Urban politics: man bites dog
In
They call themselves the silent opposition.
Some homeowners and lifelong Jamaica Plain residents yesterday said they, too, have launched a campaign about the future of the Blessed Sacrament Church.
Commanding attention even against the backdrop of a modern city, the dome of Blessed Sacrament Church in Jamaica Plain now plays a lively role in
They are urging the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to ignore the pleas of activists and renters calling for more affordable housing. Instead, they want the neighborhood landmark sold to developers seeking to build market-rate condos.
”The way I see it, all over Boston the church closings have led to condos, but in JP they [community activists] want to turn it into housing projects, and that’s upsetting to us,” said homeowner Olivia Guerra. ”We have enough affordable housing in JP.”
Note the unstated implications that ‘affordable housing’ means ‘housing projects’ which means ‘public housing’ which means ‘those people.’
Guerra said she and other homeowners signed another petition favoring market-rate housing, but said those who disagree have eclipsed their viewpoint.
”It’s unfortunate that we are sort of a silent opposition, but they [the community activists] use a lot of bullying tactics. They scare me,” she said. ”And if you disagree with them, they say, ‘Oh, it’s racism.’ “
The distinctions are not so much ethnic as they are economic:
”I’m not saying affordable housing is a bad thing, but, look, we can’t cure world hunger in Jamaica Plain. We got enough affordable housing,” said [Las Lopez, 40, whose family still owns property in JP], noting the sprawling Bromley Heath housing development near the church and similar units on Washington Street.
”There’s a lot of homeowners there that are Latino,” he said. ”We aren’t all poverty-stricken. JP is a very mixed area, culturally, and it will always be. So let’s put some market-rate property there.”
What color smoke will come from the real estate chimney?
Officials with the archdiocese said yesterday that it is still deciding what to do.
