Filed under: Displacement, The Master Plan, University City Creep, University City District | Tags: upenn, west philly
We here at UCity blog always look forward to the month of May, when the birds and the bees feast on the vomit left on the doorsteps of UPenn fraternities and UPenn sororities. There’s also the super-bonus of UPenn Graduation, a time when the city streets are power-washed, the hedges are trimmed, and the University pays hundreds of cops overtime to look menacing. We find that this greatly helps the UPenn endowment/trust fund, as parents and grandparents, otherwise terrified of West Philly and its filth ridden tales of yore, give generously to their favorite Ivy school.
If you’re planning on attending graduation for any reason, be it heckling and booing, or skimming off some free catered food, make sure to look out for SUV-wielding psychpaths (read: parents) who don’t really get how to drive or park in a major city.
Filed under: Appropriation, Displacement, Gentrification, Race, Real Estate, The Master Plan, UPenn Mortgage | Tags: eviction, expansion, Gentrification, home prices, ucd, university city, upenn, war, west philly
Using the power of the internet, anyone can find this snazzy article about how UPenn is a Zombie Flesh Eating Monster. According to the Philadelphia Business Weekly, the UPenn-subsidized mortgage program was already a smashing success way back in 1998.
“It’s just been overwhelming,” said D-L Wormley, Penn’s managing director of community housing. “It literally is people from every part of the university – professors, the housekeeping department, a vice president, the physical plant. And that’s the thing I’m most thrilled about.”
And what’s good for Penn is good for West Philadelphia’s residents, the banking community there, local construction contractors and neighborhood real estate values.
Part of the new program includes cash for faculty and staff already living in the area bounded by Market Street, 49th Street, Woodland Avenue, University Avenue and the Schuylkill River: Penn is offering up to $7,500 in matching funds toward exterior home improvements.”
Of course by 2004 this program was considered a battle plan against local residents (read: black people.)
“The change in the program is two-fold. First, the geographic boundaries originally set by the program are being extended. The new borders reach out westward to 52nd Street, northward to Haverford Avenue, and eastward and southward to the Schuylkill River. The old boundaries extended only to 49th Street, Market Street and Woodland Avenue in the west, north and south, respectively.
The second alteration of the program consists of a reduction in the maximum size of the loans available to those participating in the program from $15,000 to $7,500.
The forgivable cash loan “can be used for a down payment, to buy down points, or for interior or exterior home improvements,” according to the program’s policy. The loans are forgiven after seven years on the condition that the purchaser remains in residence during that time.”"
Wait, you mean if I own a house for 7 measley years and work for UPenn during that time, I get fifteen thousand dollars for free? That’s right. Doesn’t that mean that there’s some unfair advantage available to UPenn staff?
And of course, there is:
“Penn officials note, however, that it is not their intention to force people from the neighborhood. But, the program gives the Penn-affiliated buyer a clear advantage in the real estate market.
“If two buyers are competing for the same house … the Penn buyer is already $7,500 ahead,” O’Donnell said. “If there is a bidding war, the Penn buyer is going to win.”"
Aye aye, sir! Fire away! Move the negroes out of here! Move in the zombies with cash bonuses that they don’t have to repay!
end the upenn zombie monster parade
