Eviction Defense on Ravenwood Update and Tomorrow's Action

Tommorrow's action: Take Back the Land Rochester and Lennon-Griffin family are calling for a protest between 9:45am-10:30am at 9 Ravenwood Avenue demanding the property managers to stop the move, and for Fannie Mae to withdraw the eviction and negotiate a reasonable settlement so the Lennon-Griffin family can stay in their home. The Lennon-Griffin family has been notified that their belongings will be forcibly taken out of their homes tomorrow at 10:00am.

Rochester Protest Update
Today (Monday March 14, 2011), was an inspiring display of community support as close to 80 neighbors and community members mobilized to defend the Lennon-Griffin family from eviction. Many protesters stayed from Noon to 5pm, the latest time an eviction can be carried out in the State of New York. Although the eviction was scheduled for Monday, the City Marshall called off the eviction the day, presumably because of the community support and media attention today's protest generated. Lennon-Griffin family has their home for another night.

Philadelphia Protest Update
Protesters win signs marched into the Northeast Fannie Mae corporate headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania demanding that Fannie Mae immediately withdraw the eviction. Presumably embarrassed by the publicity of their inhumane treatment of the Lennon-Griffin family and stalling for time, Fannie Mae claimed that they didn't own 9 Ravenwood, Rochester, NY 14619. However, all records clearly show that Fannie Mae owns the house and petitioned for the family's eviction last month. Housing advocates in Philadelphia have since provided Fannie Mae the relevant documents and are waiting for a response.

Next Steps
Today's victory is only temporary as although the Lennon-Griffin family remains in their home, neither Fannie Mae nor Rochester City Court has withdrawn the eviction. That means we have to persist until the eviction is withdrawn and family securely has their home again. We have filed for a temporary injunction to stop the eviction in the Rochester City Court and are still waiting to hear back on the ruling. The Lennon-Griffin family have been notified that the movers will be coming to move out their belongings out tomorrow morning at 10am. We are calling for a protest between 9:45am-10:30am at 9 Ravenwood Avenue calling on the property mangers to stop the move, and for Fannie Mae to withdraw the eviction and negotiate a reasonable settlement so the Lennon-Griffin family can stay in their home.

Original Call to Action

he Lennon-Griffin family with the support of Take Back the Land Rochester is calling for nonviolent civil disobedience to block the impending eviction of their family from their longtime home. We will need all the support we can get from the community.

For the last 7 years Catherine Lennon and her family of 11 have lived at 9 Ravenwood. After Catherine’s husband died of cancer, their now defunct mortgage lender and government bailout recipient, Countrywide refused to renegotiate the mortgage, sending the family’s house into foreclosure. In 2010, Countrywide sold the house to Fannie Mae and now Fannie is seeking to evict a family of 11 (including 7 children ages 2 to 11) on Monday. The family has no place to go and one of Catherine's daughters and her two year-old grandson have already moved into a homeless shelter in preparation for the worst.

The Lennon-Griffin family and Take Back the Land Rochester are calling on Fannie Mae to immediately suspend the eviction and renegotiate a reasonable settlement where the longtime residents can stay in their home and prevent the disintegration of entire family to homelessness.

Take Back the Land Rochester believes that housing is a human right and a that family's right to quality housing is more basic than a corporation's right to make a profit. Take Back the Land Rochester is calling on Bank of America (the corporation that absorbed Countrywide) and Fannie Mae to be accountable to the public that spent billions of dollars to bailout these banks.

For more information contact Take Back the Land Rochester at takebackroc@riseup.net or (585) 653-8362.
For updates see http://tackbackroc.org, http://facebook.com/takebackroc, http://twitter.com/takebackroc