Statement from the Editors: Dare to Struggle is an organization that professes to follow in the Black Panther Party’s footsteps and has taken several major strides toward engaging with the masses. USU encourages comrades to work with their chapters, even where they tend to exhibit a general formlessness and anarchist elevation of practice over developing principled membership and theory. It is the position of the USU Press Organization that Dare to Struggle should continue their good work, but make serious efforts to formalize their structure and lay down Marxist principles of organization, strategy, and programmatic commitments that will enable them to continue to heighten the struggle.
[New Britain, CT] – We are inviting any and all media to our rally at Central Park in New Britain on April 22nd 2024 at 3:30 pm to bring attention to the gentrification unfolding in New Britain and around CT, as well as the gentrification yet to come. It is also to call out one luxury developer in particular, Jasko Development LLC and its CEO Avner Krohn. He and his company have been described as leading New Britain’s “comeback” (translation: bringing rich people in and kicking poor, homeless, and long time residents out). Like all luxury developments that have been built in once poor and underdeveloped areas across the U.S, the 3 luxury developments Jasko is building downtown will release the floodgates of gentrification. As more wealthy people, who can afford Jasko’s $1650 / month rent for a studio, move to New Britain, as more landlords in the surrounding area speculate that they can charge more for rent with the influx of rich people, the homeless, poor, and long time residents who can’t afford the rent increases and housing costs will be displaced. They will either end up homeless or be forced to move to an area with cheaper housing. It’s a process and story that has unfolded in San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, and Boston. Look at the changes in New Haven over the past 10-15 years!
We are here to say enough! Jasko Development LLC and Avner Krohn are the face of gentrification in New Britain whether they intend to be or not. If they want to be helpful to the New Britain community, where plenty of people are desperate for housing they can qualify for, then they should meet the following demands from the community:
- Cut the rent in 1⁄2 and don’t raise it
- Remove 3x income requirements, disregard prior evictions, credit history, and criminal records,
no application fees - Prevent police harassment, especially of homeless and poor people, on your property
- Only rent to New Britain residents, employ residents of New Britain with a living wage
- Subsidize rents with your estimated $7.5 million tax break
If they are unwilling to do the above, then they make it clear they are not for the people of New Britain in these desperate times, they are only about their money, and we need to evict them before they evict us!
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