Sam Argawal, an activist who’s been involved with opposing the demolition of Poindexter Village said PACT has not taken into account the rich African American history of the area. She said the area’s Blackberry Patch was an important spot for the African-American struggle for civil rights. Argawal said PACT officials have paid inadequate attention to the OSU African American and African Studies Community Extension Center on Mount Vernon Avenue. Argawal asked PACT officials to account for how well they are acting in accordance with the Fair Housing Act. She said the act requires planners and developers to ensure that their projects don’t end up re-segregating communities. “Has CMHA followed the fair housing process? Has anyone done a racial analysis of what’s happening as you force residents to relocate? 600 people have been moved out. Where’s the paper trail so the public can see if this is re-segregating communities? Relief should be provided to those who’ve not been treated according to the Fair Housing Act.” Of all the public comments, Argawal’s drew the longest and loudest applause. Afterwards, among the crowd at various places in the gymnasium of Trinity Baptist Church, middle-aged Black men and women, some in business suits and some dressed causally, leaned over to shake hands with the young petite Indian-American Argawal. Brown responded to Argawal by saying, “The answer to most of your questions is yes…We’ve been communicating with our municipal partners. We have 40 zip codes in Columbus. Part of HUD’s priority for assisted housing is that it not be concentrated in pockets of poverty and minority areas. This ensures equal access to jobs, housing, and transportation. HUD has actually called us to see how we’ve been so successful. I’d also remind you that when it comes to paper trails, our residents have a right to privacy. That’s why the relocation data we have given so far uses zip codes.” In a vein similar to the points and questions from Argwal, a person who moderator Tavares announced as Professor Newsom said, “We keep hearing a lot of talk about ‘mixed income communities.’ If that’s the goal, is there a model? We hear words like ‘revitalization.’ But when these kinds of things happen, places become out-of-reach for low-income people. Some of us here might not want to hear the word, but it’s called gentrification. So, what’s being done to make sure that what you’re doing to Poindexter Village and the Near East Side doesn’t displace people and erase our heritage?” In response to Newsom, Ervin of CMHA said, “I understand what’s happened in Chicago, LA, and other cities where traditional African-American communities no longer exist. But we’re doing all we can to prevent this from happening in Columbus.” This drew a small amount of applause and some poker-faced looks from the crowd. Tavares said land trusts are part of the solution. http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/18/2012/4521 About 350 people gathered in the gymnasium of Trinity Baptist Church on St. Clair Avenue for a town hall meeting with officials from PACT, an acronym which stands for Partners Achieving Community Transformation “Climate Change is a growing cancer; all-of-the-above is not the answer” and “How many children must get cancer, before we find a better answer?” —————————————————————————– A couple of hours before President Obama spoke at the Ohio State University on March 22, about 25 demonstrators against the Keystone XL pipeline project gathered on the sidewalk along High Street in front of the Ohio Union. A day earlier, Obama announced in Cushing, Oklahoma his decision to fast-track the leg of the pipeline that will run from Cruz Barlarron, w Oklahoma to Texas. Critics, many of them on the political right, say the president should approve the entire XL project, while environmentalists say he’s backpedaling, and going against his ’08 campaign promise to address Climate Change. ho led the mic-check of Mary Jo Kilroy when she spoke at Occupy the Courts on Jan 20, said there wouldn’t be one this time for Obama. He said there weren’t enough protesters with tickets to get into OSU’s Recreation and Physical Activity Center (RPAC) where the president was scheduled to speak in a couple of hours. But the protesters focused on communicating their message to High Street onlookers and passersby. People in autos honked and some cyclists in the 80 degree March heat waved and shouted in support of the protesters on the sidewalk, though one person in a car said, “I’m for fracking.” Several protesters had copies of the same sign. Quoting Obama, it read, “let’s be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil.” He made the remarks on Feb 10, 2007, the day he announced his run for president, according to the following source Danny Berchenko of 350.org Ohio told fellow protesters thru a bullhorn 2012 already has broken records “As we have record-breaking heat, it’s ironic that Obama is coming to Columbus to talk about more drilling for oil and gas,” Berchenko said. Berchenko told fellow activists to seize the opportunity to make Climate issues more prominent in our nation’s public discourse as Ohio is likely to get a lot of attention during the upcoming general election. “We got to keep coming out to these events and bring more people to them. So then, as more people become concerned about what’s happening to our climate, they know where to go to get involved.” It’s spring break. So when demonstrators marched from the Ohio Union to the $140 million recreation and fitness complex, there were, along the way, only a few laptop junkies under trees and a scattering of sunbathers whose bodies looked like beige islands in the green Oval sea. As with the Keystone XL protest during Obama’s visit to Columbus in September of 2011, there were no Black folk among the demonstrators. One Black man who appeared to be in his 40s said, “I’m here to see the president. I don’t care about all that environmental crap.”