We can't spread flyers around in the neighborhood for events we plan. Basically, he doesn't want the neighborhood involved, and that's the antithesis of what we're trying to create here. We need to have more public activities that are not focused on buying things in neighborhoods that are being gobbled up and turned into dehumanizing capitalist stores. Philly they are looking in, as an example of that process. And they say with Penn eyeing the same houses as they are, that it's only going to get harder to find a new space.
Property owners can tell what's happening, and they're feeling the houses getting more valuable.
University of Pennsylvania has formed a partnership with the University of the Sciences and Fannie Mae, a government-created mortgage lender, to purchase rental housing and renovate the buildings. Yvonne Haskins, a representative of Fannie Mae, says that the partnership is not even interested in buying single family homes like the ones the anarchists are looking to buy, and instead are focused on properties of 10 units or more. They're buying property, not making any new supply, and making profit off that. Laura McTighe, another of the anarchists, says that getting a community center might slow the university. If there is a strong neighborhood presence and a strong space bringing people together, it will offer a more organic means of fighting the gentrification plans.