Sunday, May 14, 2023

Deja vu: Here's me back in 1965, trying to save the Lower East Side from ruthless developers

 

Deja vu: Here's me back in 1965, trying to save the Lower East Side from ruthless developers

      Here's me, sitting in the back row of some makeshift theater in Oakland, watching a movie about saving New York City's historic Lower East Side from that heartless developer Robert Moses and his evil Urban Removal schemes. 

      Memories of 1965 come flooding back. 

     Here's me back then, seven months pregnant and living in a two-room rent-controlled apartment on East Fifth Street -- with a bathtub in my tiny front room/kitchen and a toilet out in the hall.  Paying $28 a month for rent, money that I could just barely scrape up.  Walking over to Second Avenue so I could window-shop all those mouth-watering pastries at Ratner's, pastries that I could never afford.

     Here's me in1965, joining up with a motley crew consisting of Bill Tatum, Walter Thabit and around ten other unemployed artists and misfits as we struggled to save our multi-cultural Heaven from developers who wanted to tear the entire place down.  Sure, we defeated Robert Moses, but little did we know about the real danger looming ahead -- gentrification.

     And now it's deja vu all over again.  Now I am living in Berkeley -- thanks to Walter Thabit who changed my life by writing me a solid recommendation to U.C. Berkeley's city planning department.  And now I'm facing the same thing here in Berkeley that I once fought so hard against on the Lower East Side of New York City.  Developers.  Urban Removal.  Gentrification.  Smart cities.  Lord help us all.

PS:  In the last decade, I have watched in horror as approximately 80 new high-rise towers have been constructed and forced upon us here in my home town that I love.  And there is no end in sight.  There are even more of these ugly monstrosities on the way.  There will soon be one on almost every corner here in my neighborhood, perhaps even replacing my own home soon.  And replacing me too.  Scary. 


      And here's me, having already survived 1,170 days of one shocking and contrived lock-down.  What if another lock-down is suddenly declared?  Will we all be locked down in these ugly towers this time?  Like rats in a cage -- or like in all those high-rises that were locked down in Shanghai last year.
 
     Robert Moses was just the beginning, just a foot in the door.  Lord help us all.
 
Resources:
 
For those of us who are looking for a crystal ball on how to see into our financial future, here's Greg Mannarino's take on all that money stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDWTCz1nTGM
 
And always remember that it is the Constitution (and We the People) that makes America wonderful -- not the Federal Re$erve, the Re$olute Desk, the $upreme Court, Congre$$ or nuclear weapon$:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj8mG7sOF3g
 
It used to be that watching The Highwire was practically illegal -- and yet many of us secretly watched it anyway.  Now that Del Bigtree has been proven to be scientifically correct time and again, is it finally time we can actually admit to this guilty pleasure?  https://thehighwire.com/ark-videos/silver-bullet-protocol-for-covid-validated-two-years-after-attacked/ 

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       Stop Wall Street, War Street, Big Pharma and Big Tech from destroying our world.  And while you're at it, please buy my books:  https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
 
 
I'm also trying to raise funds for my next research project -- in Bolivia!  Here's the link to my GiveSendGo account.  Please give even five or ten dollars?  This is important.  Don't make me beg!  Plus if you donate $50 or more, you will also get one of my books thrown in free.  https://givesendgo.com/Bolivianeedsme?utm_source=sharelink&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=Bolivianeedsme
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