Should More Development Cost 'Mama' Her Home?

"Veney, a retired oyster shucker and maid, was being evicted from the home where she has lived for more than 12 years, where Veney and her friend Marie -- before Marie was evicted, too -- sat guard at Fourth and Thomas streets every day from 2 to 6 p.m."

"In a county that has lost nearly half its affordable apartments in the past five years to redevelopment, Veney's story is a familiar tale. In recent weeks, however, she has become a living emblem for the crusade to save her complex, Buckingham Village. When Veney tells her story at rallies and meetings across the county, even hard-hearted bureaucrats have been moved to tears."

"Veney is 79. Because she lives on $541 a month from Social Security, her world teeters on the brink even on a good day, but now it seems to be collapsing around her. In Buckingham Village, at least she could cope. There's a drugstore and a market and a community center where she volunteers and the mostly Latino clientele call her 'Mama.'"

Thanks to C. P. Zilliacus