To the editor:

An affordable housing charity organization has requested a zoning rule change. The change would allow the charity to build two houses on a lot zoned for one house without going through the process that would let neighbors petition against the “double density.”

I live in Brook Creek. It is one of the most affordable, densest neighborhoods in the city. The organization owns dozens of lots in our neighborhood. Yesterday as I was driving home, I passed neighbors’ homemade signs saying “Double Density is Not the Way,” and then I passed professionally printed signs claiming “Smart Density Makes Sense to Me.”

This charitable organization can pay for signs advocating the removal of the democratic rights of one of the poorest, densest neighborhood in the city. This organization has a seat on the Affordable Housing Review Board and paid staff to attend all the planning and commission meetings. They know who to talk to, to get things done. It’s their job.

Most of us in Brook Creek are working multiple jobs, caring for several generations and aren’t politically active. Any time spent writing a letter or speaking up costs us.

Just because an organization creates affordable housing should not give it more rights than my neighborhood. The organization is not elected. It is not a citizen. We are the real people living in our neighborhood. No matter how poor, no matter how politically uninformed, no matter how few of us are able to attend meetings, we still deserve our democratic rights.

Karen Brichoux,

Lawrence