_crapitalism t1_j26wrf9 wrote
Reply to comment by An_emperor_penguin in Philadelphia mayoral candidates on gentrification: Parker, Gym, and Quiñones Sánchez talk solutions by outerspace29
idk, I felt like Gym's answer was fine. she seemed to me to be saying that we should curb displacement while allowing in new residents to greeting neighborhoods, and creating more affordable housing tax incentives for developers. all that sounds good to me. she has also been a close ally with Jamie Gauthier on the council, and while Gauthier has done some housing things I disagree with, it's clear to me that she is willing to invest and build infrastructure in working class neighborhoods in her district, unlike most other councilmembers in districts with high poverty areas.
An_emperor_penguin t1_j2707l3 wrote
Gauthier has NIMBY'd tons of affordable units in her district and tried to illegally block the Ucity townhome redevelopment instead of actually help the residents. She even helped turn 70 affordable units into a parking lot at 5200 Warrington as she knew the Ucity news about 70 units being lost was about to be announced publicly. She is almost as bad as Clarke and being a "close ally" with her is a big red flag on housing.
Gym was just talking about tax credits and getting everyone to work together for "equity" which is fine I guess, but what does that mean in practice?
_crapitalism t1_j274sw8 wrote
pretty sure the 5200 Warrington development came to be the way it is after RCO negations, and Gauthier put out a statement saying that she was somewhat disappointed that's what it took to build more housing. could be wrong, but thats my memory of it. Gauthier also hasn't been the chronic downzoning, anti-septa, anti-bike, anti-vision zero tyrant that Clarke or Johnson have been, and has been busy getting the protected bike lanes on chestnut all the way through Cobbs creek, and is trying to get a much needed similar one on walnut. she's supported trolley modernization, and she's consistently been one of the better councilmembers on vision zero. that's infrastructure and investment in impoverished communities, and it's what's separates her from the likes of a lot of the rest of the council, and why I'd be happy to have a mayor in her faction.
An_emperor_penguin t1_j27g3au wrote
>Gauthier put out a statement saying that she was somewhat disappointed that's what it took to build more housing
But that's "what it took" because she didn't back the housing! If she told the developer to ignore the NIMBYs that show up to literally everything (to complain about parking) then they could have done that, but she didn't. And in other instances like 48th and Chester (the "poop" building) she explicitly asked the ZBA to deny a variance for affordable apartments so the developers would build luxury townhomes instead.
I do agree that she's been fairly good on non housing issues
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