Saturday, March 13, 12noon, 641 E. Kossuth St.

A developer is trying to build several expensive homes in the South Orchards neighborhood, ranging from $250,000 to $350,000, on land where a community garden currently sits.

On top of taking away valued community green space, expensive developments like this lead to gentrification through increased housing costs on current residents. To make matters worse, the developer announced that he would be applying for tax abatements, which means that any benefits from these homes, for example, increased funding towards schools, would be lost.

The Southern Orchards Civic Association already voted against rezoning the land to build expensive homes, and many community members have come out against the developments.

This isn’t just about one garden; it’s about City Hall’s neoliberal approach to housing in general. Recently, the Council announced that it will only give $100,000 to low-income residents to repair their homes. Why can the Council only spare $100,000 to help working class residents, yet they hand out tax abatements to big developers and wealthy corporations?

Housing is already unaffordable; working-class homeowners shouldn’t be subsidizing expensive developments and corporations. Socialist Alternative calls for the following:

• Workers shouldn’t have to subsidize expensive developments; no to any tax abatements for the new homes at the expense of the community!

• Tax big business to fund permanently-affordable, socially-owned housing

• Fund parks, playgrounds, and public community green spaces

• Fund our schools, green jobs, healthcare, and public transit

• Let the neighborhood decide what happens; we need democratic community control of our neighborhoods and communities!

Hosted by Columbus Socialist Alternative.