Take Back Vacant Land

The Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land has been hard at work over the past few months to get a land bank bill community members can trust. Our Compassion Team working with the campaign has been showing up at council regularly, sharing testimonies, and fighting to win the version of the bill that Philadelphia neighbors can benefit from and be invested in. Among the 100 people that gathered in council last week, Jonny Rashid, one of our pastors, spoke to the vitality of the land bank. An amended version of the bill has been passed and with some more effort will be won by the end of 2013! Keep praying with us and our neighbors for our communities across the city.

See Jonny speak at City Hall here.

Reporting: Sara Semborski

Organizing for Environmental Justice

On Saturday, 70 people came out to Broad & Washington to be inspired by Lisa Sharon Harper—Director of Mobilizing for Sojourners—to organize for environmental justice. Lisa explained that environmental justice is beyond just caring for creation. It is mobilizing for clean air, water, and land for everyone, not just those who can afford to live wherever they want to. She explained that in the United States, the poor consistently live in areas that contain higher rates of environmental toxins and less access to fresh food, resulting in lower life spans and more disease.

In the face of this racist and classist policy, Lisa encouraged us with evidence that people of faith are fighting for change. Our work with the Land Bank Bill here in Philadelphia is evidence of that change. Lisa helped us to identify "core spiritual lies" that keep people accepting of the status quo here in Philadelphia. Some of the lies that groups identified included "affluent people deserve better" and "without a commitment to profit we won't survive" and "it doesn't matter what I do—I'm too small to change the system." Lisa said that if we can confront spiritual lies with spiritual truth, we can unlock a movement. She gave us spiritual truth to stand on from the Bible that is confirmed by the movement of the Holy Spirit among us. Reporting: Rachel Sensenig

A sea of yellow at City Hall

Today, dozens of members of the Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land went to City Hall to offer out "muted" support for Maria Quinones-Sanchez' land bank bill. The bill seeks to put the 40,000 vacant lots in the City into a land bank bill so that neighborhoods can use them for gardening, green space, good businesses, and affordable housing. In part, due to our support, we got a guarantee for a hearing (more details about when soon)! Circle of Hope is a member, through our Take Back Vacant Land compassion team, of the coalition. Rachel Sensenig, Ben White, Jonny Rashid, and Steven Hess were attended.

Take Back Vacant Land doesn't recess

The Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land met yesterday afternoon in Center City. Rachel Sensenig was representing our team.

Right now, we're working on putting up "danger" signs in vacant lots to garner the attention of City Council.

We recently realized it was a powerful strategy when the head of the city's Redevelopment Authority called our coalition leaders from his vacation to angrily ask us to stop because the city has plans for some of these lots.

So over the next few weeks we need to put signs on privately-held tax delinquent properties  to raise awareness of the problem and our proposed solution (the Land Bank Bill).  Rachel will be helping in the 1st district (BW/FN) and in the 8th district (Germantown). Jonny is working  Let me know in the 5th district (BD). Do you of any vacant land in those districts that need attention?

The coalition agreed today to escalate our efforts in the fall because city council convenes again on Sept. 12.  We want a hearing for the bill as soon as possible (it got pushed aside in the spring due to school issues and such).  The coalition agreed to meet at city hall that day at 9:30 a.m., and talked about publicizing some kind of message then that we want a hearing within 30 days.  We'll continue to meet weekly at City Hall on those Thursday mornings that the Council meets and do a countdown of sorts.  On the fourth week, if the bill hasn't come to hearing, the coalition will most likely do a "People's Hearing" there.

Next coalition meeting is in the same spot (Liberty Resources on 7th and Market St.) at noon on Sept 4.

From Rachel Sensenig and Jonny Rashid

Take Back Vacant Land leads us to fight unjust laws

For the last year, some of us have been representing Circle of Hope in a coalition engaged in a campaign called Take Back Vacant Land. We gathered that energy and formed a team!

A land bank bill has been introduced to City Council by Maria Quiñones-Sanchez (of the 7th District) that puts the city's owned land into a bank that can be used by individuals. The campaign we’re involved in is lobbying City Council to make sure this potentially great bill has rules in it that allow for community control so that the land can be used for things like green space, urban farming, affordable housing, and good businesses. Right now, we are trying to line up enough votes that support our amendments to the bill--they basically surround making sure that there is legal criteria that represents the interests of the residents in the neighborhood as well as putting community members on the board that decides what the land is used for. It is our goal to accomplish this by the end of 2013.

Check out more on the team's page.