not include the last months rent, and in many cases the security deposit (half a months rent) which landlords charge before one can enter a house.
In St Petersburg, the City Council has crafted local ordinances which have in effect made it illegal to be homeless, These laws include ordinances which make it illegal to panhandle, camp within the city limits, lay and recline on the public right of way, trespass , possess an open container, engage in disorderly conduct and public urination.
This criminalization makes it difficult for the homeless to maintain a flow of employment, counseling services, and sheltered living. These St. Petersburg ordinances, have the effect of keeping the homeless, homeless.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office, the cost of housing an inmate is $92. per day. This cost does not include jail medical costs or expenses associated with retaining a Public Defender.
A recent study, Chronic Minor Offenders in Pinellas County Jail, showed that between 2005 and April 2008, 3,789 unique arrests for 1,997 unique individuals, The St. Petersburg Police Dept. accounted for 55% of the arrests.
The 3,844 local ordinance arrests resulted in 12,015 jail days and a total estimated cost of $1,108,692. These figures do not reflect the cost of police surveillance, investigation, arrest and transportation to jail. This money could be better spent linking the homeless with affordable housing and homeless services.
The five years that I was homeless in St Petersburg, I was arrested five times. I was arrested two times for trespassing in attempts to shelter myself and three times for possession of an open container.
I served nine days in jail at various intervals. Every time I went to jail I lost my job, or position in the day labor pool and had to start over. Truthfully, I had no idea of what was to become of me because I had no way to accumulate the vast amount of money needed for lodging. Every cent I made went towards maintaining my existence. Not having a job upon release from incarceration forced me to engage in even more illegal actions such as panhandling and further trespassing.
Proposed Remedies and Solutions
Proposals to demolish and replace structures must be accompanied by an Environmental Impact Study.
This study must include the effect demolition would have on humans, the financial environment, and the misery index, as well as the effect on animals, wetlands, and air quality.
The United States must respect the rights of every citizen in regards to food clothing and shelter. There is no reason for any American not to be afforded the dignity of a home.
As a member of the Pinellas County Leadership Network, I participated with a housing committee. Upon investigation, I found that there are four hundred and ninety nine boarded and abandon houses in St Petersburg Florida. (In an article complaining about graffiti, vandalism and trespassing by homeless people, the St Petersburg Times counted Five hundred and twelve.)
Those houses should be made available to homeless citizens. These citizens should be given the tools and the skills to repair these abandoned structures.
There must be a moratorium on legislation criminalizing street homelessness.
In order for the homeless individual to gain access to the development of services that are necessary to put him into housing, his status must be compatible with that of a legal, housed citizen.
Every American should be able to live inside and have access to adequate affordable housing. This is not a rhetorical statement. Given the vast resources of this country, this is simply a matter of compassion and priority.
The Criminalization of American Homelessness
I would like to thank the special rapporteur holding this important hearing on adequate housing. This is an important conversation, in some cases, regarding life and death. I am deeply honored to be asked to participate.
I am a VISTA Volunteer, who is attached to the Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless in St. Petersburg, FL, as the Faces of Homelessness Speaker’s Bureau Director, most of my work in the area of homelessness comes in an at large capacity. The Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless is a countywide organization charged with coordinating services to homeless individuals and families, generating revenue to help fund homeless service, and providing information and education to the general public about homelessness in the county.
My personal expertise in regards to the issue of homelessness stems from the fact that I first experienced homelessness at the age of fourteen. I last experienced a five year episode of homelessness two and a half years ago. My five year experience with homelessness in St. Petersburg, FL began when I was the victim of a house fire.
During the five years that I was homeless I lived under freeway overpasses, under bridges, in tents, in abandoned buildings, at construction sites and on the floor of tenement rooms. No matter where I lived, upon being discovered, I was warned by the police to leave the area.
When my house burned, I was employed as a chef on a day gambling cruise ship. As a renter, I had no insurance and received no compensation. As the house was rendered uninhabitable with no damage to the bathroom and my personal room, I would sneak in at night and leave early in the morning,. When I was caught and forbidden to stay there, I started paying people to stay on there couches. Because of my job as a cook, it was necessary for me to bath and have clean clothes.
I found it impossible to save money while having to take care of the needs of the often unemployed people who would let me stay on their couches. Determined to be independent so I could save the money for a new home (about a two paycheck period a month). I moved outside.
I quickly lost most of my property, my job, and my way. Without a job, it became impossible to “save” anything. Every resource became incorporated into the survival process. I found that living outside was legislated against, and dangerous.
Anti-homelessness ordinances had been passed to make every location where I tried to sleep subject to law enforcement. In St. Petersburg, the City Council has crafted local ordinances which have in effect, made it illegal to be homeless.
The reason I became homeless in the first place after my house burned is that I could not afford to transition into other housing with the barriers of first months rent, last month’s rent and a security deposit, which landlords required.
At the time of the fire, I was paying one hundred fifty dollars a week for an apartment attached to a house. The home owner was my friend and I occasionally worked for him at his accounting business, plus I performed yard work. My salary was approximately four hundred ninety dollars every two weeks. I had no savings. Post fire I could not generate the money necessary to move into another apartment.
The Pinellas County Comprehensive Plan suggests one reason the number of street homeless and persons at risk of homelessness is increasing is the lack of affordable housing.(Pinellas County Planning Report, 2008)
In Pinellas County, the 2008 US Dept of Housing and Urban Development states, the fair market rent is $658. per month for a modest studio apartment, $730. for a one bedroom, $993 for a two bedroom, $1,119., for a three bedroom, $1351. for a four bedroom. (Florida Housing Data Clearing House)
The above figures do not include the last months rent, and in many cases the security deposit (half a months rent) which landlords charge before one can enter a house.
In St Petersburg, the City Council has crafted local ordinances which have in effect made it illegal to be homeless, These laws include ordinances which make it illegal to panhandle, camp within the city limits, lay and recline on the public right of way, trespass , possess an open container, engage in disorderly conduct and public urination.
This criminalization makes it difficult for the homeless to maintain a flow of employment, counseling services, and sheltered living. These St. Petersburg ordinances, have the effect of keeping the homeless, homeless.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office, the cost of housing an inmate is $92. per day. This cost does not include jail medical costs or expenses associated with retaining a Public Defender.
A recent study, Chronic Minor Offenders in Pinellas County Jail, showed that between 2005 and April 2008, 3,789 unique arrests for 1,997 unique individuals, The St. Petersburg Police Dept. accounted for 55% of the arrests.
The 3,844 local ordinance arrests resulted in 12,015 jail days and a total estimated cost of $1,108,692. These figures do not reflect the cost of police surveillance, investigation, arrest and transportation to jail. This money could be better spent linking the homeless with affordable housing and homeless services.
The five years that I was homeless in St Petersburg, I was arrested five times. I was arrested two times for trespassing in attempts to shelter myself and three times for possession of an open container.
I served nine days in jail at various intervals. Every time I went to jail I lost my job, or position in the day labor pool and had to start over. Truthfully, I had no idea of what was to become of me because I had no way to accumulate the vast amount of money needed for lodging. Every cent I made went towards maintaining my existence. Not having a job upon release from incarceration forced me to engage in even more illegal actions such as panhandling and further trespassing.
Proposed Remedies and Solutions
Proposals to demolish and replace structures must be accompanied by an Environmental Impact Study.
This study must include the effect demolition would have on humans, the financial environment, and the misery index, as well as the effect on animals, wetlands, and air quality.
The United States must respect the rights of every citizen in regards to food clothing and shelter. There is no reason for any American not to be afforded the dignity of a home.
As a member of the Pinellas County Leadership Network, I participated with a housing committee. Upon investigation, I found that there are four hundred and ninety nine boarded and abandon houses in St Petersburg Florida. (In an article complaining about graffiti, vandalism and trespassing by homeless people, the St Petersburg Times counted Five hundred and twelve.)
Those houses should be made available to homeless citizens. These citizens should be given the tools and the skills to repair these abandoned structures.
There must be a moratorium on legislation criminalizing street homelessness.
In order for the homeless individual to gain access to the development of services that are necessary to put him into housing, his status must be compatible with that of a legal, housed citizen.
Every American should be able to live inside and have access to adequate affordable housing. This is not a rhetorical statement. Given the vast resources of this country, this is simply a matter of compassion and priority.
Labels: GW Rolle, Homelessness, Pinellas County, PPEHRC, St. Petersburg, UN Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik, United Nations Human Rights Council
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Organize for health reform in Philadelphia!
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The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) will be hosting a brainstorming meeting to organize for health reform in Philadelphia. Help prevent more from dying from the lack of health insurance!
What: Organizing for health reform
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 from 6-8pm
Location: Atonement Lutheran Church, 1542 E Montgomery Ave, 2nd floor, Philadelphia.
Please RSVP (or just show up!) to: Nicole Vengrove nicvengrove@gmail.com or Cheri Honkola cheriPPEHRC@hotmail.com
What: Organizing for health reform
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 from 6-8pm
Location: Atonement Lutheran Church, 1542 E Montgomery Ave, 2nd floor, Philadelphia.
Please RSVP (or just show up!) to: Nicole Vengrove nicvengrove@gmail.com or Cheri Honkola cheriPPEHRC@hotmail.com
Labels: Health Care, Philadelphia, PPEHRC
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sojouners Magazine: Eyes & Ears
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Eyes & Ears
Seeing is Believing
Source: http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0911&article=seeing-is-believing
Creating a better world first requires an act of imagination.
by Danny Duncan Collum
One day this past July I abandoned my blueberry patch to drive to Louisville and sit in a gathering of artists and activists—black, white, and Latino—who all said they wanted to help change the world. There were teenage rappers from the Mississippi Delta and young video artists from southeast Louisiana. It was a workshop session at the national conference of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.
The campaign, made up of more than 90 organizations around the country, aims to “unite the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty … through advancing economic human rights as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication and a living wage job.” Some of the campaign’s affiliates do things such as mass occupations of property to prevent home foreclosures. The campaign itself marched on the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis last year and is planning a march from the Mississippi Delta to the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit in 2010. They seem to be picking up the banner of the Poor People’s Campaign that fell after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968.
Not long ago, talk of changing the world, much less abolishing poverty, would draw, at best, a cynical snort. But that was before “yes, we can” and all that. Today, hope is still a four-letter word, but you can say it in public again. But as we near the end of the first Obama year, it is also becoming painfully clear that even electing a smart and sane former community organizer—with big majorities in Congress to boot—was not enough to change the world. The last time I checked, big money still held the upper hand in Washington. There’s been a lot more help to mega-banks than to foreclosure victims. The smart and sane solution on health-care reform (single-payer) never even got a hearing, while the insurance and pharmaceutical companies were stroked and placated at every turn.
But presidents don’t change the world. People do. Presidents are pulled along behind great waves of popular uprising. That’s what happened during our last Great Depression, and Franklin Roosevelt knew it. That’s why he once famously told a group of progressive activists that he agreed with their proposal. “Now,” he said, “go make me do it.” And that’s what happened again in the 1960s when the civil rights movement forced President Kennedy to become a better man than he ever meant to be.
The Poor People’s Campaign meeting I attended this summer focused on the role of artists in a grassroots movement for economic human rights. Again, looking back at those two great periods of social change in the 20th century, they both were accompanied by a renaissance of popular art. Writers, artists, actors, painters, and photographers all had a place in the New Deal and the labor movement that fueled it. In the 1960s, African-American religion and music fueled the civil rights movement and all the ripples of social change it inspired. Acting for a better world requires, first and foremost, an act of imagination. You have to see the potential for change—in yourself and in your community. That act of the imagination can even lead one to see, as one rapper put it in Louisville, “that capitalist society is not eternal.”
That’s why, to the Poor People’s Campaign organizers, the arts aren’t just an add-on to political action. They are powerful motivators that can crack the shell of our American isolation.
Danny Duncan Collum, a Sojourners contributing writer, teaches writing at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Seeing is Believing. by Danny Duncan Collum. Sojourners Magazine, November 2009 (Vol. 38, No. 10, pp. 55). Eyes & Ears.
Seeing is Believing
Source: http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0911&article=seeing-is-believing
Creating a better world first requires an act of imagination.
by Danny Duncan Collum
One day this past July I abandoned my blueberry patch to drive to Louisville and sit in a gathering of artists and activists—black, white, and Latino—who all said they wanted to help change the world. There were teenage rappers from the Mississippi Delta and young video artists from southeast Louisiana. It was a workshop session at the national conference of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.
The campaign, made up of more than 90 organizations around the country, aims to “unite the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty … through advancing economic human rights as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication and a living wage job.” Some of the campaign’s affiliates do things such as mass occupations of property to prevent home foreclosures. The campaign itself marched on the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis last year and is planning a march from the Mississippi Delta to the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit in 2010. They seem to be picking up the banner of the Poor People’s Campaign that fell after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968.
Not long ago, talk of changing the world, much less abolishing poverty, would draw, at best, a cynical snort. But that was before “yes, we can” and all that. Today, hope is still a four-letter word, but you can say it in public again. But as we near the end of the first Obama year, it is also becoming painfully clear that even electing a smart and sane former community organizer—with big majorities in Congress to boot—was not enough to change the world. The last time I checked, big money still held the upper hand in Washington. There’s been a lot more help to mega-banks than to foreclosure victims. The smart and sane solution on health-care reform (single-payer) never even got a hearing, while the insurance and pharmaceutical companies were stroked and placated at every turn.
But presidents don’t change the world. People do. Presidents are pulled along behind great waves of popular uprising. That’s what happened during our last Great Depression, and Franklin Roosevelt knew it. That’s why he once famously told a group of progressive activists that he agreed with their proposal. “Now,” he said, “go make me do it.” And that’s what happened again in the 1960s when the civil rights movement forced President Kennedy to become a better man than he ever meant to be.
The Poor People’s Campaign meeting I attended this summer focused on the role of artists in a grassroots movement for economic human rights. Again, looking back at those two great periods of social change in the 20th century, they both were accompanied by a renaissance of popular art. Writers, artists, actors, painters, and photographers all had a place in the New Deal and the labor movement that fueled it. In the 1960s, African-American religion and music fueled the civil rights movement and all the ripples of social change it inspired. Acting for a better world requires, first and foremost, an act of imagination. You have to see the potential for change—in yourself and in your community. That act of the imagination can even lead one to see, as one rapper put it in Louisville, “that capitalist society is not eternal.”
That’s why, to the Poor People’s Campaign organizers, the arts aren’t just an add-on to political action. They are powerful motivators that can crack the shell of our American isolation.
Danny Duncan Collum, a Sojourners contributing writer, teaches writing at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Seeing is Believing. by Danny Duncan Collum. Sojourners Magazine, November 2009 (Vol. 38, No. 10, pp. 55). Eyes & Ears.
Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, Martin Luther King, Obama, PPEHRC, Sojourner Mazagine
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Follow us! PPEHRC's Facebook and Twitter Updates...
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Hi there!
Want to keep up with all the incredible things happening in the
movement to end poverty? Want to share your work, wins, organizing
strategies or advocacy efforts with a larger audience?
Here’s your chance. Connect to us – and our friends and fans – through
our new Facebook and Twitter pages!
What can you expect from the Campaign's social media presence?
• The latest in news from the movement to end poverty
• Links to the great work of the Campaign's member groups
• Calls to action
• Information on important demonstrations, protests,
international strategies, data about poverty, and other economic human rights happenings
To access our pages directly, go to:
• http://www.twitter.com/ppehrcinfo
• http://www.facebook.com/ppehrc
We’re excited to use these new platforms to amplify the all the
movement building work that’s taking place. Building a movement's hard
work and we need all the friends we can get!!!
Arun
Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign
Want to keep up with all the incredible things happening in the
movement to end poverty? Want to share your work, wins, organizing
strategies or advocacy efforts with a larger audience?
Here’s your chance. Connect to us – and our friends and fans – through
our new Facebook and Twitter pages!
 |  |
What can you expect from the Campaign's social media presence?
• The latest in news from the movement to end poverty
• Links to the great work of the Campaign's member groups
• Calls to action
• Information on important demonstrations, protests,
international strategies, data about poverty, and other economic human rights happenings
To access our pages directly, go to:
• http://www.twitter.com/ppehrcinfo
• http://www.facebook.com/ppehrc
We’re excited to use these new platforms to amplify the all the
movement building work that’s taking place. Building a movement's hard
work and we need all the friends we can get!!!
Arun
Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign
Labels: Facebook, PPEHRC, Social Media, twitter
Monday, September 21, 2009
Video: "Fighting Foreclosure: 5 Minnesota Women Refuse to Leave" featuring Rosemary Williams
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From Glass Bead Collective:
Rosemary Williams and four other Minnesota women have decided to resist the foreclosure and eviction monster that's destroying our communities. People from the Twin Cities are helping these women defy eviction, the Hennepin County Sheriff, and the big banks that want to steal their homes. Produced by Twin Cities Indymedia http://tc.indymedia.org and the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign http://economichumanrights.org
Rosemary Williams and four other Minnesota women have decided to resist the foreclosure and eviction monster that's destroying our communities. People from the Twin Cities are helping these women defy eviction, the Hennepin County Sheriff, and the big banks that want to steal their homes. Produced by Twin Cities Indymedia http://tc.indymedia.org and the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign http://economichumanrights.org
Labels: economy, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Housing, human rights, IndyMac, Mayor Rybak, Minneapolis, Minnesota, MN, Police, PPEHRC, Protest, Rosemary Williams
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mobile home park residents fight back
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Mobile home park residents fight back
Fair Valley Mobile Home Court residents have hired a group to help them get more time -- and maybe a better deal -- to move.
By GREG GROSS
For the Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 09/08/2009 11:34:16 PM EDT
Some Fair Valley Mobile Home Court residents after fighting back after learning they are being evicted from their York Township trailer park.
"This is not how we treat our neighbors. This is not how we treat our elderly," said Cheri Honkala, a member of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, a Philadelphia-based group that fights for people living in poverty.
Residents and their supporters held a rally and news conference before the township commissioners meeting Tuesday night outside the township municipal building.
Honkala asked township official to hold a public hearing so commissioners can hear residents' stories. She also said lawyers are looking into the legality of the process used to evict the residents.
The park was sold recently to the Maryland development and property-management companies Multi-Properties Inc. and Multi-Ventures.
The park boasts 39 lots, 35 of which have homes on them. Honkala said about 100 people's lives are being disrupted because they are being forced to move.
About 30 residents and their supporters attended the meeting.
"All we want is more time," said Deb Rothrock, a park resident and campaign member.
A letter sent to park residents in July stated they would be given $2,000 to help cover the roughly $6,000 bill to move their homes. Residents also have the option to collect $500 if they choose to leave their trailers at the park when they move.
Residents must leave by Jan. 15.
However, many of the trailers are too old to be moved, Honkala said, and some would likely be destroyed if they were hauled.
During the rally, one resident pleaded for help from anyone with a truck who can help him move his home and belongings.
Justin Watkins, a youth pastor at Grace United Methodist Church in Millersville, said he has created a Facebook page to garner support for the residents.
"For a people of faith, this is not right," Watkins said. "This is unjust. People don't treat people like this."
If you go
What: A "reality tour" of the Fair Valley Mobile Home Court
Where: 2505 S. George Street in York Township
When: 10 a.m. Sept. 29
Fair Valley Mobile Home Court residents have hired a group to help them get more time -- and maybe a better deal -- to move.
By GREG GROSS
For the Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 09/08/2009 11:34:16 PM EDT
Some Fair Valley Mobile Home Court residents after fighting back after learning they are being evicted from their York Township trailer park.
"This is not how we treat our neighbors. This is not how we treat our elderly," said Cheri Honkala, a member of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, a Philadelphia-based group that fights for people living in poverty.
Residents and their supporters held a rally and news conference before the township commissioners meeting Tuesday night outside the township municipal building.
Honkala asked township official to hold a public hearing so commissioners can hear residents' stories. She also said lawyers are looking into the legality of the process used to evict the residents.
The park was sold recently to the Maryland development and property-management companies Multi-Properties Inc. and Multi-Ventures.
The park boasts 39 lots, 35 of which have homes on them. Honkala said about 100 people's lives are being disrupted because they are being forced to move.
About 30 residents and their supporters attended the meeting.
"All we want is more time," said Deb Rothrock, a park resident and campaign member.
A letter sent to park residents in July stated they would be given $2,000 to help cover the roughly $6,000 bill to move their homes. Residents also have the option to collect $500 if they choose to leave their trailers at the park when they move.
Residents must leave by Jan. 15.
However, many of the trailers are too old to be moved, Honkala said, and some would likely be destroyed if they were hauled.
During the rally, one resident pleaded for help from anyone with a truck who can help him move his home and belongings.
Justin Watkins, a youth pastor at Grace United Methodist Church in Millersville, said he has created a Facebook page to garner support for the residents.
"For a people of faith, this is not right," Watkins said. "This is unjust. People don't treat people like this."
If you go
What: A "reality tour" of the Fair Valley Mobile Home Court
Where: 2505 S. George Street in York Township
When: 10 a.m. Sept. 29
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Deb Rothrock, Fair Valley Mobile Home Court, Justin Watkins, Multi-Properties Inc., Multi-Ventures, PPEHRC
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Stand-off continues at the home of Rosemary Williams
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A fifth day has passed without arrests of supporters who are occupying the home of Rosemary Williams.
A very moving candlelight vigil was held on her front lawn Monday evening with participation by people of many faiths.
The next day Tuesday, August 11, 2009, plans were scrapped to hold a demonstration at the mayor's office due to the following letter received by Rosemary Williams' lawyer, sent from the law firm of Faagre & Benson LLP that represents GMAC:
"GMAC offered $5000 to Ms. Williams to assist in her relocation costs and to allow her to move out of the home peacefully and avoid further complications.
Please discuss this with your colleague Emily Chow (766-8012) before noon. If we do not hear from you by that time, GMAC will proceed with contacting the Mpls. Police to secure the property.
As officers of the Court, we have an obligation to abide by the law and the Court's ruling in this case. We presented and argued our cases before the Court and the court has ruled. You have elected not to appeal that ruling, so the Order is final. I hope that you consider your obligation seriously as you advise your client about her options. GMAC has done everything possible to help Ms. Williams, except giving her the property for free. It has negotiated with potential buyers, extended the deadline for eviction and significantly discounted the sale price of the home. There is nothing left to do.
Even all the protesters and so-called supporters who are claiming to help her can't come up with the money to buy the property at the reduced rate. This is an opportunity for your client to vacate the property peacefully so she can move on with her life and GMAC can start the process of preparing the home for resale. I sincerely hope you and your client will choose the peaceful option."
So how did Rosemary respond to GMAC's offer? "NO WAY!" --which immediately spurred us on to step up our demand for an END TO EVICTIONS AND A MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES!
A very moving candlelight vigil was held on her front lawn Monday evening with participation by people of many faiths.
The next day Tuesday, August 11, 2009, plans were scrapped to hold a demonstration at the mayor's office due to the following letter received by Rosemary Williams' lawyer, sent from the law firm of Faagre & Benson LLP that represents GMAC:
"GMAC offered $5000 to Ms. Williams to assist in her relocation costs and to allow her to move out of the home peacefully and avoid further complications.
Please discuss this with your colleague Emily Chow (766-8012) before noon. If we do not hear from you by that time, GMAC will proceed with contacting the Mpls. Police to secure the property.
As officers of the Court, we have an obligation to abide by the law and the Court's ruling in this case. We presented and argued our cases before the Court and the court has ruled. You have elected not to appeal that ruling, so the Order is final. I hope that you consider your obligation seriously as you advise your client about her options. GMAC has done everything possible to help Ms. Williams, except giving her the property for free. It has negotiated with potential buyers, extended the deadline for eviction and significantly discounted the sale price of the home. There is nothing left to do.
Even all the protesters and so-called supporters who are claiming to help her can't come up with the money to buy the property at the reduced rate. This is an opportunity for your client to vacate the property peacefully so she can move on with her life and GMAC can start the process of preparing the home for resale. I sincerely hope you and your client will choose the peaceful option."
So how did Rosemary respond to GMAC's offer? "NO WAY!" --which immediately spurred us on to step up our demand for an END TO EVICTIONS AND A MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES!
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Senator Franken: "We are praying for Rosemary Williams," says CHAM.
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Dear Senator Franken,
Last night, Monday, Aug. 10, at 8pm we at CHAM Deliverance Ministry In San Jose, California prayed for the family of Rosemary Williams. We prayed In solidarity with the vigil held at her home at 3138 Clinton Street In Minneapolis. We stand In solidarity with Rosemary Williams's struggle to keep her home and against foreclosures and evictions around the country.
We are united In opposition to foreclosures and evictions that have been ravaging our communities and destroying families. We call on GMAC to come to the table and use the millions of dollars provided by the government to help families renegotiate their loans. We call on all the banks to come to the table to save Rosemary's home and end foreclosures and evictions around the country.
Sincerely,
Sandy Perry
Outreach Minister
CHAM Deliverance Ministry
80 S. Fifth St.
San Jose, CA 95112
408-691-6153
Last night, Monday, Aug. 10, at 8pm we at CHAM Deliverance Ministry In San Jose, California prayed for the family of Rosemary Williams. We prayed In solidarity with the vigil held at her home at 3138 Clinton Street In Minneapolis. We stand In solidarity with Rosemary Williams's struggle to keep her home and against foreclosures and evictions around the country.
We are united In opposition to foreclosures and evictions that have been ravaging our communities and destroying families. We call on GMAC to come to the table and use the millions of dollars provided by the government to help families renegotiate their loans. We call on all the banks to come to the table to save Rosemary's home and end foreclosures and evictions around the country.
Sincerely,
Sandy Perry
Outreach Minister
CHAM Deliverance Ministry
80 S. Fifth St.
San Jose, CA 95112
408-691-6153
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Defying Foreclosure, Owner And Protesters Wait Reporting
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Defying Foreclosure, Owner And Protesters Wait Reporting
by Bill Hudson
Original Article: http://wcco.com/neweconomy/defying.foreclosure.protesters.2.1124336.html
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― Sixty-year-old Rosemary Williams lived in the home at 3138 Clinton Avenue South in Minneapolis for the past 23 years. It's the only neighborhood she's ever known, having lived on the same block for the past 55 years.
A simple blue sided, two-story home on the Minneapolis' south side has become emblematic of the nation's foreclosure crisis.
"People are willing to go to jail to get justice for Rosemary Williams," said Mick Kelly.
He's one of several dozen activists camped at the house in defiance of a sheriff's eviction order.
Sixty-year-old Rosemary Williams lived in the home at 3138 Clinton Avenue South in Minneapolis for the past 23 years. It's the only neighborhood she's ever known, having lived on the same block for the past 55 years.
Her troubles began last December when Williams lost her job and then received the terrifying news from her mortgage company. The interest rate on her GMAC adjustable rate mortgage shot up to 10 percent. You can imagine what that did to her monthly payment.
"It jumped from $1200 to $2200 in one year," said Williams.
Unemployed and looking for work, Williams was unable to make her payments and fell further and further behind. This summer, GMAC initiated foreclosure and in early July the company executed a formal eviction.
"You've got millions of people already been foreclosed on, millions more are coming. The economy cannot turn around and stop until we have a moratorium on foreclosures," Williams pointed out.
Ever since the eviction order was served by the Hennepin County Sheriff, a growing number of activists have been gathering in front of William's home. They've posted dozens of signs and banners, pointing to what they claim is an injustice being orchestrated by lenders.
Meantime, some of Williams' valuables are being moved out. At the same time, sympathetic protesters have moved in. They vow to resist any request to leave the property, assuring a mass arrest for trespassing.
Beyond the fight over bank foreclosures, activists are also critical of the government's attempt at a loan modification system. It's a system they say is also failing distressed homeowners despite the billions of dollars being pumped into the banking system.
Cheri Hankala has worked with troubled homeowners through the Minnesota Poor People's Economic Human Rights Coalition
She said the loan modification system didn't help Williams and is failing others in the same dire situation.
"We can't find one person out there that has benefited or been a part of any loan modification program in order to save their home," said Hankala.
Attempts to reach GMAC Home Mortgage to discuss this particular case were not successful. They did not return WCCO's phone calls.
So, with posters and prayer, the sit-in continues. A waiting game that will eventually conclude with a forced eviction and one woman's painful foreclosure on the front page.
by Bill Hudson
Original Article: http://wcco.com/neweconomy/defying.foreclosure.protesters.2.1124336.html
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― Sixty-year-old Rosemary Williams lived in the home at 3138 Clinton Avenue South in Minneapolis for the past 23 years. It's the only neighborhood she's ever known, having lived on the same block for the past 55 years.
A simple blue sided, two-story home on the Minneapolis' south side has become emblematic of the nation's foreclosure crisis.
"People are willing to go to jail to get justice for Rosemary Williams," said Mick Kelly.
He's one of several dozen activists camped at the house in defiance of a sheriff's eviction order.
Sixty-year-old Rosemary Williams lived in the home at 3138 Clinton Avenue South in Minneapolis for the past 23 years. It's the only neighborhood she's ever known, having lived on the same block for the past 55 years.
Her troubles began last December when Williams lost her job and then received the terrifying news from her mortgage company. The interest rate on her GMAC adjustable rate mortgage shot up to 10 percent. You can imagine what that did to her monthly payment.
"It jumped from $1200 to $2200 in one year," said Williams.
Unemployed and looking for work, Williams was unable to make her payments and fell further and further behind. This summer, GMAC initiated foreclosure and in early July the company executed a formal eviction.
"You've got millions of people already been foreclosed on, millions more are coming. The economy cannot turn around and stop until we have a moratorium on foreclosures," Williams pointed out.
Ever since the eviction order was served by the Hennepin County Sheriff, a growing number of activists have been gathering in front of William's home. They've posted dozens of signs and banners, pointing to what they claim is an injustice being orchestrated by lenders.
Meantime, some of Williams' valuables are being moved out. At the same time, sympathetic protesters have moved in. They vow to resist any request to leave the property, assuring a mass arrest for trespassing.
Beyond the fight over bank foreclosures, activists are also critical of the government's attempt at a loan modification system. It's a system they say is also failing distressed homeowners despite the billions of dollars being pumped into the banking system.
Cheri Hankala has worked with troubled homeowners through the Minnesota Poor People's Economic Human Rights Coalition
She said the loan modification system didn't help Williams and is failing others in the same dire situation.
"We can't find one person out there that has benefited or been a part of any loan modification program in order to save their home," said Hankala.
Attempts to reach GMAC Home Mortgage to discuss this particular case were not successful. They did not return WCCO's phone calls.
So, with posters and prayer, the sit-in continues. A waiting game that will eventually conclude with a forced eviction and one woman's painful foreclosure on the front page.
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Update on the Standoff: GMAC says "Arrests Today"
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For release: August 11, 2009
GMAC says "Arrests Today"
Today's Meeting with Mayor Cancelled
This morning GMAC contacted Rosemary Williams's attorney. GMAC offered her $5000 to be quiet, stop activity to save her house, and go away. Ms. Williams said no. She would not take their "30 pieces of silver" when justice was on the line.
Today, we had plans to go to Mayor Rybak's office to tell him to order the city attorney to call off the cops. We would hope that our elected officials would act to save the people. It is clear that banks and corporations take precedence over people's lives.
We will be at the Williams home all day. (3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis) GMAC says it is sending out the police to arrest.
This fight will continue for families in foreclosure. Rosemary Williams stated: "I'm more committed now than ever to help families in America to save thier homes. GMAC made me more committed than ever."
Contacts:
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign:Cheri Honkala 267-439-8419 Ann Patterson 612-940-1040
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, Mick Kelly:612-715-3280, Linden Gawboy:612-296-5649
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Indymedia Coverage of the Standoff at Rosemary Williams' House
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Rosemary Williams
Occupation at Williams' House Goes Into Second Night
Submitted by haloka on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 20:10
in
* Local
* foreclosures
* Housing
* Minneapolis
* Organizing
* people's bailout
* PPEHRC
* Rosemary Williams
* Feature
TAKE ACTION: Tuesday morning at 9:30am meet at Rosemary's house--3138 Clinton-- then go together to the mayor's office at 10am to demand a just resolution to Rosemary's situation.
Related: MPR Update says police waiting for opinion of city attorney | Fighting foreclosures in North MPLS from TCDP
Monday evening: Ninety to a hundred people attended a candlelight vigil at Rosemary Williams's house. Religious folks and other community activists spoke. "God opened the door," said one speaker, describing the occupation.
Monday: 4th day of occupation; approx. 15 people stayed at the house last night; many more there this morning. | Article & Video from Fight Back News
Sunday Update: Press conference at Rosemary's house, 8am Monday.
The occupation at Rosemary Williams' home at 3138 Clinton in Minneapolis enters its second night tonight. On Friday night, about 20 people, including Rosemary Williams herself, spent the night at the home after a no trespassing order was given earlier in the day. At a 4pm press conference this rainy and humid Saturday, the usual crowd of activists from MN PPEHRC and the Coalition for a People's Bailout (twitter feed), bolstered by growing support and donations of food and supplies from neighbors, rallied to the defense of Williams' home. Some pushed for GMAC to finally negotiate; others concluded that the only option left is to defend the house with their bodies.
The question now is what the Minneapolis Police will do next. A police spokesman has said they'll respond if a trespassing complaint is received - but what that means is anyone's guess. For now, says Rosemary, "We can't give up, that's the bottom line. We have to band together to make this happen." People will continue to occupy the house around the clock.
Occupation at Williams' House Goes Into Second Night
Submitted by haloka on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 20:10
in
* Local
* foreclosures
* Housing
* Minneapolis
* Organizing
* people's bailout
* PPEHRC
* Rosemary Williams
* Feature
TAKE ACTION: Tuesday morning at 9:30am meet at Rosemary's house--3138 Clinton-- then go together to the mayor's office at 10am to demand a just resolution to Rosemary's situation.
Related: MPR Update says police waiting for opinion of city attorney | Fighting foreclosures in North MPLS from TCDP
Monday evening: Ninety to a hundred people attended a candlelight vigil at Rosemary Williams's house. Religious folks and other community activists spoke. "God opened the door," said one speaker, describing the occupation.
Monday: 4th day of occupation; approx. 15 people stayed at the house last night; many more there this morning. | Article & Video from Fight Back News
Sunday Update: Press conference at Rosemary's house, 8am Monday.
The occupation at Rosemary Williams' home at 3138 Clinton in Minneapolis enters its second night tonight. On Friday night, about 20 people, including Rosemary Williams herself, spent the night at the home after a no trespassing order was given earlier in the day. At a 4pm press conference this rainy and humid Saturday, the usual crowd of activists from MN PPEHRC and the Coalition for a People's Bailout (twitter feed), bolstered by growing support and donations of food and supplies from neighbors, rallied to the defense of Williams' home. Some pushed for GMAC to finally negotiate; others concluded that the only option left is to defend the house with their bodies.
The question now is what the Minneapolis Police will do next. A police spokesman has said they'll respond if a trespassing complaint is received - but what that means is anyone's guess. For now, says Rosemary, "We can't give up, that's the bottom line. We have to band together to make this happen." People will continue to occupy the house around the clock.
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
FOX 9: Protesting Eviction at 32nd and Clinton 4th day of Rosemary Williams eviction protest
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Monday, 10 Aug 2009, 8:33 AM CDT
Original Article: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/Rosemary_Williams_Eviction_Protest_Aug_10_2009
MINNEAPOLIS - The fight to keep Rosemary Williams in her foreclosed home on Clinton Avenue in south Minneapolis continued Monday morning. Even after her eviction on Friday.
Since Hennepin County sheriff's deputies evicted Williams from her house at 32nd and Clinton four days ago, friends and supporters have been rotating shifts and protesting on the property, with a very large protest planned for Monday.
Rosemary Williams has lived in her home at 3138 Clinton Ave. S. for 26 years, and has become the poster child for the foreclosure crisis in Minneapolis.
Deal to save her home recently fell through and on Friday she was evicted and the locks were changed. But soon, friends and supporters with the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign were able to get inside the house and remove all her belongings.
In three years, Rosemary Williams had lost her job and her mortgage went from $900 to $2,600 per month. But in July, a judge ruled against her defense that she was a victim fo predatory lending and ruled she needed $49,000 to appeal the case.
Protesters are still fighting for Williams. A Press conference started at 8 a.m. Monday and the group has said it plans to stay at 32nd and Clinton until they are forcibly removed by police
Original Article: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/Rosemary_Williams_Eviction_Protest_Aug_10_2009
MINNEAPOLIS - The fight to keep Rosemary Williams in her foreclosed home on Clinton Avenue in south Minneapolis continued Monday morning. Even after her eviction on Friday.
Since Hennepin County sheriff's deputies evicted Williams from her house at 32nd and Clinton four days ago, friends and supporters have been rotating shifts and protesting on the property, with a very large protest planned for Monday.
Rosemary Williams has lived in her home at 3138 Clinton Ave. S. for 26 years, and has become the poster child for the foreclosure crisis in Minneapolis.
Deal to save her home recently fell through and on Friday she was evicted and the locks were changed. But soon, friends and supporters with the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign were able to get inside the house and remove all her belongings.
In three years, Rosemary Williams had lost her job and her mortgage went from $900 to $2,600 per month. But in July, a judge ruled against her defense that she was a victim fo predatory lending and ruled she needed $49,000 to appeal the case.
Protesters are still fighting for Williams. A Press conference started at 8 a.m. Monday and the group has said it plans to stay at 32nd and Clinton until they are forcibly removed by police
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
WCCO Coverage: Protesters Fighting Home Foreclosure
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Aug 10, 2009 12:06 pm US/Central
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― Dozens of protesters are waging a sit-in at a foreclosed home in south Minneapolis. in south Minneapolis.
On Friday, officers evicted Rosemary Williams from her home on the 3100 block of Clinton Avenue South, after she missed some mortgage payments to GMAC. Williams is a long-time resident of the area.
Williams said she's a victim of predatory lending. Last month, a judge who heard her case ruled against her and said she would have to either come up with the money she owes, or leave.
Williams and her supporters want GMAC to restart the negotiations to modify her mortgage.
Since the foreclosure Friday, protesters have taken over the home, coming and going in shifts. On Monday, some said they're willing to stay as long as needed: weeks, months, even a year.
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Protest, Rosemary Williams
Photos from the night before the standoff at Rosemary's
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 |
| Standoff at Rosemary's House |
Labels: Ann Patterson, Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Press Release: Neighbors & Supporters of Rosemary Williams Demand Meeting with Mayor
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For release: August 10, 2009
NEIGHBORS AND SUPPORTERS OF ROSEMARY WILLIAMS DEMAND MEETING WITH MAYOR
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 10:00 a.m., neighbors, friends, supporters of Rosemary Williams along with the faith community will go to Mayor Rybak's office. We will demand to meet with Mayor Rybak and insist that he stop police from evicting Rosemary from her home, and that the mayor take action to keep Rosemary in her home.
On Friday, Aug. 7th, Rosemary Williams and her family endured a snap eviction from the house Rosemary has been fighting to save for over a year. Neighbors, supporters and community members rushed to the house at 3138 Clinton to defend the home. Dozens of supporters have slept on the floors and have held an overnight watch at the front and back doors. During the days, hundreds of people have pitched in for rallies, massive moves of Ms. Williams's belongings, and organizing meals and community gatherings.
Mayor Rybak needs to see that forcing Ms. Williams and her supporters from the home is the wrong thing to do. It is time for Mayor Rybak to address the foreclosure crisis in our city and to keep Rosemary Williams in her home.
Rosemary Williams, her neighbors, friends, and supporters will continue this struggle as long as it take to get justice.
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, Mick Kelly 612-715-3280, Linden Gawboy 612-296-5649
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign: Cheri Honkala 267-439-8419, Ann Patterson 612-940-1040
--30--
NEIGHBORS AND SUPPORTERS OF ROSEMARY WILLIAMS DEMAND MEETING WITH MAYOR
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 10:00 a.m., neighbors, friends, supporters of Rosemary Williams along with the faith community will go to Mayor Rybak's office. We will demand to meet with Mayor Rybak and insist that he stop police from evicting Rosemary from her home, and that the mayor take action to keep Rosemary in her home.
On Friday, Aug. 7th, Rosemary Williams and her family endured a snap eviction from the house Rosemary has been fighting to save for over a year. Neighbors, supporters and community members rushed to the house at 3138 Clinton to defend the home. Dozens of supporters have slept on the floors and have held an overnight watch at the front and back doors. During the days, hundreds of people have pitched in for rallies, massive moves of Ms. Williams's belongings, and organizing meals and community gatherings.
Mayor Rybak needs to see that forcing Ms. Williams and her supporters from the home is the wrong thing to do. It is time for Mayor Rybak to address the foreclosure crisis in our city and to keep Rosemary Williams in her home.
Rosemary Williams, her neighbors, friends, and supporters will continue this struggle as long as it take to get justice.
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, Mick Kelly 612-715-3280, Linden Gawboy 612-296-5649
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign: Cheri Honkala 267-439-8419, Ann Patterson 612-940-1040
--30--
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Monday, August 10, 2009
Press Release: "Marching to Fulfill the Dream: Campaign Will Mobilize Thousands to Claim Economic Rights"
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POOR PEOPLE'S ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
For immediate release
Contact: Cheri Honkala, 267 439-8419
Marching to Fulfill the Dream: Campaign Will Mobilize Thousands to Claim Economic Rights
"Martin Luther King dreamed not only of racial justice, but of organizing across racial lines to secure economic justice for all. In 1998 the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) picked up the mantle of MLK and vowed to work until the dream was fulfilled. If you think we're there, you can ignore this. But if you're hurting, or your mother or your brother or your neighbor or friend is hurting, put on your walking shoes," said Cheri Honkala, National Organizer of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC).
At its national conference in July, nearly 400 representatives of PPEHRC member organizations voted to organize the next phase of the campaign—a march from the Katrina-torn Gulf through the Mississippi Delta and on through the Rust Belt.
The march will culminate in Detroit at the 2010 US Social Forum, which expects upwards of 20,000 participants from around the country and the globe.
As was the case in the 1968 Poor People's Campaign, other marchers will follow Freedom Roads from other parts of the country to join the main branch, which will visibly unite south and north in their common cause.
In 2003, PPEHRC recreated the 1968 Poor People's March, caravanning from Marks, Mississippi to Washington, DC. Commemorating the 35th anniversary of the campaign planned by King before his assassination, organizers of that march pointed to the shameful lack of achievement of the original economic justice goals of jobs, housing, and health care. Since then things have gotten worse—much worse.
"In 1968 the white middle class liberals who had supported civil rights largely abandoned the struggle for economic rights," said a PPEHRC organizer, "but today whites and people of all colors increasingly understand out of their own experience that poverty is not the result of moral failure and laziness. They have worked hard, educated themselves and their children, served their communities and their country, and yet they are losing their homes and their health care. Robots are doing their jobs, and if they can find a job they work harder and longer for less."
Another PPEHRC leader elaborated on today's growing understanding of poverty. "People who have followed all the rules of 'middle class America' are having to choose among their basic human rights: Shelter or medicine? Food or clothing? Education or basic necessities? Water or pre-natal care? That's the nature of poverty. It's structural. Millions who thought of themselves as middle class are awakening to that fact—that securing economic human rights for all is not a safety net for the fallen, but a foundation on which the people of this country can rebuild this country. We are calling them to this march and to the US Social Forum to create a people's solution to the economic crisis."
Marian Kramer, Co-Chair of the National Welfare Rights Union, announces PPEHRC plan to continue pursuing MLK’s dream in 2010 national march for economic justice.”The plan to undertake the march was announced by Marian Kramer, Co-Chair of the National Welfare Rights Union, at the July PPEHRC event, "Building the Unsettling Force:A National Conference to End Poverty," held in Louisville, KYIt was endorsed enthusiastically by the participants, most of whom represented over 60 of the 131 member organizations of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC). The theme of the conference was based on Martin Luther King's call to organize the "dispossessed of the nation" into an unsettling force to demand economic human rights. The conference was co-sponsored by the Social Welfare Action Alliance, and hosted by Women in Transition, both PPEHRC member organizations.
Labels: Detroit, Economic Justice, Marching to Fulfull the Dream, Martin Luther King, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, PPEHRC, SWAA, USSF 2010, WIT
Write, email and call Rosemary Williams' elected officials TODAY to prevent her eviction!
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Here's the suggested text to send to the elected officials (below):
"I am very alarmed about the epidemic of imminent and unjust foreclosures in the Green Central neighborhood of south Minneapolis, involving several long-time residents. Rosemary Williams' loss of her home and her neighbors' resistance to it are about to get nationwide attention, as scores of their supporters block the sheriff's effort to remove her.
This is a human rights emergency for this homeowner, her neighbors, and tens of thousands of Americans who are threatened with foreclosure. Join us today by personally intervening and speaking out to keep Rosemary Williams in her home and stop this now."
This is a human rights emergency for this homeowner, her neighbors, and tens of thousands of Americans who are threatened with foreclosure. Join us today by personally intervening and speaking out to keep Rosemary Williams in her home and stop this now."
Direct your communications to the following elected officials:
Elizabeth Glidden
350 S 5th Street
City Hall, Room 307
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone: (612) 673-2208
Fax: (612) 673-3940
Email: Elizabeth.Glidden@ci.minneapolis.mn.us
350 S 5th Street
City Hall, Room 307
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone: (612) 673-2208
Fax: (612) 673-3940
Email: Elizabeth.Glidden@ci.minneapolis.mn.us
Mayor R.T. Rybak
City Hall, Room 331
350 South Fifth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone: (612) 673-2100
Fax: (612) 673-2305
Email contact form: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/forms/mayor-opinion/
Congressman Keith Ellison (he should be in district on House recess)
Minneapolis Office
2100 Plymouth Avenue N
Minneapolis, MN 55411
Phone: (612) 522-1212 Fax: 612-522-9915
Email contact: https://forms.house.gov/ellison/webforms/issue_subscribe.htm
Senator Al Franken (in DC until Aug. 8 recess)
320 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
DC Phone: 202-224-5641
MN Phone: 651-221-1016
E-mail: info@franken.senate.gov
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Sheriff's Attempt to Evict Rosemary - HOME RECLAIMED
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CALL FOR SUPPORT - Resistance Continues - 24 hour Presence of Supporters Needed
Yesterday around 2pm the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department officially evicted Rosemary Williams, removing all occupants and locking many of Rosemary's possessions into her home. Thankfully, last night Rosemary was able to sleep peacefully in her home. The community mobilized quickly, first re-opening the home then rallying outside and carrying out possessions to temporary storage in volunteers' vans. Throughout the afternoon and evening over 100 members of the community came to rally and show support.
Here's a link to some of the news coverage:
http://www.startribune.com/local/52713662.html?elr=KArks:DCiUnP::DE8c7PiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
Members of MN PPEHRC, the Coalition for a People's Bailout, and community members will continue to fight and occupy the property until Rosemary's home is secure. The more people who are present at the home at any given time, the less the chances are of forced removal at the hands of the police department. We are maintaining a constant presence at the home, 24 hours a day.
Come by and show your support whenever you can. Stay for as long as you can and spread the word. We plan on keeping this home as long as possible to pressure the city and the banks to accept a deal that will allow Rosemary to keep her home.
Come anytime to 3138 Clinton Ave S. Bring friends, family, musical instruments and entertainment.
AND...HERE'S ANOTHER UPDATE RE. BARBARA BYRD'S STAND
Barbara Byrd, African American working woman fighting to stay in her duplex in Brooklyn Park, will NOT appear in court on August 10th as scheduled. Her date in district court to present her case against EMC has been rescheduled for Wednesday, September 16th at 1pm. Room number to be verified.
No Evictions, No Foreclosures! Housing is a Human Right!
Yesterday around 2pm the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department officially evicted Rosemary Williams, removing all occupants and locking many of Rosemary's possessions into her home. Thankfully, last night Rosemary was able to sleep peacefully in her home. The community mobilized quickly, first re-opening the home then rallying outside and carrying out possessions to temporary storage in volunteers' vans. Throughout the afternoon and evening over 100 members of the community came to rally and show support.
Here's a link to some of the news coverage:
http://www.startribune.com/local/52713662.html?elr=KArks:DCiUnP::DE8c7PiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
Members of MN PPEHRC, the Coalition for a People's Bailout, and community members will continue to fight and occupy the property until Rosemary's home is secure. The more people who are present at the home at any given time, the less the chances are of forced removal at the hands of the police department. We are maintaining a constant presence at the home, 24 hours a day.
Come by and show your support whenever you can. Stay for as long as you can and spread the word. We plan on keeping this home as long as possible to pressure the city and the banks to accept a deal that will allow Rosemary to keep her home.
Come anytime to 3138 Clinton Ave S. Bring friends, family, musical instruments and entertainment.
AND...HERE'S ANOTHER UPDATE RE. BARBARA BYRD'S STAND
Barbara Byrd, African American working woman fighting to stay in her duplex in Brooklyn Park, will NOT appear in court on August 10th as scheduled. Her date in district court to present her case against EMC has been rescheduled for Wednesday, September 16th at 1pm. Room number to be verified.
No Evictions, No Foreclosures! Housing is a Human Right!
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Media conference: Fight to save Rosemary's house continues!
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For release: August 9, 2009
Fight to save Rosemary's house continues!
As weekend ends, danger of police raid looms Monday morning.
Media conference
Monday, August 10, 8:00 a.m.
3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis
On Friday, Aug. 7th, Rosemary Williams and her family endured a snap eviction from the home Rosemary has been fighting to save for over a year. Ms. Williams was given less than 90 minutes to decide which of her 60+ years of history to empty into her vehicle. That is how long it took the sheriff's people to change the locks.
Immediately, neighbors, supporters and community members rushed to the house at 3138 Clinton. Almost as immediately, plans were made to make sure Ms. Williams was able to retreive her belongings and reclaim access to her home. Part of those plans included supporters taking a stand inside and outside the house, determined to defend the home.
For two nights, up to 20 supporters have slept on the floors and have held an overnight watch at the front and back doors. During the days, upwards of 75 people at a time have pitched in for rallies, massisve moves of Ms. Williams belongings, and organizing simple family barbeques and birthday parties.
But tomorrow, we will be prepared for the situation to escalate. A nationwide call has been put out for members of the public to call GMAC, insisting that they start negotgiating in good faith with Ms. Williams so she and her family can keep her home. GMAC's stalling and outright fabrications have stymied efforts for Ms. Williams to explore all the avenues available to her. We have been exposing the rotteness of GMAC's tactics to the public, and people around the country are taking inpiration from Rosemary Williams's fight.
Monday, GMAC has to make a choice. Agree to negotiate in good faith, or continue to be exposed for its role in destroying homes, neighborhoods, and our communities...all the while grubbing at the trough of billions in federal bailout money.
Contacts: MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, Mick Kelly:612-715-3280, Linden Gawboy:612-296-5649
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign:Cheri Honkala 267-439-8419 Ann Patterson 612-940-1040
Fight to save Rosemary's house continues!
As weekend ends, danger of police raid looms Monday morning.
Media conference
Monday, August 10, 8:00 a.m.
3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis
On Friday, Aug. 7th, Rosemary Williams and her family endured a snap eviction from the home Rosemary has been fighting to save for over a year. Ms. Williams was given less than 90 minutes to decide which of her 60+ years of history to empty into her vehicle. That is how long it took the sheriff's people to change the locks.
Immediately, neighbors, supporters and community members rushed to the house at 3138 Clinton. Almost as immediately, plans were made to make sure Ms. Williams was able to retreive her belongings and reclaim access to her home. Part of those plans included supporters taking a stand inside and outside the house, determined to defend the home.
For two nights, up to 20 supporters have slept on the floors and have held an overnight watch at the front and back doors. During the days, upwards of 75 people at a time have pitched in for rallies, massisve moves of Ms. Williams belongings, and organizing simple family barbeques and birthday parties.
But tomorrow, we will be prepared for the situation to escalate. A nationwide call has been put out for members of the public to call GMAC, insisting that they start negotgiating in good faith with Ms. Williams so she and her family can keep her home. GMAC's stalling and outright fabrications have stymied efforts for Ms. Williams to explore all the avenues available to her. We have been exposing the rotteness of GMAC's tactics to the public, and people around the country are taking inpiration from Rosemary Williams's fight.
Monday, GMAC has to make a choice. Agree to negotiate in good faith, or continue to be exposed for its role in destroying homes, neighborhoods, and our communities...all the while grubbing at the trough of billions in federal bailout money.
Contacts: MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, Mick Kelly:612-715-3280, Linden Gawboy:612-296-5649
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign:Cheri Honkala 267-439-8419 Ann Patterson 612-940-1040
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Monday, August 3, 2009
Press Conference: Deal to save Rosemary Williams’s home falls through.
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Press Conference: Deal to save Rosemary Williams’s home falls through.
Deal to save Rosemary Williams's home falls through.
Coming together AGAIN to stop Rosemary's eviction:
News conference: Monday, August 3, 11:00 a.m.
3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis
On Friday, July 31, at about 3:00 p.m., Rosemary Williams got word that the deal with Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation (GMHC) to buy her home fell through. This, after the drama of July 24, when shortly after a 24-hour eviction notice was served, she got word that GMHC was to purchase her home and arrange to lease it back to her. A week of relief and celebration and hope was capped off by Friday's devastating news.
Rosemary is not giving up on trying to save her home, and the community is not giving up either. We are mobilizing community members, organizations and all those who want to fight the housing crisis to stand guard at Rosemary's house and do whatever we can to stop the eviction.
At Monday's news conference, we will give an update on our plans to save Rosemary's home, as well as any additional information about the current situation.
Rosemary Williams is a 55-year resident of the Central Neighborhood in south Minneapolis. She has been fighting to save her home for almost a year now. After months of non-communication from the mortgage holders, an eviction was ordered this spring. Ms. Williams, along with dozens of community supporters, tried to use the courts to stop the eviction, only to find out that pursuing "justice" would cost us $49,000. Meanwhile Rosemary has also been desperately trying to get financing to save her home, a process that takes time, especially in this economic and bank climate. Through it all, Ms. Williams makes it clear that she is standing up to inspire everyone to fight against these unjust foreclosures and evictions.
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, mn-peoples-bailout.org, 612-296-5649, Linden Gawboy
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, 651-497-4644, Lynette Malles
Deal to save Rosemary Williams's home falls through.
Coming together AGAIN to stop Rosemary's eviction:
News conference: Monday, August 3, 11:00 a.m.
3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis
On Friday, July 31, at about 3:00 p.m., Rosemary Williams got word that the deal with Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation (GMHC) to buy her home fell through. This, after the drama of July 24, when shortly after a 24-hour eviction notice was served, she got word that GMHC was to purchase her home and arrange to lease it back to her. A week of relief and celebration and hope was capped off by Friday's devastating news.
Rosemary is not giving up on trying to save her home, and the community is not giving up either. We are mobilizing community members, organizations and all those who want to fight the housing crisis to stand guard at Rosemary's house and do whatever we can to stop the eviction.
At Monday's news conference, we will give an update on our plans to save Rosemary's home, as well as any additional information about the current situation.
Rosemary Williams is a 55-year resident of the Central Neighborhood in south Minneapolis. She has been fighting to save her home for almost a year now. After months of non-communication from the mortgage holders, an eviction was ordered this spring. Ms. Williams, along with dozens of community supporters, tried to use the courts to stop the eviction, only to find out that pursuing "justice" would cost us $49,000. Meanwhile Rosemary has also been desperately trying to get financing to save her home, a process that takes time, especially in this economic and bank climate. Through it all, Ms. Williams makes it clear that she is standing up to inspire everyone to fight against these unjust foreclosures and evictions.
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, mn-peoples-bailout.org, 612-296-5649, Linden Gawboy
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, 651-497-4644, Lynette Malles
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Monday, July 27, 2009
Minneapolis woman, facing eviction-foreclosure, gets last-minute reprieve
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Allie Shah, Star Tribune
Rosemary Williams, third woman from right (partly obscured by man), learned hours after getting an eviction notice that she doesn’t have to leave. Supporters had been prepared to fight through civil disobedience.
A Minneapolis nonprofit developer has agreed to buy the home of Rosemary Williams and strike a deal so she can stay there.
By ALLIE SHAH, Star Tribune
Last update: July 25, 2009 - 8:18 AM
Rosemary Williams, whose fight to stay in her foreclosed home in Minneapolis has attracted national attention, has won a last-minute reprieve -- and possibly more.
Hours after getting an eviction notice Friday, Williams, standing barefoot on the wooden porch outside the house where she's lived for 23 years, said she learned that she can stay for now and, perhaps, for good.
The Greater Metropolitan Housing Corp., a local nonprofit developer, said it has agreed to buy the home from GMAC Mortgage and allow Williams to live there through a rental or other arrangement.
"It's all taken care of. We expect to close within a week," the organization's president, Carolyn Olson, said Friday evening. Olson said that she had signed the paperwork to buy the home for $90,000 and sent it to GMAC. GMAC officials could not immediately be reached.
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office had served the eviction notice on Williams, 60, early Friday, which would have required her to leave within the next few days.
She and her supporters had planned to block authorities from removing her by using non-violent civil disobedience and scheduled a news conference Friday to detail their plans.
Instead, Minneapolis City Council Member Elizabeth Glidden announced the negotiations between a potential buyer and GMAC that would allow Williams to stay.
"We know that the Sheriff's Office is holding off," Glidden told the crowd, who cheered loudly.
Lisa Kiava, a spokeswoman for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, said Williams had been served paperwork, adding, "we're not taking any action on the writ of execution until we have more information."
Williams is a divorced mother of three who took out an adjustable-rate mortgage to get $12,000 to pay some bills. Her payment jumped from $1,200 to $2,200 a month. At the same time, she lost her job and stopped making payments. The house went into foreclosure and was sold at an auction last fall.
She was ordered to leave the house by March 30, but she refused. The new owner, GMAC Mortgage, went to court to have her evicted.
Williams' family has lived on Clinton Avenue for more than 50 years, and she and her mother built the house where she now lives.
There are seven foreclosed homes on her block, including a boarded-up one across the street that was tagged recently with this sardonic message: "What housing crisis?"
Williams' case has attracted the interest of filmmaker Michael Moore, she said, as well as several local organizations. They include the Minnesota Coalition for a People's Bailout and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.
"She has become a symbol of what so many people are going through," Glidden said.
Sitting on her porch Friday after the crowd left, Williams said: "I had a sign in my bathroom that said, 'I believe in miracles.' This morning I looked at that sign and said, 'Yes.'"
Allie Shah • 612-673-4488
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Friday, July 24, 2009
Victory for Rosemary Williams!
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Media Alert
For Immediate Release: 7-24-2009
Today, July 24, at 9:15 a.m., the Hennepin County Sheriff's office knocked on the door of Rosemary Williams, 3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis. They handed her an eviction notice, stating that she and her family (including two grandbabies) had to be out of the house by Monday. Ms. Williams, along with the MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and the MN Coalition for People's Bailout were already prepared with a press conference to announce plans to resist the eviction.
Twenty minutes before the press conference, Rosemary Williams got a phone call from Minneapolis Councilmember Elizabeth Glidden. Word came through that a buyer had been found for the house, and that Ms. Williams could get a chance to lease her home with an option to buy it outright. In any case, the sheriffs were called off. And Rosemary stays in her home.
"This victory shows that when you fight back, you can win," said Linden Gawboy, of the MN Coalition for a People's Bailout. "Rosemary has lit the path for millions of others in this country. Stay, stay, stay. Never give up. Our communities depend on us staying."
Cheri Honkala, of the MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign stated, "Rosemary's victory proves the strength of people's power. Through a unified struggle made up of directly affected people and allies, mega-corporations like GMAC have run scared. Rosemary has won."
Rosemary Williams has lived on the same block in South Minneapolis for 55 years. Since she began her fight against foreclosures, she has been speaking not just for herself, but for all others in the same situation. She has testified at the legislature, before the city council and attempted a ground-breaking court case to save her home. She is a heroic example to everyone that taking a stand can have results.
"This is what happens when organizations and community come together and work collectively," said Rosemary Williams. "I just want to encourage everyone to not just leave in the night like they want you to. Fight for what is yours."
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, mn-peoples-bailout.org, 612-822-8020, 612-296-5649
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, 612-940-1040, 267-439-8419
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Photos and video clipping of the National Conference to End Poverty.
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Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, Cheri Honkala, Gathering of Hearts, PPEHRC, SWAA, WIT
URGENT! Rosemary Williams Foreclosure non violent sit in to begin soon in MPLS.
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EMERGENCY ALERT. Save Rosemary's Home!
Today, Thursday July 23, at about 11:00 a.m., Judge Zimmerman issued a "Writ of Recovery" on behalf of GMAC. This means GMAC can seize Rosemary Williams's home as soon as Friday (TOMORROW). The sheriff could post the eviction notice as soon as TODAY. Then the sheriff wants the house vacated in 24 hours.
Here is the plan:
--Right after the sheriff posts the notice of eviction, we will put out a call to have EVERYONE stand guard at Rosemary's house - 3138 Clinton Ave, Mpls. Make plans now as to what your role will be as we stop this eviction. Again, it is likely that we will have to be there tomorrow.
--Press conference:
Friday, July 24, 1:00 p.m.
Rosemary's house: 3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis
SOME CALLS TO MAKE:
Call GMAC: Call GMAC in the Twin Cities and the national headquarters.
Twin Cities: 952-806-9705
GMAC Headquarters: 215-734-8899
Tell them to retract the writ of recovery and let Rosemary try to save her home. She has been desperately trying to get financing to save her home, a process that takes time.
Call Fraegre and Benson: GMAC is represented by the law firm of Fraegre and Benson. Rosemary asks that you call them at 612-766-7000 and tell them to "undo the Writ of Recovery" on Rosemary's home.
Call these elected officials
Mayor RT Rybak: 612-673-2100
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison: 202-225-4755
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar: 202-224-3244
U.S. Sen. Al Franken: 202-224-5641
Demand that they call GMAC and order GMAC to retract the writ of recovery. Banks got billions of dollars in bailout money. Now is their chance to help the people who the banks screwed over.
Rosemary Williams is a 55-year resident of the Central Neighborhood in south Minneapolis. Rosemary has been a fighter against the foreclosure crisis for nearly a year, giving inspiration to others to fight back. Now is the time for all the community to show support. Clear your calendars and take a stand!
We will put our more info later.
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, www.mn-peoples-bailout.org, 612-822-8020, 612-296-5649
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, 612-940-1040
Today, Thursday July 23, at about 11:00 a.m., Judge Zimmerman issued a "Writ of Recovery" on behalf of GMAC. This means GMAC can seize Rosemary Williams's home as soon as Friday (TOMORROW). The sheriff could post the eviction notice as soon as TODAY. Then the sheriff wants the house vacated in 24 hours.
Here is the plan:
--Right after the sheriff posts the notice of eviction, we will put out a call to have EVERYONE stand guard at Rosemary's house - 3138 Clinton Ave, Mpls. Make plans now as to what your role will be as we stop this eviction. Again, it is likely that we will have to be there tomorrow.
--Press conference:
Friday, July 24, 1:00 p.m.
Rosemary's house: 3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis
SOME CALLS TO MAKE:
Call GMAC: Call GMAC in the Twin Cities and the national headquarters.
Twin Cities: 952-806-9705
GMAC Headquarters: 215-734-8899
Tell them to retract the writ of recovery and let Rosemary try to save her home. She has been desperately trying to get financing to save her home, a process that takes time.
Call Fraegre and Benson: GMAC is represented by the law firm of Fraegre and Benson. Rosemary asks that you call them at 612-766-7000 and tell them to "undo the Writ of Recovery" on Rosemary's home.
Call these elected officials
Mayor RT Rybak: 612-673-2100
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison: 202-225-4755
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar: 202-224-3244
U.S. Sen. Al Franken: 202-224-5641
Demand that they call GMAC and order GMAC to retract the writ of recovery. Banks got billions of dollars in bailout money. Now is their chance to help the people who the banks screwed over.
Rosemary Williams is a 55-year resident of the Central Neighborhood in south Minneapolis. Rosemary has been a fighter against the foreclosure crisis for nearly a year, giving inspiration to others to fight back. Now is the time for all the community to show support. Clear your calendars and take a stand!
We will put our more info later.
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout, www.mn-peoples-bailout.org, 612-822-8020, 612-296-5649
MN Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, 612-940-1040
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Courier Journal: Hundreds march for social justice
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By Emily Udell
eudell@courier-journal.com
July 17, 2009
Several hundred people blocked traffic on Broadway and Fourth Street Friday afternoon as they marched through downtown to draw attention to economic and social justice issues.
The march was part of a conference on poverty that has attracted some 300 social workers, academics, working people and labor activists to Spalding University this weekend.
"The goal of this demonstration today is to lift the voices of poor people across the country," said Khalilah Collins, executive director of Women in Transition, a Louisville group that helped organize the event. "All we have is our voices; we don't have lobbyists."
Collins said participants were trying to showcase issues faced by low-income people, including a need for affordable housing, living wages and access to education. She said these are problems that members of her organization have faced since long before the onset of the global economic crisis.
"This crisis is not new to us," she said. "We've always been homeless; we've always faced having our gas and lights turned off."
The march began at about 3:30 p.m. at Memorial Park at Fourth and Kentucky streets and wove through the downtown. Participants blocked rush-hour traffic as they paraded down Broadway and marched up Fourth Street, carrying signs with anti-poverty messages.
"The people took back the streets," said Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman, who came to show his support. "It was a moment of empowerment."
The demonstration concluded in Jefferson Square, at Sixth and Jefferson streets, where participants listened to speakers and joined in chants for "Unity!" until about 5 p.m.
Many of the demonstration's participants were attending a weekend conference at Spalding titled "Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to End Poverty," which was sponsored by the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign and the Social Welfare Alliance. The conference included research presentations, workshops and tours showcasing local activists' efforts to combat economic problems in Louisville.
Whit Forrester, 25, said he was energized by the grassroots nature of the march and conference, and likened the work of participating groups to that of Ella Baker, a civil rights activist who began a long career of activism in the 1930s.
"The work that happens like this—a movement for the people, by the people and of the people—has a greater capacity to succeed," Forrester said.
Readers can reach reporter Emily Udell at (502) 582-4199.
Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, PPEHRC, SWAA, WIT
Hundreds march to end poverty
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Posted: Jul 17, 2009 6:04 PM EDT Updated: Jul 17, 2009 6:26 PM EDT
By Paige Quiggins
Original Article: http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=10746803
LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign hosted its 11th annual march to end poverty on July 17.
Hundreds of people took part in the march that started in Memorial Park at 3:30 Friday afternoon. Their goal: to put an end to human suffering. The march began with participants shouting "What do we want? Healthcare! When do we want it? Now!" as they proceeded from Memorial Park down 4th Street toward downtown Louisville.
The crowd shouted in excitement, fists clenched in the air, as children chanted "Save my mommy's home!" and "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Poverty has got to go!"
According to PPEHRC member Arun Prabhakaran, the march was put together by hundreds of organizations around the country through local chapters, such as Louisville's Women In Transition.
PPEHRC national organizer Cheri Honkala said the event expected over 500 individuals to step up and voice their concerns. Honkala, a mother of two who was once homeless, said she believed the economic crisis affecting poverty was worse in the South than the North, but the hit has affected everyone.
"Everybody in this country are all a paycheck or healthcare crisis away from homelessness," said Honkala. "Any day could be your turn."
According to Honkala, the organization is also trying to help those going through foreclosures, people without healthcare and others suffering from the recession.
Executive director of Women in Transition, Khalilah Collins, said her local organization was happy to participate in the march because they are attempting to help the women and children affected by the economy.
"In Louisville, we've found women are losing their children, due to poverty reasons," Collins said. "That's being called neglect. Living in your car is neglect. Having no LG&E is neglect. It's an economic human rights violation."
For more information, visit www.economichumanrights.org
By Paige Quiggins
Original Article: http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=10746803
LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign hosted its 11th annual march to end poverty on July 17.
Hundreds of people took part in the march that started in Memorial Park at 3:30 Friday afternoon. Their goal: to put an end to human suffering. The march began with participants shouting "What do we want? Healthcare! When do we want it? Now!" as they proceeded from Memorial Park down 4th Street toward downtown Louisville.
The crowd shouted in excitement, fists clenched in the air, as children chanted "Save my mommy's home!" and "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Poverty has got to go!"
According to PPEHRC member Arun Prabhakaran, the march was put together by hundreds of organizations around the country through local chapters, such as Louisville's Women In Transition.
PPEHRC national organizer Cheri Honkala said the event expected over 500 individuals to step up and voice their concerns. Honkala, a mother of two who was once homeless, said she believed the economic crisis affecting poverty was worse in the South than the North, but the hit has affected everyone.
"Everybody in this country are all a paycheck or healthcare crisis away from homelessness," said Honkala. "Any day could be your turn."
According to Honkala, the organization is also trying to help those going through foreclosures, people without healthcare and others suffering from the recession.
Executive director of Women in Transition, Khalilah Collins, said her local organization was happy to participate in the march because they are attempting to help the women and children affected by the economy.
"In Louisville, we've found women are losing their children, due to poverty reasons," Collins said. "That's being called neglect. Living in your car is neglect. Having no LG&E is neglect. It's an economic human rights violation."
For more information, visit www.economichumanrights.org
Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, PPEHRC, SWAA, WIT
Thursday, July 16, 2009
IAI Message to PPEHRC and SWAA
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Dear friends,
The International Alliance of Inhabitants congratulates you on your conference, Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty (Kentucky, July 16-19, 2009), which is a very important step in the creation of an independent body striving for structural change in the United States.
Indeed, although the Obama administration represents a certain break with the past, we must still take up the challenge of the struggles of the poor, workers, women, youth and seniors of all colour to open up spaces, win rights and obtain support policies.
Because your struggles and triumphs are significant not only in the United States but also on a global level, we would like to develop with you an experience exchange and the establishment of international solidarity.
In this regard, we would like to inform you that, thanks to our united action, we have succeeded in arranging two international missions whose aim will be to examine how the right to housing is respected in your country. The first mission, organized by the UN-Habitat’s Advisory Group on Forced Evictions will take place in New Orleans from July 26-31, 2009, and the second one, which will be at the national level, will be in November 2009 under the aegis of the UN Special Rapporteur for Housing Rights.
For all these reasons, we invite you to participate in the process of creating the World Assembly of Inhabitants (WSF Dakar, January 2011), an initiative that aims to create a shared space that is global and supportive and that is based not only on recognizing cultural diversity, but also on complementarity and equilibrium in respecting our right to organize ourselves independently as an international urban movement by establishing the Urban Way (Vía Urbana).
The goal of this space will be to promote initiatives of shared and supportive action to defend our legitimate right to housing and to the city in the face of neoliberal globalization, to be build together another possible world and other possible cities.
To do this, we can already count on the support of more than 200 organizations in more than 40 countries, as well as, following the WSF in Belem, on all the international networks working in the field of the right to housing and to the city.
The next stage is the establishment of united WAI promoter committees at the national and international level, and, given your commitment and strong involvement in this area, we would like to count on your participation in this initiative.
Therefore, we invite you to fully participate in the development of this process, starting with the creation of initiatives that will take on the struggle in the context of the World Zero Evictions Days (October 2009), and by taking into account that preparatory meetings of the WAI are on the agenda during the World Days for the Right to Housing (Bobigny, France, November 15-22, 2009) and the World Urban Forum (Rio de Janeiro, March 22-26, 2010).
Finally, in wishing you a successful conference, we invite you to send us its results, which we will make available globally on www.habitants.org.
We look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Ciao in solidarity,
Cesare Ottolini
IAI coordinator
PDF of this message:
The International Alliance of Inhabitants congratulates you on your conference, Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty (Kentucky, July 16-19, 2009), which is a very important step in the creation of an independent body striving for structural change in the United States.
Indeed, although the Obama administration represents a certain break with the past, we must still take up the challenge of the struggles of the poor, workers, women, youth and seniors of all colour to open up spaces, win rights and obtain support policies.
Because your struggles and triumphs are significant not only in the United States but also on a global level, we would like to develop with you an experience exchange and the establishment of international solidarity.
In this regard, we would like to inform you that, thanks to our united action, we have succeeded in arranging two international missions whose aim will be to examine how the right to housing is respected in your country. The first mission, organized by the UN-Habitat’s Advisory Group on Forced Evictions will take place in New Orleans from July 26-31, 2009, and the second one, which will be at the national level, will be in November 2009 under the aegis of the UN Special Rapporteur for Housing Rights.
For all these reasons, we invite you to participate in the process of creating the World Assembly of Inhabitants (WSF Dakar, January 2011), an initiative that aims to create a shared space that is global and supportive and that is based not only on recognizing cultural diversity, but also on complementarity and equilibrium in respecting our right to organize ourselves independently as an international urban movement by establishing the Urban Way (Vía Urbana).
The goal of this space will be to promote initiatives of shared and supportive action to defend our legitimate right to housing and to the city in the face of neoliberal globalization, to be build together another possible world and other possible cities.
To do this, we can already count on the support of more than 200 organizations in more than 40 countries, as well as, following the WSF in Belem, on all the international networks working in the field of the right to housing and to the city.
The next stage is the establishment of united WAI promoter committees at the national and international level, and, given your commitment and strong involvement in this area, we would like to count on your participation in this initiative.
Therefore, we invite you to fully participate in the development of this process, starting with the creation of initiatives that will take on the struggle in the context of the World Zero Evictions Days (October 2009), and by taking into account that preparatory meetings of the WAI are on the agenda during the World Days for the Right to Housing (Bobigny, France, November 15-22, 2009) and the World Urban Forum (Rio de Janeiro, March 22-26, 2010).
Finally, in wishing you a successful conference, we invite you to send us its results, which we will make available globally on www.habitants.org.
We look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Ciao in solidarity,
Cesare Ottolini
IAI coordinator
PDF of this message:
Labels: Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty, IAI, International Alliance of Inhabitants, PPEHRC, Social Welfare Action Alliance, SWAA
Thursday, July 9, 2009
This Friday: People’s Party At Rosemary’s Home!
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People's Party At Rosemary's Home!
Support our friend and neighbor, Rosemary Williams, as we continue to defend our community.
Rosemary Williams' Home
3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis
Friday July 10, 6pm-Midnight
We're putting the fun in fundraiser!
The cups are being given out in exchange for a suggested donation of $5 (and we'll even accept more). The beer and wine will be flowing freely. We'll be grilling dollar dogs (both meaty and vegan). Slices of watermelon are also on the menu. Of course, rockin' tunes will also be heard (dancing is encouraged).
We won't let the tyrants in their ivory bank towers destroy the spirit of our community, so come on by and give that spirit some exercise!
Support our friend and neighbor, Rosemary Williams, as we continue to defend our community.
Rosemary Williams' Home
3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis
Friday July 10, 6pm-Midnight
We're putting the fun in fundraiser!
The cups are being given out in exchange for a suggested donation of $5 (and we'll even accept more). The beer and wine will be flowing freely. We'll be grilling dollar dogs (both meaty and vegan). Slices of watermelon are also on the menu. Of course, rockin' tunes will also be heard (dancing is encouraged).
We won't let the tyrants in their ivory bank towers destroy the spirit of our community, so come on by and give that spirit some exercise!
--
http://www.lightstalkers.org/k__flo_razowsky
--
Arun Prabhakaran
t: 215.888.0889
e: prabhakaran.arun@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aprabhakaran
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arunprabhakaran
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aruntis
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
WIT Press Conference: A Call to End Poverty -- Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to Abolish Poverty
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Women In Transition (WIT)
The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC)
and the Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA) Announce:
Building the Unsettling Force:
A National Conference to Abolish Poverty
Join residents of homeless encampments, social workers, families fighting foreclosure, Katrina victims, low-wage workers, immigrants, people without health care, members of the religious community, the unemployed, artists, representatives of the labor movement, and friends from the International Community as we come together to confront the economic crisis and to build a massive movement for Economic Human Rights for all.
Thursday, July 17, 2009 -- Sunday, July 19, 2009
Spalding University -- Louisville, Kentucky
Labels: Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, poverty, PPEHRC, Social Welfare Action Alliance, SWAA, WIT
Thursday, July 2, 2009
MN PPEHRC Updates
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Update on Rosemary's Case
Rosemary did not receive an eviction notice this week. GMAC has temporarily backed off from the eviction and offered to significantly lower the price
to $90,000. for which they will sell Rosemary her home (GMAC bought her home at a sheriff's sale). However they will not finance the mortgage. They have given her until July 10 to produce documentation showing she has secured financing. If she is not able to do so by the 10th, they have said they will give her additional time to vacate her home. We're glad that Rosemary has more time in her home and a chance to keep it - but plans for non-violent civil disobedience and protest of her still-possible eviction have not changed.
Rosemary did not receive an eviction notice this week. GMAC has temporarily backed off from the eviction and offered to significantly lower the price
to $90,000. for which they will sell Rosemary her home (GMAC bought her home at a sheriff's sale). However they will not finance the mortgage. They have given her until July 10 to produce documentation showing she has secured financing. If she is not able to do so by the 10th, they have said they will give her additional time to vacate her home. We're glad that Rosemary has more time in her home and a chance to keep it - but plans for non-violent civil disobedience and protest of her still-possible eviction have not changed.
There is still an ongoing estate sale happening in her house and in back. Come on over and send others!
People's Party
Friday, July 10, come to the "People's Party" at Rosemary's house at 3138 Clinton Avenue South from 6pm until midnight. Spread the word. There will be $5 bottomless cups of beer, dollar dogs (meaty and vegan), watermelon and jammin' tunes. Plain ol' donations are also encouraged. Enjoy the evening with your fellow people of conscience. Let's put the fun in fundraiser! Bring friends and family.
Friday, July 10, come to the "People's Party" at Rosemary's house at 3138 Clinton Avenue South from 6pm until midnight. Spread the word. There will be $5 bottomless cups of beer, dollar dogs (meaty and vegan), watermelon and jammin' tunes. Plain ol' donations are also encouraged. Enjoy the evening with your fellow people of conscience. Let's put the fun in fundraiser! Bring friends and family.
Fundraising Dinner for Ona Kingbird
6:30pm Tuesday, July 7 at the Indian Center at Bloomington and Franklin Ave. in Minneapolis. $10. for all the spaghetti and meatballs that you can eat. Ona is a Twin Cities Ojibwa elder who has taught for 36 years in Minnesota public schools and prisons. As a Red Lake tribal member and bearer of the pipe given by her father, a medicine man, she preserved the culture of her students at Heart of the Earth school in South Minneapolis. She is facing homelessness due to foreclosure on her home.
Come to the July 16-19 National Conference to Abolish Poverty: "Building the Unsettling Force"
The Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA - formerly Bertha Capen Reynolds Society) and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) invite your participation in our joint 2009 national conference. A number of us from here plan to attend as people from around the country are interested to hear the experiences of their "allies in Minneapolis." The conference will be held at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. Contact the MN PPEHRC office at 612-821-2364.
Click below for conference information:
www.economichumanrights.org Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.
--
Arun Prabhakaran
t: 215.888.0889
e: prabhakaran.arun@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aprabhakaran
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arunprabhakaran
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aruntis
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Friday, June 26, 2009
Video: Rosemary Williams is denied her day in court - Parts 1-3
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 2
Part 3
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, Jordan Kushner, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
Star-Tribune Article: Mpls. homeowner must post $50,000 bond to avoid eviction, judge rules
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Embattled homeowner needs to post a $49,940 bond by Monday. Her supporters may try to block the eviction.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.startribune.com/local/49133962.html?page=1&c=y
By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune
Last update: June 26, 2009 - 6:01 AM
A Minneapolis woman who has battled eviction could be forced out of her house as early as next week unless she can post a $50,000 bond.
Although negotiations between Rosemary Williams and GMAC Mortgage still are underway, Hennepin County District Judge Lloyd Zimmerman ruled Thursday that Williams must post a bond of $49,940 by Monday.
Public plea for donations
If Williams does not come up with the money, GMAC could obtain an eviction notice as soon as Tuesday. Williams and her supporters made a public plea for donations. Meanwhile, they vow to try to physically block the eviction and face arrest.
"We are absolutely outraged and think this is a violation of all her rights as a citizen," said Cheri Honkala, an activist for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and a friend of Williams. "This $49,000 determines whether she has a right to due process."
Honkala said "hundreds" would show up at the home to protest and try to prevent an eviction. Williams' home in the 3100 block of Clinton Avenue S. was sold in September as part of a foreclosure begun after she fell behind on payments on a second, adjustable-rate mortgage.
'Nuisance property' suit
After Williams, 60, failed to leave the house by March 30, GMAC went to court to have her evicted. Williams' attorneys fought the eviction, but on June 18 Judge Zimmerman granted GMAC summary judgment.
Separately, last month, the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO) and 17 of Williams' neighbors filed a lawsuit contending that if Williams is forced out, her home will become another nuisance property in the neighborhood.
Zimmerman dismissed the suit, saying that because Williams lives at the property, all allegations of nuisances are hypothetical and that the plaintiffs failed to prove any "wrongful conduct" by GMAC.
In a statement, GMAC spokeswoman Jeannine Bruin said because Williams intends to appeal, she cannot discuss the ongoing court matter.
"GMAC Mortgage continues to be open to reaching an agreeable settlement with Ms. Williams in this matter," she wrote.
Williams' attorney, Jordan Kushner, said he expected the judge to require a bond but didn't expect it to be so high.
"GMAC Mortgage continues to be open to reaching an agreeable settlement with Ms. Williams in this matter," she wrote.
Williams' attorney, Jordan Kushner, said he expected the judge to require a bond but didn't expect it to be so high.
Abby Simons • 612-673-4921
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.startribune.com/local/49133962.html?page=1&c=y
By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune
Last update: June 26, 2009 - 6:01 AM
A Minneapolis woman who has battled eviction could be forced out of her house as early as next week unless she can post a $50,000 bond.
Although negotiations between Rosemary Williams and GMAC Mortgage still are underway, Hennepin County District Judge Lloyd Zimmerman ruled Thursday that Williams must post a bond of $49,940 by Monday.
Public plea for donations
If Williams does not come up with the money, GMAC could obtain an eviction notice as soon as Tuesday. Williams and her supporters made a public plea for donations. Meanwhile, they vow to try to physically block the eviction and face arrest.
"We are absolutely outraged and think this is a violation of all her rights as a citizen," said Cheri Honkala, an activist for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and a friend of Williams. "This $49,000 determines whether she has a right to due process."
Honkala said "hundreds" would show up at the home to protest and try to prevent an eviction. Williams' home in the 3100 block of Clinton Avenue S. was sold in September as part of a foreclosure begun after she fell behind on payments on a second, adjustable-rate mortgage.
'Nuisance property' suit
After Williams, 60, failed to leave the house by March 30, GMAC went to court to have her evicted. Williams' attorneys fought the eviction, but on June 18 Judge Zimmerman granted GMAC summary judgment.
Separately, last month, the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO) and 17 of Williams' neighbors filed a lawsuit contending that if Williams is forced out, her home will become another nuisance property in the neighborhood.
Zimmerman dismissed the suit, saying that because Williams lives at the property, all allegations of nuisances are hypothetical and that the plaintiffs failed to prove any "wrongful conduct" by GMAC.
In a statement, GMAC spokeswoman Jeannine Bruin said because Williams intends to appeal, she cannot discuss the ongoing court matter.
"GMAC Mortgage continues to be open to reaching an agreeable settlement with Ms. Williams in this matter," she wrote.
Williams' attorney, Jordan Kushner, said he expected the judge to require a bond but didn't expect it to be so high.
"GMAC Mortgage continues to be open to reaching an agreeable settlement with Ms. Williams in this matter," she wrote.
Williams' attorney, Jordan Kushner, said he expected the judge to require a bond but didn't expect it to be so high.
Abby Simons • 612-673-4921
Labels: CANDO, Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, Jordan Kushner, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams, Star Tribune
Thursday, June 25, 2009
MN PPEHRC: Breaking News - Judge rules that Rosemary Williams must post a bond of $40,000 to appeal foreclosure
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Today, in Minneapolis, Judge Zimmerman ruled for that Rosemary Williams would need to post a bond of $49,000 in order to appeal the foreclosure of her home. She can be evicted anytime beginning on Monday. PPEHRC members will speak about their response and plans at 2PM today at Rosemary Williams' home at 3138 Clinton Avenue South.
FOR MORE INFO: Call Cheri Honkala at 267-439-8419 or Ann Patterson at 612-940-1040
Labels: Cheri Honkala, Economic Justice, Eviction, Foreclosure, GMAC, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout states, MN PPEHRC, PPEHRC, Rosemary Williams
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