Bank Of America: Settle With America!

Last week the Justice Department reached another record-breaking settlement with Bank of America-- this one worth $16.65 billion, with close to half of it being used for relief to homeowners and hard-hit communities. Unfortunately, as we've seen from past settlements, the money doesn't always get to the people that deserve it the most.

A few weeks ago, over 10,000 people signed a petition telling Bank of America to "settle with America." Today Occupy Our Homes Atlanta and American Friends Service Committee joined dozens of other groups around the country as we delivered those petitions to a Bank of America branch in an effort to make our voices heard.

Our message was simple:
With a new settlement with the Department of Justice under negotiation - possibly worth $17 billion - we demand you meet directly with families affected by your peddling of toxic mortgages and destruction of our economy. Only when you understand what your actions have caused will you be able to create a settlement that helps fix what you broke.

Once we entered the bank branch we took a seat in the waiting area and made it clear we were there to simply deliver a petition signed by thousands of American who have lost their homes and their wealth as a result of Bank of America's practices, we also made it clear that we planned to leave the branch once the petition was delivered.

Instead of being conscious of the fact that our petition represented millions of lost homes, broken dreams, and broken promises, instead of simply accepting the petition and politely seeing us on our way Bank of America called the police and threatened to have us arrested despite the fact that we were being lead by a Bank of America victim who despite never missing a payment lost every bit of wealth he built over 15 years of home ownership as a result of Bank Of America.


It's this type of disregard, even disdain, for everyday hardworking Americans that drives the concern around who will actually receive any of this relief money. To date the victims of the Wall Street created housing crash have seen very little relief from the billions upon billions of national settlements.

Get Sick, Lose Your Home

Zannie Jackson bought a home for his family in 2005, he invested countless dollars in fixing it up only to see the market crash as a result of irresponsible and fraudulent bank practices.
More about Zannie's story here

In 2012 Zannie was diagnosed with renal kidney failure.

Zannie's story is sadly not a new one, get sick, lose your home.

This past Tuesday Zannie had to undergo surgery on his arm to fix a valve that goes yo his heart. Zannie is currently in recovery from the surgery, and while he is on a kidney transplant list, Zannie's life is at serious risk.

Despite Zannie's dire situation Bank of America has been unwilling to return his calls and work with him. Today a group of us marched to Bank of America and asked to speak with the manager. We informed the manager of Zannie's condition and expressed our concern that the bank had no communicated with Zannie about his mortgage issues. We made it clear that we were there to simply deliver a letter to Bank of America and make it clear that we were not going to sit back and watch a dying man tossed onto the street.

The branch manager, who seemed prepared for our visit appeared very nervous and stern. She refused to accept the letter despite our assertions that Zannie is in the hospital and might not survive the year.

We left the letter and picketed outside the branch until it closed, distributing flyers that told Zannie's story. We hope that Bank of America decides to do the right thing  and work with Zannie, our communities don't need more empty houses and our streets don't need more homeless people.

Sign Zannie's online petition.

Zannie Jackson Fights For His Home and His Life

 
Zannie Jackson bought a home for his family in 2005, he invested countless dollars in fixing it up only to see the market crash as a result of irresponsible and fraudulent bank practices.

In 2012 Zannie was diagnosed with renal kidney failure.

Zannie Jackson is now fighting to save his life and stay in his home. With failing kidneys, he spends four hours a day, three days a week, in dialysis treatment. Zannie has been undergoing dialysis treatment for two year now. In the meantime, Bank of America, Seterus Corporation, and Fannie Mae, are trying to take his home. As a single parent his home has provided shelter for his son and a safe heaven for him to get healthy. Just recently Zannie made it onto a kidney donor list at Emory hospital, giving him a light at the end of the tunnel. However, Bank of America is getting in the way of that. They are refusing to work with him on the second mortgage that has made his home unaffordable on his fixed income. Instead of working with him they are actively trying to put him on the streets and take away his safe haven, which would harm his health even further and possibly cost him his life.

The callousness of our financial institutions is made apparent in situations like these. The paradigm that Bank of America, and their government-owned backers like Fannie Mae, operate under is one in which health problems and crises of any kind result in near-immediate homelessness. Zannie has been trying to work with Bank of America for months, and they have refused to budge. They would rather see an ill man die in the streets before accepting lower payments while he waits for a kidney transplant.

Today Zannie made a commitment to stand up to Bank of America and Seterus stating, "I have no where else to go, there's no plan B".

We urge Bank of America and Seterus to do the right thing and work with Zannie. Our communities need real solutions, not evictions.  

Next Thursday at 3pm Zannie and his supporters are planning a rally in from of Bank of America downtown. Click here for details.

Please sign and share Zannie's online petition.

Mildred's Eviction Free Cookout, Next Steps

Just over a month ago Mildred Garrison Obi marched to the home she was evicted from in November of 2012 and moved back into it with the support of her neighbors, Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, National Action Network, and AFSC. Mildred has been in the home ever since.

To celebrate Mildred's home liberation and to bring her community together Mildred hosted a cook out this weekend. It was a social space where folks that have worked side by side to on Mildred's campaign could connect on a human level, learn more about each other, and enjoy delicious food.

It was also a time where neighbors were invited to come learn more about why Mildred moved back in her home, and ask questions about the legalities of her actions and what next steps are for Mildred.

The next steps are unclear. Bank of America had opened up a line of communication with Mildred, and had put several options on the table including donating the home to a non-profit that would then donate the house back to Mildred. After some time, Mildred decided to accept that offer. Not Bank of America has decided to take that offer off the table claiming that the title is in tranisition to HUD and the home donation would be to complicated. As of Friday Bank of America now says Mildred's only option is to be evicted a second time or accept a cash for keys offer.

Mildred's goal has always been to stay in the place she'd called home, she has no intention of leaving. This Monday there's a call set up with Bank of America where a formal decision is to be made. We are asking that folks come to Mildred's home(1047 Park Gate Place, Stone Mountain) on Monday afternnon whenever you can. Spread the word far and wide.

Eviction Defense

Today Bank of America sent someone to change the locks on Mildred Obi's home instead of having someone call Mildred and negotiate a deal that keeps her in her home and off the streets.

Mildred was evicted last November after Bank of America refused the disabled senior a loan modification. The home has remained empty, Mildred became homeless, and her community became increasingly more upset.

A line has been drawn in the sand. Bank of America will not push Mildred back onto the streets so easily.

After the bank's locksmith showed up it was only a short period of time before Mildred's yard was filled by home defenders ready to put off any eviction. Mildred's community it committed to protect her home from Bank of America.

Sign Mildred's petiton!

Community Members Move Disabled Senior Back Into Home After Eviction By Force

Today, a coalition of groups including American Friends Service Committee and Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, joined members of the Stone Mountain community to help Mildred Garrison Obi march to the home that she was evicted by force from just months ago. The purpose of the march was simple, move Mildred back into her home.

She bought the house in 1998 for just over $70,000 with a mortgage from Countrywide.

In 2008, after the financial crisis caused the economy to collapse, Mildred lost her job
and fell behind on her payments. As a senior in her 60s, she found it increasingly
difficult to find employment. When the bills started to pile up, she contacted Bank of
America, who had acquired Countrywide earlier that year and now serviced her loan. In
August of 2009, despite her best efforts to work out a modification with them, Bank of
America sold her home on the Dekalb County courthouse steps.

It was only after the foreclosure that Mildred realized her loan was part of a securitized
trust overseen by US Bank. As was the case in most foreclosures filed in 2009, the
documents used to take her home were fraudulent and robo-signed. For years she
fought to have the foreclosure rescinded, going back and forth between Bank of
America and US Bank, who both refused to claim responsibility.

In 2012 she even submitted her case to the Independent Foreclosure Review Board,
which was created as part of the $25 billion settlement with the state AGs, promising
relief to homeowners foreclosed on between 2009-2010. The process turned out to be a
waste of time, and in November, she was evicted from her home. Not surprisingly, just a
couple of months later, after little to no relief had reached homeowners, the OCC
declared the Independent Foreclosure Review Board a failure and did away with the
program all together.

Today Mildred and her community approached her home holding banners and wearing orange vests emblazoned with Occupy Homes, chanting "ain't nobody gonna turn me around". When they reached the house, people circled around to listen as Reverend Kelvin Peterson, Mildred's longtime pastor, recited a prayer, referencing the cruelty of leaving thousands of homes vacant while people were left out in the cold, repeatedly asking "where is God?" Emotions were high as Mildred finally approached the door to the home that was stolen from her. She turned the knob, and paused, with tears in her eyes, to make one simple yet powerful statement; "I'm not homeless. I'm not homeless. "

Once inside, an assembly line was set up to bring her belongings inside and people began to clean up the mess left by the eviction crew, and from the home sitting empty

for months. By the time the sun went down, it began to feel like any other home where friends gathered to eat dinner and share stories together. It's still uncertain what happens next, but for now one thing is clear; tonight there is one less vacant home in
Stone Mountain, and as Mildred emotionally stated earlier in the day, she's not homeless.

$339 Million Being Held Back From Struggling Georgia Homeowners

This past Wednesday State Senator Vincent Fort hosted a public hearing on unfair foreclosures and mortgage loans. Around ten other legislators joined Senator Fort for the hearing, which focused on exploring a few basic questions including;

1) Why is the state failing to distribute $339 million(through HomeSafe Georgia) available to assist homeowners faced with foreclosure?

2) Why is Bank of America, and other financial institutions, not maintaining foreclosed homes in African-American neighborhoods, resulting in dwindling home values?

3) Why does Georgia have one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country?

A representative from Atlanta Legal Aid, Metro Fair Housing, and Myself testified at the hearing. The room was packed to standing room only with struggling residents, frustrated lawyers, and housing justice organizers from Occupy Our Homes Atlanta.

The testimony given established a few troubling realities facing Atlanta's hardest hit communities.

1. The Georgia HomeSafe program is a total failure at best, and likely a failure by design. 2% of the $339 million allocated for struggling homeowners has actually been given to struggling homeowners. Do to the heavy restrictions on who qualifies and the long time period it takes to process applications the overwhelming majority of folks that apply get no help.

2. Foreclosed vacant homes in low income communities, especially communities of color, are left to blight and decay, while foreclosed vacant properties in high income communities are kept maintained and beautiful. Metro Fair Housing has done extensive canvassing in Atlanta and their findings suggest an industry standard of disregarding low income vacant homes, leaving them to the elements, while meticulously maintaining in wealthy, mostly white neighborhoods.

3. Georgia's laws, legal system, and social programs have failed to help and/or protect Georgians against predatory lending, felony fraud in foreclosure cases, and the allocation of funds designated to help those struggling with housing.

While it's never to late to ask the politicians  and institutions who have the power to change our broken system, it seemed clear to most in attendance that in order to create the change our communities are starving for we need to take a bold, new, creative direction. Many suggested marching on the Government institution in charge of the HomeSafe Georgia program, Department of Community Affairs, and demanding access to the $339 Million that has already been designated for Georgians that were hardest hit by the housing crisis.

Let's be clear, the $339 million that has been allocated for struggling homeowners in Georgia, if actually given to them, is at best a band-aid; it's not the decomodification; it's not making sure everyone has a place to call home. When things are as bad as they are right now and we've already been given a band-aid, we should not be blocked by bureaucratic and bad intentions from using the ban-aid.

The sad fact is that while HomeSafe Georgia has held back funds that where supposed to go to the hardest hit, many of those who applied for the funds have lost their homes for good.

Tim Franzen

American Friends Service Committee

Solidarity With JoSelf Freeman

This past week small delegations and individuals all over the country delivered a letter to Banks of America branches written by Georgia home owner JoSelf Freeman.

Bank of America branches all over including Georgia, New York, California, Florida, Texas, and Minnesota, received visits from folks with one simple message; make a deal that keeps a roof over JoSelf and his family.

While Bank of America representatives have been calling JoSelf as a result of all the visits, there has yet to be a solution found. We hope that Bank of America will step back from their plan of eviction, but it's clear that folks from JoSelf's community, and people around the country, are down to stand beside JoSelf if Bank of America decides to move forward with their eviction plan.

It's not too late to send your own message to Bank of America in solidarity with JoSelf. Just click here for some creative ideas!

Help Deliver a Message to Bank Of America

A couple of weeks ago, Joself penned a heartfelt letter to an executive at the bank, pleading with them not to take his home. He sent the letter off, and has yet to hear a response back from the bank. We think he deserves a reply. Can you help us make sure they get the message? We’ve included the letter at the bottom of this post, but you can also download a version for easier printing by clicking here. You can choose to do one or all of the options below!

1.) Print a copy of this letter and deliver it to your local Bank of America branch. Get a group of friends together, or go by yourself. Speak to a teller, or if you can, ask to speak to a branch manager. Tell them you’re concerned about the way they are treating Mr. Freeman, and that you want to make sure this letter gets to where it’s supposed to go. 

2.) Like Bank of America’s Facebook page (we know, it hurts, but you can unlike it later). https://www.facebook.com/BankofAmerica

Copy and paste the letter on their wall, or post it on your own timeline and tag Bank of America in the post. Post it in the comments of their posts. Let’s blow up their Facebook page with the letter. 

3.) Email the letter to the following addresses at Bank of America:

brian.t.moynihan@bankofamerica.com

janay.carswell@bankofamerica.com 

ron.d.sturzenegger@bankofamerica.com 

tj.crawford@bankofamerica.com 

diane.wagner@bankofamerica.com 

nicole.nastacie@bankofamerica.com 

britney.w.sheehan@bankofamerica.com 

colleen.haggerty@bankofamerica.com 

pressroom@bankofamerica.com 

dan.b.frahm@bankofamerica.com 

jumana.bauwens@bankofamerica.com 

rick.simon@bankofamerica.com 

patrick.donaldson@bankofamerica.com 

scott.silvestri@bankofamerica.com 

4.) Fax a copy of the letter to 1-866-449-4515. In the cover letter, explain your concern and that you want Bank of America to work out a deal that keeps Joself in his home.

With your help, we can get Bank of America’s attention and help JoSelf stay in his home for the new year and many years to come.

Mr. Brian Gertz
Specialty Servicing Advocate
Office of the CEO & President
Bank of America Home Loans
CA6-919-01-41
475 Crosspoint Parkway
Getzville, NY 14068

Bank of America account ending: 6422

Dear Mr. Gertz,

For many reasons, I ask that you abandon your quest to remove me from my home. This is very difficult for me. You are so persistent, I’m beginning to believe that you have discovered oil on this property. What’s up?!

My son, Burundi-Soweto, is 14 and made his school’s basketball team… now, how do I ask him to leave to go to another school? How do you move from a house, with a garage and storage, into an apartment? What do you do with the lawn equipment and thousands of tools for home maintenance? How do you justify your actions when you know that this process is illegal?

I’m too old to move. I don’t have the energy and I’m scheduled for knee replacement surgery. I must have shelter, so I can’t think of a better place than where I am. This is the first time I’ve had neighbors in the true sense of the word. Don’t ask me to leave! My son and I are happy with our neighborhood! Put yourself in my place.

Think about it?

Respectfully submitted,

JoSelf Freeman
395 Highway 279
Fayetteville, Ga 30214
(404) 210-5472

Dear Bank Of America

After fighting to stay in his home for over a year, JoSelf Freeman reached out to Occupy Our Homes Atlanta and American Friends Service committee for help. With JoSelf leading the charge we organized several demonstrations in front of the bank, we started an online petition, and hundreds of people across the country called and emailed the bank asking them to make a deal to keep JoSelf in his home.

Bank of America claimed that they would work on a modification for JoSelf, them turned around and offered him a cash for keys deal to get him of his home.

JoSelf just sent the following letter to Bank of America's Special Servicing Advocate Brian Gertz and hasn't yet received a reply:


Dear Mr. Gertz,

For many reasons, I ask that you abandon your quest to remove me from my home. This is very difficult for me. You are so persistent, I'm beginning to believe that you have discovered oil on this property.What's up?!

My son, Burundi-Soweto, is 14 and made his school basket ball team...now, how do I ask him to leave to go to another school? How do you move from a house, with a garage and storage, into an apartment? What do with the lawn equipment and thousands of tools for home maintenance? How do you justify your actions when you know that this process is illegal.

I'm to old to move. I don't have the energy and I'm scheduled for a knee replacement surgery. I must have shelter, so I can't think of a better place then where I am. This is the first time I've had neighbors in the true sense of the word.  Don't ask me to leave! My son and I are happy with my Neighborhood. Put yourself in my place.

Think about it.

Respectfully submitted,

JoSelf Freeman

To sign JoSelf's petition Click here

JoSelf Freeman Stands Up To Bank Of America

Today a delegation of struggling homeowners, led by JoSelf Freeman, went to the Bank of America branch closest to JoSelf's home in Fayetteville to deliver a simple message.

Bank of America caught wind of our plans to stop by and decided to make the inside of their bank closed to all costumers, and they hired an armed guard to circle the building.

We decided not to let that stop us. JoSelf led us right up to the door. We were greeted by an armed guard and the bank manager, who came outside to ask us what our business was. The bank manager informed us that there was a security situation.

We let the manager know that we were not there to cause any harm to him or the other workers in the branch, that we knew they were low on the pay scale and had little decision making power. We were there to make sure the Higher ups at BofA knew that we were not going to sit back while they evicted a senior citizen who is loved and needed in his community.

It seems that BofA is so frightened by us that the mere possibility of small delegation of us going to a branch to deliver a letter is cause to hire armed men and lock the doors. Seems like it would be a lot easier to just except a fair monthly payment from JoSelf.

JoSelf has a hearing tomorrow, the outcome could mean immediate eviction. Please sign his online petition and consider making a call on his behalf tomorrow:

Call/email Ja'Nay Carswell with Bank of America  at : 877-471-4367 ext 225756 and ask her to rescind the foreclosure of JoSelf Freeman at 395 Highway 279, Fayetteville, Georgia 30214 and grant him the modification he needs to stay in his home. Georgia doesn’t need another boarded up house! 
Email Ja’Nay Carswell at janay.carswell@bankofamerica.com

Bank vs America

This past Wednesday Bank of America held their annual shareholders meeting at their headquarters in Charlotte NC. People from all over the country came to Charlotte to bring their grievances to the largest bank in the world, a bank that is responsible for knowingly pushing bad loans that have cost millions of people their homes. Homes are the only thing BofA has painted a target one;

*They’ve drained seniors of their retirement and savings by selling crap mortgages disguised as highly rated investments to unions and pension funds.

*They’ve diverted millions of dollars that would have been spent on building schools and education by scamming local municipalities out of fees and mismanaging their money.

  *They popularized the term “robo-signing”-a practice that involves forging court documents in order to illegally foreclose on properties they had no claim to.

  *They knowingly pushed African Americans and other minorities into risky sub-prime loans, while giving white non-minorities of the exact same financial status stable prime loans.

  *An overwhelming 40% of their loans have been shown to have income overstated by the lender, trapping people in loans they knew couldn’t be repaid.

*They implemented systems to charge bogus overdraft fees to their checking account customers, and even take advantage of the unemployed by charging massive fees to people trying to access their benefits. This is all after receiving billions of dollars in tax-payer funded bailouts and debt guarantees from the federal government.

*Bank of America paid $0 in taxes last year, and even received a $1billion refund-- money they turned around and used to pay out over $35billion in bonuses to their executives.

So there's no mystery as to why so many can so far to turn BofA's shareholders meeting into an opportunity to share with the world the many ways in which BofA disrespects our communities. Three separate marches converged at BofA's headquarters just before the scheduled shareholders meeting. Each feeder march focused on a different issue, one on corporate greed, one on housing, and one one the environment(BofA has sunk billions into the coal industry).

One at the shareholders meeting, around 1,000 people took the streets and refused to leave. Homeowners in the foreclosure and eviction process at the hands of BofA spoke out, as did many others effected by BofA practices. Over 100 activists and folks being negatively impacted by BofA made it inside the shareholders meeting. It was reported the Brian Moyniham was visibly shaken by the ruckus caused in the shareholders meeting, in fact folks said his voice was cracking and eyes wear watering, that he had no idea how to respond to the overwhelming opposition expressed in the shareholders meeting.

Right as the shareholders meeting began several homeowners being foreclosed on by BofA attempted to enter the meeting and when private security refused to allow them in police where called in. The four were arrested for refusing to leave the area.

It wasn't only BofA's financial stock that took a hit this week,their moral stock took a dive as the BofA shareholders meeting made over 1,000 media hits, most of which painted BofA in a pretty negative light, which they have certainly earned.

Tim Franzen American

 Friends Service Committee

HOUSEWARMING PARTY!

Bank of America has made a habit of kicking folks out of their homes illegally. Since most people have no place else to go, today Atlanta community members decided to move in to the Bank. There was one simple demand. MAKE A DEAL TO KEEP PAMELA FLORES IN HER HOME!!

WHO IS PAMELA

Bank of America is at it again! The “Too-Crooked-To-Fail” megabank-- notorious for ripping off everyone from investors and      insurers, to homeowners and the unemployed-- is after Vine City resident, Pamela Flores’ home.

BoA is attempting to foreclose on Pamela’s home, claiming that she missed payments during the trial period of a loan modification she    received through the “Making Homes Affordable” program. The thing is, Pamela never missed a payment and has the records to prove it.   Instead of investigating her case and admitting their error, the bank is moving forward with plans to foreclose.

BUT WAIT.... THERE’S MORE!

Trying to steal Pamela’s home is hardly Bank of America’s first offense. Their crimes are vast, and their greed is immeasurable. They’ve drained seniors of their retirement and savings by selling crap mortgages disguised as highly rated investments to unions and pension funds. They’ve diverted millions of dollars that would have been spent on building schools and education by scamming local municipalities out of fees and mismanaging their money. They popularized the term “robo-signing”-a practice that involves forging court documents in order to illegally foreclose on properties they had no claim to. Bank of America is also racist. They knowingly pushed African Americans and other minorities into risky sub-prime loans, while giving white non-minorities of the exact same financial status stable prime loans. An overwhelming 40% of their loans have been shown to have income overstated by the lender, trapping people in loans they knew couldn’t be repaid. They implemented systems to charge bogus overdraft fees to their checking account customers, and even take advantage of the unemployed by charging massive fees to people trying to access their benefits. This is all after receiving billions of dollars in tax-payer funded bailouts and debt guarantees from the federal government. Bank of America paid $0 in taxes last year, and even received a $1billion refund-- money they turned around and used to pay out over $35billion in bonuses to their executives.

WHAT CAN YOU DO??

First of all, close your account with Bank of America!! Once you’ve done that, give CEO Brian Moynihan a call. Let him know how you feel about their practices, and that you want him to “make a deal to keep Pamela Flores in her home at 245 Griffin Street in Atlanta!”

Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America

(980)     386-5687

brian.t.moynihan@bankofamerica.com

Building Resistance and Community in Vine City!

It's been such and eventful week in Vine City! With so much going on I've had a hard time making time to update this blog, so I'm going to try to include some of the highlights from the last week and end with a call to action.

Community meetings!
They've been great! It's really been awesome to see more and more Vine City residents engaging and relating with the Occupy Movement. At our last community meeting, after spending time exploring the institutions that have been attacking Vine City for decades, we asked residents if they saw connections between they systems of violence and oppression that have become common place in Vine City and beyond. Folks from the neighborhood had no problem drawing the connections between the school closings, financial institutions, police corruption, drug dealers, and homelessness.Folks in Vine City know what time it is.

Earth Day and Block Party

Several Occupiers had been working with Vine City residents for weeks to build an Earth day event and a Block party. One of the problems residents bring up often is the overwhelming presence of trash in the community and the effect it has on the psychology of neighborhood. It's a fact that abandoned buildings in lower income communities are way less likely to be tended to by the financial institutions that own them then abandoned buildings in wealthier neighborhoods. This fact is painfully obvious in Vine City. This past Friday 36 bags of trash were picked up along Joesph Lowery BLVD, and work was done on several Community Gardens. Saturday folks came out for food, games, friendship, and education. Higher Ground Empowerment Center played host to the event, and lots of kids from the community came out and had a great time. It was a reminder that in a time when we are all relegated to our separate lives, that simply creating space to enjoy our neighbors and learn from each other can be an act of resistance.

Bank Actions!
  Not losing the fact that one of our main fronts of resistance in Vine City is the fight to save Pamela Flore's home from illegal foreclosure at the hands of Bank of America, we've decided to launch multiple small actions against the bank leading up to a larger action next Monday(4/30). Since bank of America has pushed millions out of their homes we've decided to make their front doors our homes. Our hope is to dramatize the crisis they have forced upon us all, and reach make it impossible for BoA and their customers to ignore injustice of historic mass evictions. At each action hundreds of info sheets were passed out and multiple customers marched into the bank with our flyers. Two costumers actually walked in and closed their accounts in protest. At today's bank action one homeowner decided to let the bank know that he was putting off paying his mortgage until BoA fixed Pamela Flore's mortgage

. On Monday April 30, the day before her house is set to be auctioned off, we'll be at the Bank of America Plaza in Midtown from 1:30-4pm with one simple message. Make a deal to keep Pamela Flores in her home!

Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Moving Forward in Vine City

Over the past week we've been hitting the streets, knocking on doors, attending NPU and civic association meetings, and organizing events and actions designed to bring Vine City residents together.

Today we hosted our second Vine City community meeting and created space for residents to identify the challenges facing their neighborhood, from unemployment, boarded up houses, a growing homeless population, corrupt police, apathetic youth, school closings, trash everywhere, and evictions/ foreclosures the list of challenges is pretty epic.

Vine City has been, and is under attack. Although many outside of the community have said that the fight to save what's left of Vine City is futile, every resident we've spoken with over the last three months has said the fight is worth it.

It's clear that folks need to get more organized. The banks, developers, and government officials that want the poor folks out are super organized and have access to money.

There's another kind of power brewing amongst Vine City residents, people power. This week there are a number of activities initiated by Vine City residents at our Community meeting. Here they are:

Friday April 20th 4pm: Meet at West End Marta station, march to Bank of America and threaten to move in if they don't give Pamela Flore's home back.

Monday 5-7pm: Community Canvassing. Meet at 245 Griffin st.

Monday April 23rd 7:30pm: Screen and the Green! Film screening of "Food Inc" at 245 Griffin street. Snacks provided!

Tuesday 5-7pm: Community Canvassing. Meet at 245 Griffin st.

Wednesday 6pm: Community walk! Meet your friends and neighbors for a walk around the community. Let's experience Vine City block by block and talk with folks we meet, tell them what we are trying to do to stop the institutional forces that would see Vine city turn into Atlantic Station II.

Thursday 7pm: Community Meeting. This is where residents organize the change they want to see in Vine City. Food, childcare, and transportation provided.


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Community Building In Historic Vine City!

Driving down any street in Vine City makes it impossible to ignore that this historic park of Atlanta has sustained a tornado of economic violence for decades. There are more empty homes then occupied homes due to extreme predatory lending . The lack of capital has forced residents out of their homes and into the streets, many have been virtually forced to engage in illegal activity that's further hurt residents. The tactic of divide and conquer has been administered here to disastrous results.

Vine City and English avenue really are ground zero for the housing crisis that Atlanta is under the lash of. The work here is vital, and in the three months we've been engaged here there have been sparks of hope. We've saved a church and we're now fighting save a home that's being illegally foreclosed on by Bank of America, we're facilitating weekly clean ups, we're teaching elementary school aged kids to plant urban gardens, we've just started a weekly political education program, we're hosting a weekly community meeting where residents can brainstorm ways to organize their community for change, and we're beginning to engage with folks trying to halt the closing of Kennedy Middle School.

It's a start, and there's no doubt that what Vine City needs is a Vine City movement led by Vine City residents. It's an uphill battle against unprecedented wealth disparity, but these days the impossible feels more possible than any time in recent history.

There's power being built in Vine City, and you're invited to participate!

Come by our new headquarters at 245 Griffin Street. It's a 24/7 operation.

Tim Franzen

American Friends Service Committee