[Bgs-list] Fwd: FW: village of west greenville

Fri Jan 21 15:53:40 EST 2022

My wife sent this to me today.
It is a letter to the editor of Greenville News re gentrification in West
Greenville.
One paragraph that might encourage you to read the whole thing:

For the first time since the US Census Bureau began collecting neighborhood
data more than 60 years ago, West Greenville is no longer a majority Black
community. According to a study conducted by Furman University and the
United Way of Greenville County, from 2014 to 2018, housing prices in "The
Village" rose 140%, three times the increase seen in other parts of the
city.

Charles H. Baker
864.990.1297
“Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think
as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you
know today.” — Malcolm X

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Libby Young sent you the following:

Email 1 of 1

*Why West Greenville is not, and should not become, 'The Village'*

*Publication info: *The Greenville News ; Greenville, S.C. [Greenville,
S.C]. 16 Jan 2022: E.2.

ProQuest document link
<https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/why-west-greenville-is-not-should-become-village/docview/2619842457/se-2?accountid=11012>

*Abstract: *None available.

*Links: *Find Full Text
<https://login.libproxy.furman.edu/login?auth=shib&url=https://resolver.ebscohost.com/openurl?sid=&genre=unknown&issn=&ISBN=&volume=&issue=&date=2022&spage=&pages=&title=&atitle=Why+West+Greenville+is+not%2C+and+should+not+become%2C+%27The+Village%27&aulast=&id=DOI:>

*Full text: *

At that moment, I realized there is a difference between West Greenville
and The Village. It's a difference founded not in location, but in
perspective. A difference rooted not in geography, but in ideal. It's a
difference that beckons us to realize we are at a defining moment in our
city's history, where we must make the right choices. The moral choices. It
must begin now.

In November, I attended a City of Greenville Planning Commission meeting to
speak out against the proposed Village of West Greenville Micro-Area Plan.
To me, it was obvious that the so-called "plan" ignored the systemic racism
and discrimination that plagued West Greenville for the better part of a
century. If approved, it would exacerbate the gentrification that has run
rampant in West Greenville and across the city.

After I finished my remarks to the Planning Commission, one of its members
asked me if I understood the difference between "The Village" and West
Greenville. I stared at him, incredulous. My mother was from West
Greenville. So was my grandfather. I grew up attending Antioch Baptist
Church on Sundays. I learned to ride a bike on Doe Street. I learned how to
swim in the community swimming pool – before the city closed it.

Growing up, no one ever called my neighborhood "The Village." It was always
West Greenville.

I told the Planning Commission that I wasn't going to adopt a new name for
my community because that would dishonor the generations who lived there
before me.

After my turn, I listened to speaker after speaker express support for this
new plan for "The Village." I didn't know these people.They wouldn't have
stepped foot on my street 20 years ago.

At that moment, I realized there is a difference between West Greenville
and The Village. It's a difference founded not in location, but in
perspective. A difference rooted not in geography, but in ideal. It's a
difference that beckons us to realize we are at a defining moment in our
city's history, where we must make the right choices. The moral choices. It
must begin now.

We must save West Greenville from The Village.

West Greenville is the traditionally Black community my family is from that
helped shape who I am. The Village is the attempt to replace that with yoga
studios, an "arts district," and other amenities for affluent newcomers.

West Greenville is a community whose legacy is one of struggle yet
perseverance and pride, despite the decades-long divestment and
discrimination born from Jim Crow. The Village would be the erasure of that
legacy through gentrification and the systemic racism that prices people
out of communities that they and their families have called home for
generations.

West Greenville is the community that asked the city for improvements and
investments for decades. The Village plan would be the fruition of that
need for investment and improvement, just without those who asked for it in
the first place.

It's clear what The Village would do.

For the first time since the US Census Bureau began collecting neighborhood
data more than 60 years ago, West Greenville is no longer a majority Black
community. According to a study conducted by Furman University and the
United Way of Greenville County, from 2014 to 2018, housing prices in "The
Village" rose 140%, three times the increase seen in other parts of the
city.

The Micro-Area Plan would exacerbate what is happening to West Greenville
because it offers no equity for those it threatens to expel from their
community. It fails to explain how it would benefit the low-income
residents in these communities that the City of Greenville has long
abandoned.

We know the solutions to ensure equity in our city. City Council must
revisit and pass the development moratorium it lacked the moral courage to
pass last spring, until concrete ways to achieve equity in city planning
are decided upon.

The city must invest in true affordable housing with a special emphasis on
low-income housing and implement an impact fee to fund such a measure.
There has been too great a focus on senior housing that, while necessary,
presents a facade that the city uses to mask its failures. Finally, the
city must admit that the Unity Park project – which offers "unity" in word
but not in deed – is rapidly gentrifying the communities surrounding it.

All gentrifying development must be halted until its consequences are taken
into account and rectified. While doing so, Greenville must acknowledge the
historic impact that prior discriminatory policies have on present-day
reality.

The work must start now.

We must save West Greenville from The Village.

Jalen Elrod is co-chair of the research committee for the Community
Remembrance Project, a local coalition partnered with the Equal Justice
Initiative to honor victims of racial-terror lynching in Greenville County.
He is a graduate of Leadership Greenville Class 47 and is third vice chair
of the South Carolina Democratic Party.

Your Turn

Jalen Elrod

Guest columnist

At that moment, I realized there is a difference between West Greenville
and The Village. It's a difference founded not in location, but in
perspective. A difference rooted not in geography, but in ideal. It's a
difference that beckons us to realize we are at a defining moment in our
city's history, where we must make the right choices. The moral choices. It
must begin now.

*Subject: *Affordable housing; Planning; Gentrification; Low income groups

*Business indexing term: *Subject: Affordable housing

*Publication title: *The Greenville News; Greenville, S.C.

*First page: *E.2

*Publication year: *2022

*Publication date: *Jan 16, 2022

*Section: *Opinion

*Publisher: *Gannett Media Corp

*Place of publication: *Greenville, S.C.

*Country of publication: *United States, Greenville, S.C.

*Publication subject: *General Interest Periodicals--United States

*Source type: *Newspaper

*Language of publication: *English

*Document type: *Editorial

*ProQuest document ID: *2619842457

*Document URL: *
https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/why-west-greenville-is-not-should-become-village/docview/2619842457/se-2?accountid=11012

*Last updated: *2022-01-16

*Database: *U.S. Southeast Newsstream

Contact ProQuest <https://about.proquest.com/go/pqissupportcontact>

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