Streetcars, History, Race and Impact on Westside Neighbors
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Brand New Sheriff Productions kicks off its new season with “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” TThhee CChhaarrllootttteeTHE VOICE P POF THE BLACKo oCOMMUNITYss SINCEtt 1906 WEEK OF AUGUST 5, 2021 VOLUME 47, NUMBER 48 WWW.THECHARLOTTEPOST.COM $1.50 Brace for wave of evictions across NC End of moratorium sparks calls for help By Bryan Anderson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH — It wasn’t long after Iliana Diaz began her first day in person at Legal Aid’s Raleigh office that she and others were hit by a tsunami of phone calls. Seated and masked in a small room on Monday, Diaz was among the five call center workers franti- cally trying to do the unachievable: respond to all the messages that had come in from low-income North Carolinians facing the threat of eviction after the federal evic- tion moratorium expired over the weekend. TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST The bilingual intake specialist The CityLynx Gold Line, which is scheduled to debut this month, will change public transit and neighborhoods along the historically who joined Legal Aid of North Car- Black Beatties Ford Road corridor. olina has seen a sharp rise in re- cent call volume and is motivated to help as many people as she can. “If I don’t answer that phone call, then potentially that person may Streetcars, history, race and not have the chance to call back or they may just never have the chance to get any assistance what- soever,” Diaz said. For many struggling renters who impact on westside neighbors have received eviction notices, Legal Aid can be the last line of de- Post Foundation’s virtual town hall brings community together on Gold Line fense. Depending on how much money they make, the law firm will Heights resident Colette Forrest and Ron proved funding for a streetcar feasibility By Ashley Mahoney connect them with a free attorney, [email protected] Cureton, who lives in the Hyde Park study in 2009, said she does not fear another agency or share infor- Public transportation expansion in His- neighborhood. words like “gentrification.” mation on rental assistance pro- toric West End brings anticipation and The concerns of gentrification, which “We must hold people accountable,” grams. anxiety for its longtime residents. ocurred in South End along Marshall said. North Carolina’s Housing Oppor- The Charlotte Post Foundation’s Black the CityLynx Blue Line, Said Post Foundation board member tunities and Prevention of Evic- Lives Matter Conversation, “Gold Line: linger for westside home- Tiffany Capers, who moderated the town tions (HOPE) program offers rent Riding Rail to Revival or Ruin” explored owners and businesses. It is hall: “There are blessings and curses and utility assistance to low-in- the historic ramifications of streetcars in also seen as an opportunity sometimes when transportation comes come renters in 88 of the smallest historically Black neighborhoods as well for economic development. into a community. We are cognizant that counties in the state. Twelve larger as the scheduled August launch of the “When we talk about the history is always with us.” counties are managing their own CityLynx Gold Line. The conversation streetcar/CityLynx Gold Charlotte streetcar history programs. featured Mattie Marshall, Historic Wash- Line we are talking about an “From 1887 to the 1930s, Charlotte The state has set aside roughly ington Heights neighborhood associa- economic engine,” Marshall Marshall had grown tremendously,” Griffin said. $1.3 billion to help tenants cover tion president, Levine Museum of the said. “When the streetcars first came, there their housing and utility costs, New South staff historian Willie Griffin, Marshall, a member of Charlotte City were about 10,000 residents living in community advocate and Wesley Council’s advisory committee which ap- Please see THREAT | 2A Please see POST | 2A New for the Black-owned school year: restaurants struggle Required face masks to find, keep staff By Aaliyah Bowden [email protected] By Braedyn Speight Emmanuel Williams’ three sons FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST are going back to school next Two months ago, Sharon Freshwater, co-owner of month with books and face cover- Freshwaters in Uptown, notified her staff the dining ings. room would be reopening for business. Sixth-grader Aiden, 12, Ja’Dor- Only one person showed up for work. rain, 7, a second-grader and Evyn, Labor shortages is only one of multiple problems 5, who is headed to pre-K will wear that have plagued restaurants now that they are able face masks while in accordance to open at full capacity. Freshwater is trying to fill with new state guidelines. all the roles left vacant while pulling double duty “The most impor- since she works in the front office and cleans up at tant work our state closing. will do next month is “I can’t stay open late because of the staffing situ- JOHNSON C. SMITH UNIVERSITY getting all our school ation,” she said. “By the time I’m here from 10 in the Johnson C. Smith University is forgiving $300,000 in debt for students enrolled between children back into the morning to 8 [p.m.], I’m drained and I’m so tired and March 2020 and June 2021. The school provided more than $6.4 million in financial aid classrooms safely for burnt out.” since transitioning to remote learning at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. in-person learning,” Freshwaters is not the only restaurant to be suffer- Gov. Roy Cooper said. ing from a lack of staffing. According to the North “That’s the best way Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, the lei- for them to learn, and Dashew sure and hospitality sector made up 20% of job JCSU takes steps to forgive we want their school losses during the pandemic. Workers who became days to be as close to normal as unemployed during the pandemic chose to stay un- possible, especially after a year of employed because it paid better than hourly wages. $300,000 in student debt disruption.” The federal minimum wage is $7.50 an hour. Students in kindergarten through North Carolina pays a maximum of $350 per week By Ashley Mahoney business and finance. eighth grade, faculty and staff at in unemployment benefits. Also, the federal govern- [email protected] JCSU reported it provided over those schools are required to wear ment is providing an additional $300 on top of the Johnson C. Smith University is at- $6.4 million in financial assistance a face mask indoors regardless of unemployment insurance benefits provided by the tacking student debt. to students since it transitioned to vaccination status. However, high state. The federal program ends on Sept. 4. The school announced last week it remote learning in March 2020. The school students, faculty and staff Restaurants across Charlotte are learning to adjust will pay off $300,000 in outstanding federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and who are fully vaccinated will not to new challenges brought on by the pandemic. One balances owed for students enrolled Economic Security Act funding pro- have to wear face coverings in- of the most pressing is the food shortage that has between March 2020 and June 2021. vided additional financial aid for the Eligible students will be notified this fall 2020 semester: $2,500 directly doors. The guidelines are in accor- Please see BLACK RESTAURATEURS | 2A week by the university’s office of Please see JCSU|2A Please see NEW FOR | 2A INSIDE Please Digital edition: STAY IN TOUCH Sports 5A Snapchat: thecharpost www.thecharlottepostnewspaper.com Recycle Life 1B Twitter: @thecharpost A&E 5B To subscribe: (704) 376-0496 or online Facebook: The Charlotte Post Classified 4B http://tcppc.com/Subscribe Instagram: @thecharlottepost #PaperThursday 2A NEWS | The Charlotte Post Thursday, August 5, 2021 Post town hall explores race, streetcar’s impact Continued from page 1A translated into income inequity that Charlotte, but by the 1930s Charlotte continues to this day. had grown to over 130,000. There “These were efforts to make the area were many more cars traveling the around the Beatties Ford Road corri- roads [and] cheap gas. In 1937, the dor, for lack of a better way of putting city of Charlotte and Duke Power it, they did not want these homes to moved to replace the trolleys with be exclusive or expensive,” Griffin buses. said. “In 1938, half a century later, street- Barriers like redlining caused these cars and trolleys had really become a homes to depreciate in value, as symbol of the past with homeowners were unable to acquire no place in the city.” loans to renovate their homes. The streetcar provided “Over the next 30 years, these home Black people living in values in the West End Corridor, they areas like Biddleville a don’t compare to their white counter- way to get to work, with parts in other parts of Charlotte,” Grif- many going to jobs along fin said. the rail line and in mills. Beatties Ford Road corridor res- Griffin said the streetcar idents formed the Beatties Ford Com- HERBERT L. WHITE| THE CHARLOTTE POST Griffin resulted in the devel- munity Development Inc. in the 1980s With the end of federal and state eviction moratoriums, North Carolina agencies are braced for opment of Washington to revitalize the area through public a torrent of calls from renters for help to remain in their homes. Heights. development funds. Forty years later, “Washington Heights was one of the the city launched Corridors of Oppor- first middle class Black suburbs in the tunity, a $24.5 million program de- signed to improve infrastructure in Threat of rising evictions city, and at least according to one his- torian, it was the first streetcar Black six areas of Charlotte, including the suburb in the South,” he said.