Kalistani Major History

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Kalistani Protestors renew demands for Urban Renewal
"We have to get this business done" says Interim Infrastructure Minister
Kaliburg, Ananto
July 18, 5377


Public Housing Advocates march on the Capital to demand action in renewal

The Kalistan urban renewal policy has been ongoing for nearly 20 years, and only 60 percent of the previous housing has been replaced. Widescale demolition actions in most mainland cities have left large swaths of green areas in formerly densely packed cities like Sulari, Port Swedes, and Eshar-Gendaris. But residents who used to live in those green areas say they are ready to move back home and are demanding action of the interim Government of Kalistan.

"We want the Republic to finish what it started," said Angela St. Michael, spokesperson for the recent People's March that descended on the Capital last week. "We have gone a generation without being able to go home to the places where we grew up. I am middle aged now. I have kids of my own. I want them to know my neighborhood and my family's friends and I want to rebuild my community, but I can't if the state doesn't go in an build more homes for us."

Many of the residents of Mainland Kalistan's once blighted cities have long since relocated, and much of the internal migration appears permanent. The Government for their part has been slow to return much of the newly green city scape to residential development. "Well, to be honest, the reason we had so much blight was that we had an over abundance of housing stock in the Republic," said interim Infrastructure Minister Lindsey Kingsbury. "We need to get this business done, obviously. But we also will need to balance it so that the houses we are building will not just replace the houses being used. We will, as policy keep pace with population growth, and to be honest, that has been fairly stagnant since we began which puts a lid on new construction."

The Interim Minister met with protestors, and has asked the Government to name an advisory board with socialist Governors and representatives of tenant and resident groups to determine how to proceed with reconstruction of the urban landscape. "This is not to say that having these vast swaths of green belts in our cities is all bad," said St. Michael. "In many of these areas, the community itself has taken the vacant land and transformed it into urban farm land, where communities can support their local food banks with fresh, nutritious local foods. Or parks which provide kids safe places to play. But then there are lots of places which are just eyesores, homes for vermin and loaded with trash that people just throw in there. And these areas should be the ones that are rehabbed into homes and businesses. But that all takes money." Noticably absent was a fixture who had protested renewal in the past, the landlords groups, who seem to have come to terms with the fact that their concerns and interests would no longer be placed at the front of the line.

St. Michael promised that her group would be back protesting if progress stalls out. "We have good, credible commitments from this interim government," said the protest leader. "We already have meetings scheduled with Minister Kingsbury and three governors on the mainland in the coming months, to begin the work of rehabbing out cities. It looks like for the first time in a generation, this socialist government is going to get serious about this issue. Our hope is that there is also follow through. We keep hope eternally alive."