Saturday 8/29 Tent City Protests Continue in Uptown

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CIMC Repost
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Tent City Protest in Uptown, Hands Off the Homeless! Continued Rally and Demonstration Against Displacement and Systematic Attacks on the Neighborhood's Homeless

UPTOWN-- For many weeks, homeless tent encampments by the lakeshore drive viaducts at Lawrence and Wilson Avenues have been cleared out and harassed by the city. Many homeless individuals find themselves routinely woken up abruptly in the middle of the night, with flashlights in their faces, surrounded by law enforcement officers and are forcibly told to vacate from the public area. Other individuals who feed and clothe the homeless have even faced routine systematic harassment, intimidation and threats of arrests perpetuated by law enforcement officials. Many residents, community members and advocates found the goals of such removal aren't for safety but part of a larger long-term agenda to push low to moderate income people out of the neighborhood for real estate interests. It is also the same profit-driven agenda spear-headed by local area politicians, most notably 46th Ward Alderman James Cappleman who has become widely known for his harassment of local services, shelters and even food trucks that feed those in need.

WHO: Community residents, homeless advocates, religious leaders and housing activists

WHAT: Rally and protest encampment against displacement

WHEN: Saturday August 29th, 2015, 11 am - Sunday August 30th, 11 am

WHERE: Wilson viaduct under lakeshore drive at Wilson Avenue and Marine Drive

Community residents and allies of the homeless will come together to voice their opposition to repeated harassment of the neighborhood's homeless under the viaducts and in the parks. This Saturday all day and night, people will demonstrate by setting up tents, carrying signs and passing literature by the Wilson viaduct. They will vocalize their opposition of the city using false justifications to remove those peacefully sleeping under the viaducts and in parks. They will also vocalize opposition to the agenda of making Uptrown a less diverse, less affordable and less inclusive place to live.

The forcible removal of these encampments are a continuation of the policies put forward by Alderman Cappleman and the real estate interests in city government who seem to be motivated to push poor and working class people out of the neighborhood as well as the entire city in general. It should be no wonder that when 1000+ units of low-cost SRO housing (Single Room Occupancy) is targeted and shut down in the neighborhood, when mental health clinics close and when social services receive brutal cuts year after year--that homelessness by the viaducts would increase. The miracle is that there isn't 1000+ people sleeping by the viaducts and in the parks given the extremity of recent building conversions into high end housing. The alderman and many city officials played a role in creating this crisis and they continue to perpetuate this deepening crisis as more budget cuts are rammed through on the low-income, as more people find themselves laid off, as more are in need of affordable housing in the area, as rent continues to go up, as wages and incomes remain stagnant and as more low-cost SRO housing is at risk of being bought up and flipped for private profit.

The residents of the 46th ward and their allies are not going away. They are coming together to fight against this agenda and start making plans of their own. From calling for more services to demanding more affordable housing, the people of Uptown are uniting to create a vision for the neighborhood that serves the interest of the community, not the interests of politicians, the prejudices of wealthy residents or the private profits of the real estate industry. Uptown will exist as a community welcome to all, where all will have the right to exist in the community. This crisis was created by private self-interest at the expense of others but it will be solved with the collective in mind. People are coming together to say this city can do better and that a community-centered approach to housing exists. This vision is not only possible, but it is actually needed for a vibrant inclusive sustainable future

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