NBR: Fuming (long)

tdmklm

Ok, as some of you know, I work for an affordable housing organization. We purchased a property and plan to build 40 units of workforce housing with ground floor retail. The building that's there now has been vacant for a while. There will not be substantial changes to the height of the building (the new one *may* be five feet higher).

Some of the people in the neighborhood are raising a stink because they don't want "those people" living next to them. Some have actually come out and said that. Seriously? We have had community meetings - as we always do - to get neighbors' feedback on the project and ask what they would like to see, and at the end of the last meeting, one of my co-workers had a conversation with a couple of opponents who had expressed their view that "people shouldn't be given a fish; they should be taught how to fish." My co-worker then told them that we actually have educational programs at the organization (yours truly manages that department). The reply? "Too bad the people 'teaching them how to fish' don't know how to fish themselves and have to mooch off the government in their NGO jobs because they can't survive in the private sector." WHAT? Lady, for your information, we are a group of highly educated professionals who CHOOSE to make crap money so we can make a difference in our community. ARE YOU SERIOUS? 

I am so angry right now. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! 

LolaBelle515

That SUCKS.  You rock and your rock is awesome. I hope you can find lots of community support and are able to move on, eventually showing their NIMBY neighbors of yours  that they're wrong.

The congregation I work for is partnering with an affordable housing organization to build something similar right now...and I fear the day we have to go to the city because of this.

2brides

Asshat. But the truth is no matter what you all did or who you worked for, they would find fault and reason for criticism. I hope everything goes smoothly and you are able to get the folks the housing they need (cause if Boston is anything like DC, affordable housing for those in need is SEVERELY lacking (and that is an understatement.)

Have a drink and forget the idiots (that is what I am doing tonight re: a police detective who told me that if I had done my job, the CPS report I made wouldn't have been needed. REALLY? REALLY?)

Jazibel

I would be furious too - I mean really people??  My dad worked his whole life in neighborhood reinvestment.  I really value and appreciate what you and your co-workers are doing and I hope everything with this project goes more smoothly from here on out.

 

tdmklm

Thanks, ladies. I can't understand why they think it's ok to a) want people to be pushed out of the neighborhood by gentrification (they were there first, for Pete's sake - why the heck did YOU move in if you didn't like it?); and b) personally attack people who work for an organization when they don't even know us. Blergh.

Lolabelle, good luck on your project. We've done this work for 40+ years, and this is the first time we've faced this kind of opposition. Hopefully things are different in your neck of the woods...

2brides, I guess it's "be an asshat" day! I can give the idiot cop contact info for our opponents and they can be asshats together... I hear they like to congregate. 

Kershnic

It really sucks to have people degrade your work when they have no clue what you or the people you are trying to house go through everyday!!

I definitely get it - I work with families who a lot of people don't have much sympathy for.  It really drives me crazy when people assert that my job isn't worth doing because the people I work with somehow aren't worth the effort or there is no possibility for change or it will not financially pay off.  It also drives me crazy when people assume that I am somehow less smart because of the work I choose to do. 

There will always be jerks in the world.  I guess this is the price we pay for the fields we've chosen to work in.  But damn it's annoying sometimes.   

ctbride08

That woman sucks.  You rock.  The end.

leapgirl8

Um, you see to be forgetting that for-profit businesses and the people who work for them can solve all problems! Just keep that in mind and you'll be fine!  

tdmklm

Thanks, everyone. I need to keep in mind that some people are just ignorant. UGH. On to my next post... Life has not been easy around here!