SOUTH BRONX — A group of Bronxites rallied outside of SoBro's offices on Friday afternoon to protest the role that they believe the economic development group is playing in bringing gentrification into the borough.
Members of the organization #TheBronxIsNotForSale gathered by 555 Bergen Ave. with signs describing SoBro as "Poverty Pimps" and declaring "These Are Our Homes, Leave The Bronx Alone" in support of keeping the borough affordable for its current residents.
"There's no place left. This is the last bastion left in the five boroughs," said protestor Gail Brown, who lives in the South Bronx. "It's scary. It's really scary."
Brown pointed to the new Starbucks on 161st Street and the Piano District billboard as indicators that the borough was gentrifying, accusing SoBro of being in bed with real estate developers who are driving up prices in the South Bronx.
Chino May, a protestor who said he has already been priced out of the Mott Haven area and into Hunts Point, maintained that the work SoBro does to help the community is not enough to counteract the work they do to help developers.
"They're sort of throwing people a couple crumbs and then bringing in forces that are going to displace us down the line," he said.
SoBro President and CEO Phillip Morrow maintained that his organization had nothing to do with gentrification, saying that the housing projects they work on are affordable and that their next two projects would be for homeless veterans and the mentally ill.
"How does that fit with gentrification? Well, I don't know. It doesn't really," he said.
Morrow did not dispute that The Bronx has been becoming a more attractive place for middle- and even upper-income families but argued that this was largely due to market forces beyond SoBro's control.
"Whether we can control them or they can or anybody can is a real question, but the fact of the matter is we're not promoting it or supporting it or involved in it in any way," he said.
He said SoBro was on the same side as the protesters in terms of trying to prevent low-income families from getting displaced from the South Bronx.
"My answer to their protest is you're protesting the wrong party," he said.
However, protestor Lisa Ortega maintained that SoBro was a two-faced organization that was more interested in real estate development than in helping South Bronx residents avoid displacement.
“We wanted to make sure that the community does not offer support to nonprofits such as SoBro that pretend to do one thing in our community," she said, "and they actually sell us out on the other hand, working with developers to develop high priced luxury apartments while pushing us out."
