Highlands Bunker – Financial Tyrants Come to Southbridge (w/Haneef Salaam)
Not Breaking News: The Mayor doesn’t work for the people who live in the Southbridge neighborhood of Wilmington. He works for the rich white people that he hopes to move in there and the rich white developers that hope to make some bank from moving them in.
Southbridge Civic Association Vice President Haneef Salaam joins Rob in the bunker to talk about how a community-supported development process was blocked by the city of Wilmington, and what that might mean for their broader goals to remake the city in BPG’s image.
See you Monday at noon.
Show Notes:
Getting federal money based on the African American demographics of the community, then using that money to erase that community is perhaps the most sickening part of many sickening rackets that the Mayor and BPG are running here.
Not to mention members of Council and the General Assembly.
There have been grifters in the Wilmington black community since I became politically active 50 years ago and well before that. I won’t do a list, but some have Bridges, State buildings and Community medical facilities bearing their name. This current crop makes all of them look like rank amateurs! Haneef and a growing cohort of courageous young leaders could maybe. just maybe break the cycle.
Accurate statement from Jason. More of the same. This is simply a recent, blatant and instructive example.
Monday at noon at 8th & French Sts. Come stand in solidarity with Southbridge residents. Of course the Zoning hearing Monday evening will be over Zoom.
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I was angry BEFORE I listened to this podcast. I’m even angrier now. Having worked in Southbridge at my uncle’s store for about 7 years during my high school and college years, I’ve always had a real fondness for that community and the people who live there.
Mayor Mike and Buccini/Pollin’s dismissal of the people who live there is absolutely unconscionable.
Monday. 12 noon. At the City Building. Turn out and make your voices be heard! I plan to be there–but don’t let that deter you.
Good deep dive w/ Haneef. A few thoughts:
I don’t think Big Mike suffers from Capitalist Derangement Syndrome; he’s comfortable and old, and doesn’t have the same drive like the Buccini Boys. I get the vibe that he sincerely believes in his own goodness; I think he is suffering from White Savior Syndrome, which in a lot of ways can be even more insidious.
Haneef provided a lot of great insight on the community perspective and lead-up to the planning showdown. There is one big question that needs resolution – why wait until the last minute to kill the project? It’s not like this project was under the radar; killing it early would have caused less blowback. Was it possible that the proposed tenants were the issue? I wouldn’t put it past a big operator at the port to try to kill competition.
Either way, I’m pretty sure this move was *not* initiated by RDC/BPG. It’s too far out from their existing “work/live/play” infrastructure and would likely cannibalize their other projects on Riverfront East. My sources (for what it’s worth) say that this property is a personal obsession of Big Mike that goes back to his pre-mayoral days. Perhaps Big Mike just felt hurt because he didn’t get any good PR from brokering the deal? Frankly, a modern warehouse really plays into the BPG/RDC vision of a redlined city, since it breaks any chance of residential continuity along A Street and enforces a clear boundary between neighborhoods.
Haneef also mentioned a redevelopment plan specific to the riverfront that is currently in phase II. I’m not sure if its the same plan, but I happened to see a set of drawings for a proposed riverwalk that is going to loop around the entire 7th street peninsula, come up along the Brandywine behind Howard high school, and continue up to the waterworks. There is a lot of truth to the discussion of urban riverfront development displacing the urban communities that border it; so my advice to East Siders is to watch out and question everything.
My advice to you is…become one of our contributors. Even when I don’t necessarily agree with you, your perspective is always interesting and valuable.