Gainesville Neighborhood Voices to host rally tomorrow to protest elimination of single-family zoning

Press release from Gainesville Neighborhood Voices

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gainesville Neighborhood Voices, Inc. (GNVoices) is joining forces with residents and church leaders from historically black communities to hold a rally opposing the City’s proposed elimination of single-family land use zoning throughout Gainesville. Invited speakers include GNVoices President Casey Fitzgerald, Faye Williams, Porters Quarters Community Organizer, Kim Tanzer, Architect, N’Kwanda Jah, Alachua County NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Committee Chair and GNVoices Director, and the following church leaders:  Pastor Ronald Foxx of Shady Grove Primitive Baptist Church, Pastor Ronald Rawls of Greater Bethel AME Church, Pastor Mary Mitchell of Mt. Olive Baptist Church, and Doctor Reverend Mayberry of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.

The rally will be held on Wednesday, August 3, at 12:00 noon at Shady Grove Primitive Baptist Church, 804 SW 5^th Street in the Porter’s Quarters neighborhood.  

The immediate purpose of GNVoices is to influence the outcome of the City Commission’s August 4^th decision that could eliminate single-family land use zoning throughout the city. A slim majority, Mayor Lauren Poe and City Commissioners David Arreola, Reina Saco, and Adrian Hayes-Santos, are on record in support of this unconventional zoning change that would result in extensive negative impacts to Gainesville’s neighborhoods without generating the expressed goal of affordable housing. The most immediate and dramatic threats are to primarily Black neighborhoods by greatly increasing the rate of gentrification. GNVoices includes residents from many Gainesville neighborhoods, affordable housing advocates, technical experts, and community leaders.

Chief among GNVoices’ longer term goals is to work collaboratively to define a viable path forward that will result in affordable housing, equity, and smart growth. GNVoices also plans to build trust with a network that protects the history and diversity of Gainesville neighborhoods and preserves the character of neighborhoods by preventing unwanted emigration and relocation of neighborhood residents and families.

Gainesville Neighborhood Voices does not have a website just yet, so for relevant information, go to  https://www.gainesvilleneighborhoodsunited.org. To contact GNV directly, email gnv.voices@gmail.com.