Update:

• Boston25 TV news coverage of the protest
• Lynn Daily Item newspaper story on the protest
• Lynn United for Change description/notes/reflection on what happened (with photo)

Click here for higher resolution photo.

STOP THE EVICTION OF YOUR NEIGHBOR!

TUESDAY, October 23 at 8:15 AM

4 Laighton Terrace, Lynn MA

Join us to say NO to the eviction of Miriam Cruz, an elderly, disabled, vulnerable member of our community. We can't let a corporate landlord forcibly evict her from the apartment she's called home for over 9 years!

Facts on the housing crisis here in Lynn from PolicyLink.

WHEN: We will be there starting at 8:30 am, possibly all day. Come as soon as you can.

WHERE: Laighton Terrace is off of Laighton Street, near the corner of Washington Street.

AND call Mayor McGee to demand he take action to STOP this eviction: (781) 598-4000 (ext 6)

We have reached out to the landlord, Jason Irving of Irving Development LLC, and offered our help in negotiating an alternative to eviction. We hope he will do the right thing, but we have not heard a response yet.

This past spring Irving Development LLC bought the building where Miriam lives. Just a few months later the company started a "no fault" eviction case against her. In the court summons, the landlord did not claim that she owed ANY rent or had done anything wrong. The case should have been dismissed since Miriam had a valid lease that was good through the fall, but she had no legal help (and not even a court interpreter) to protect her rights.

Miriam has been offering to make her October rent payment immediately but the landlord's attorney has refused it. We are calling on the landlord to accept that payment and cancel the eviction. If any back rent is owed, it could likely be paid by the RAFT homelessness prevention program. But the landlord has refused to fill out the form that is required to get those funds.

If Irving Development does not do the right thing, we need to send a message that we will not be displaced silently and we are starting to fight back.

So many people are facing displacement — let's join together to defend our community!

Across the country there is a huge housing crisis that is pushing working class and lower income people out of our own neighborhoods. We're starting to see this same problem in Lynn and we are ready to fight back.

The people who are facing displacement must lead the response to this crisis. We do not need tax breaks for new luxury housing or $400,000 condos built with the help of public funds -- we need housing that is affordable for the people that live here now.

Gentrification and displacement is NOT an answer to our city's problems. We need development without displacement that truly benefits the people who have built our city. We are battling to keep Lynn affordable, diverse, and working class.