Letters: July 5

Gentrification

I just read Pepe Lozano’s article “Chicago gentrification is a global issue” (pww.org 11/14/2006). I’m a college student, and I recently moved into the Pilsen neighborhood. Prior to moving into the neighborhood, I was becoming aware of the realities of gentrification within the city, but as time has passed it has become more and more of an interest to me.

I recently went to a reading an author had, and his book was about the gentrification of San Francisco in the 1990s. This information led me to learn more about Pilsen.

I feel frustrated because as a student I don’t want to be living in neighborhoods such as the North Side’s Wicker Park. I was drawn to Pilsen because of the family feel of the neighborhood. Plus, living in this neighborhood the money I would be spending on food would be going to businesses that have been around for ages, instead of large corporate chains. Being a student, an art student nonetheless, who is disgusted with the accumulation of wealth and power and its effects on those without wealth and power, a neighborhood such as Pilsen seems an ideal place to reside in.

But then, on the other side of it, I see how people such as myself can lay the way for gentrification. But, I want to stop the gentrification from occurring. I feel as though I may be seen as an enemy since I am a new white resident.

Lozano’s article was incredibly thought-provoking and has me thinking about how to stop this area from being gentrified.

Mary C.
Chicago IL

Increasing PWW readership

I recommend that you include periodic reminders in the PWW for subscribers to give their copies to prospective readers.

Subscribers could also request that they be mailed more than one copy regularly to distribute as above.

Costs would increase. Hopefully subscribers would increase also. Possible a first-year sub discounted price?

Tom Perna
Philadelphia PA

Question/pregunta

Hola, mi nombre es Orman. Is a print version of Nuestro Mundo available? I would like to subscribe, so I can enjoy your paper while learning Spanish.

Also, I have tried repeatedly to subscribe to Granma, but the subscription link on their site has been dead for months. Is the embargo the reason I can’t get the paper? If so, that really pisses me off.

Orman
Via e-mail

Editor’s note: Yes we have a print version of People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo! It’s only $30 a year to get it mailed to you each week. You can subscribe online at www.pww.org/subscribe, or send a check to PWW, 235 W. 23 St., New York NY 10011.

Who speaks for Mother Earth?

Who will speak for the interests of the American people and our Mother Earth? Certainly not George W. Bush Jr. or his appointed Supreme Court. The Exxon Mobil court decision illustrates who controls and owns our highest court in the land. Only a fool would believe this a fair decision.

The punitive damages originally awarded by the federal district court and the appeals court were not enough then. Now it is worse since the Supreme Court, in a 5-3 decision, reversed the lower courts’ decisions by limiting damages to what the corporation has already paid.

It illustrates that the majority of jurists certainly are reflecting their own narrow class interests of siding against the people and Mother Earth. With this one decision all the big business corporations and their Chamber of Commerce pundits are declaring victory for capitalism. Yes to the almighty oil greedy monopoly!

Still, to this day, the greatest environmental disaster is being felt socially, economically and culturally by the local native people, the ecosystem, the shorelines and the entire planet — the loss forever of species soaked in Exxon goop. Where is Smokey the Bear when we need him? He passed away but his shovel is still there and it’s being picked up by another generation of Americans bent on restoring their country along the path of sensible rational energy use and ending the careless quest of profits for a few.

Tom Siblo
Saugerties NY

Get back Charlie Black

“Another successful attack on the United States of America could have devastating consequences.” — Sen. John McCain.

John McCain’s chief political strategist Charlie Black recently shared with Fortune magazine his opinion that Benazir Bhutto’s brutal assassination “helped us.” Additionally, Charlie Black also admitted that another 9/11-like event on American soil “would be a big advantage” for the Republicans.

As revealing as Republican Party reptile Black’s startling cold-blooded candor may be, what is even more telling is this following partial list of Washington lobbyist Black’s corporate clientele:

Maxxam Inc ($430,000), Lockheed Martin ($487,500), General Electric ($680,000), General Motors ($570,000), AT&T ($1,185,000), JP Morgan Chase & Co. ($724,00), Phillip Morris ($1,292,500), Rolls Royce ($320,000), Occidental Petroleum ($1,650,000), Chevron Texaco ($140,000), Yukos Oil ($155,000) and — in the interest of “free” trade, no doubt — the Colombian Textile & Apparel Industry ($80,000).

Black has been employed by every Republican presidential campaign since 1972, and is head of BKSH and Associates.

Ironically, when McCain required a campaign “spokesliar” to take to the airwaves to protest The New York Times’ explosive exposé of the 71-year-old’s relationship with 31-year-old lobbyist Vicki Iseman, McCain chose lobbyist Black for the job — proving that though you may never get the truth from a potential President McCain, you are guaranteed to get lots and lots of lobbyists!

Jake Pickering
Eureka CA

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