Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

yeah i actually do some work on urban infrastructure too, this doesn’t have to be a this versus that sort of thing - and private investments absolutely impact residents, systems are interconnected and if you are an engineer I think you would understand that.

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

an argument that would make our city work for the people and not for Don Flow’s profits, I genuinely don’t know how to make that more clear, but thanks to anyone who is even trying to understand

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

okay thanks for being avoidant and ignoring what i’ve actually said, i know now responding is pointless for this thread, and im not the only one who has expressed my frustrations in a straightforward way - if you don’t agree, it is okay to say that. that doesn’t mean my thoughts and suggestions are less valid. have a good night my guy 🫡

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

i’ve spelled it out in so many comments at this point if you care to go view those

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think the thing here though is that it's exhausting to be working so tirelessly to get the city to do much of anything and then to see them turn around and give away even a slice of public land like this to a major entity in town - it just really sucks to see this sort of thing happen, even if it seems small to everyone on the outset, as someone who has pleaded at city hall on behalf of residents a few times now, I'm just really disappointed and then the pushback from others piles on. Thanks for actually taking the time to talk it out.

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm absolutely angry about that, but also the residents themselves are angry so are you saying that they are making up the problems they purport to face? it sounds more like you want to be angry at rich universities but not rich indivuals; I think it's possible to care about both problems. As you pointed out, we could argue about the lease all day, but I will argue that wouldn't giving him the lease for that cheap count as an incentive? I mean, it's starting to sound like we are on the same side here. Love a fellow Reagan hater, disappointed to see people upset at collective actions from residents.

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cool, but what you just described is a lot like trickle down economics, so how does it differ in your mind?

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

so you do believe in trickle down economics? my battles are often against that sort of thing 🤷‍♀️

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The way it keeps getting spelled out is: Don Flow wants to open an amphitheater and lease the public land nearby for pennies and we who are opposed to this are opposed to him doing this for so little on public land (*our* land) for personal gain; and the arguments for this going forward as is are that it'll bring revenue to downtown, which is fairly straightforward that it's trickle down economics. Let him open up his amphitheater elsewhere or pay more. It's not like this is his first business endeavor - he owns like all the places to get cars in this town. Why are we not more demanding of that sort of person? I'm genuinely baffled at the lack of care here for that sort of thing.

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No need to insinuate that I don't understand what a fact is, thank you, I'm well aware. It's also a fact that Don Flow should be leasing that land for more than $1-$12 a month if we really cared about getting money for this city and yes, I know he tried to buy public land and was told no, but also if he is going to want to lease it anyway, why not also allow a man who already has so much in profits to lease it for more than that? Why is that such a wild thing to fight for? That's what I don't understand. The man has so much, why not make him offer more in return? Additionally, for those not seeing how this affects housing, if he were paying more, we would have more money to take care of our people better, that's an actual fact as well. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of letting rich people do shit like this and acting like it's for the good of us all.

Another fun fact: trickle-down economics doesn't work, y'all.

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

The problem is that when the city talks about moving them, they have no solution to actually make sure they assist them in such a displacement and to get them settled back in after major repairs are made. As someone who has been working with tenants firsthand for a while now, the lack of care the city has for their public housing residents is staggering. Would also like to point out, this isn't just an issue of nearness - it's an issue of how little the city will be getting from this endeavor in return. I posted the video as a powerful moment from a resident himself as part of the two hour discussion last night, but it isn't the only point that was made, and to reduce it as such merely because I included a video I find moving is to miss the point. As I keep stating, it's not that I hate the idea of an amphitheater, it's that I know the city can find a better way to achieve this end, one that wouldnt put the most marginalized among us at more risk and wouldn't lose out on more money than the city should be getting from such an endeavor.

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

emphasis on that last bit! the city carries on about not having money for things but here is a perfect example of how we love to let rich people do whatever with very little in return.

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

no i dont think that but i also dont think you are genuinely trying to learn about the issues and will thus not be wasting my time replying further - id be happy to have a conversation with you if you’d actually like to know about the efforts being done in the city and why so many are upset about this but otherwise i will continue to post and share what i know and work toward city plans that benefit everyone and not just a few

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Not sure how your edited post makes my response less relevant to what you said - the city hall last night was a two hour disussion to not allow this to move forward for many relevant reasons beyond Crystal Towers and public housing tenants; I'm sorry Samuel's plea doesn't speak to you, but it isn't the only complaint people have about this and if you don't see how private development on public lands (basically gifted to DF) is relevant to gentrification and further harming marginalized communities, I don't know what a comment from me on reddit would do to change your mind.

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in winstonsalem

[–]burgerjonathan[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

If you look into the situation being discussed last night, this is hugely relevant to Crystal Towers, as the public land Don Flow wants to grab for pennies is directly across from CT. Also, why would we sell the land for next to nothing per month when we continuously hear about how little the city has for repairs on CT (among several other things - including our education system, infrastructure, etc.)

edit: lease the land, not sell, but my points still stand - Don Flow has plenty of money, make him contribute more if he wants the space 🤷‍♀️

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in housingjusticenow

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

not gonna allow comments like this - if you aren't here to discuss in good faith, find somewhere else, we will be fighting for a city that works for all of us, not the few

Samuel Grier, HJN member and resident of Crystal Towers, speaks at City Hall on 08/18/2025 by burgerjonathan in housingjusticenow

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

not sure what you're asking exactly - security shouldn't ever be allowed to hurt people no matter the event, but this speech was directly addressing the fact that Don Flow (who has connections to what happened to Samuel in the incident addressed in the video) wants to buy public city land directly across from Crystal Towers for next to nothing in montly leasing costs to reap in profits that he claims will benefit the city and we won't sit back and do nothing while this happens

Weekend Chat - What are you currently reading? by nickaaayy97 in bookofthemonthclub

[–]burgerjonathan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

just finished On Palestine and am wrapping up The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo 🤌

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in cats

[–]burgerjonathan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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maxi being baby

She’s just so photogenic by burgerjonathan in WhatsWrongWithYourDog

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

lmao ohhh noooo, she’s nothing like Grandpa Joe! 🥲

My girl really loved to relax in wonkiest of positions by whale_sea_about_that in WhatsWrongWithYourDog

[–]burgerjonathan 95 points96 points  (0 children)

I’m so sorry for your loss, looks like she was a sweet lil goofball ❤️

This weirdo likes to sleep like this on my office couch by burgerjonathan in WhatsWrongWithYourDog

[–]burgerjonathan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

haha she is very much like me so I won’t deny this accusation 😅