Bracing for redevelopment

Some Puerto Rican neighborhoods, such as ‘Vietnam,’ fear displacement post-hurricane

Carmen Torres has fought off overreaching city officials, gentrification and the punishing winds of Hurricane Maria. ❚ As Puerto Rico approaches the one-year anniversary of the storm’s landfall, Torres and others brace for a new adversary: developers emboldened by Maria’s destruction and out to reshape some of the island’s most vulnerable – and desirable – neighborhoods, including this one named “Vietnam” for the pitched battles it’s had with police over the years. “We’re getting together and will keep fighting for Vietnam,” Tor-

res, 61, said. “They’d like to remove us one way or another.”

As post-Maria Puerto Rico shifts from recovery to long-term rebuilding, some of the island’s most vulnerable neighborhoods anticipate a renewed push from developers and local officials to target their prime properties and displace residents.

Neighborhoods such as Vietnam in Guaynabo and Caño Martin Peña and Rio Pedras in San Juan have fought off gentrification for decades, and activists said they expect a renewed effort post-Maria.

Maria, a Category 4 storm with winds of more than 155 mph, raked across Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, causing widespread damage across the island, crippling infrastructure and leading to about 3,000 deaths.

Estrella Santiago, environmental affairs manager at Proyecto ENLACE, a group advocating for Caño Martin Peña, said organizers hope federal disaster funds could be used to dredge a 4mile-long polluted channel that runs through the neighborhood – something residents have long lobbied for.

But Caño Martin Peña, about 5 miles south of Old San Juan, is more vulnerable to redevelopment and relocation of its residents as federal disaster dollars pour into the island, Santiago said.

Omar Marrero, executive director of the Puerto Rico Central Recovery and Reconstruction Office, created to coordinate federal funding for post-Maria recovery, said federal disaster dollars will be used to rebuild homes and improve economic stability in neighborhoods, not displace residents.

Those assurances do little to quell residents’ fears in places such as Vietnam, a low-income waterfront community about 5 miles from San Juan’s glittering beach resorts with a long history of fighting over property rights.

Residents relocating to the area in the 1960s and ’70s built makeshift shacks along the southern banks of San Juan Bay.

They were condemned and torn down by municipal police, said Gabriel Miranda, a filmmaker who made a documentary on the neighborhood’s struggles titled “Vietnam, Puerto Rico.”

Miranda said he fears more empty lots could be on the way after Maria.

Victor Torres, 77, has lived the past 50 years in Vietnam.

He said he remembers the days when residents would leave for work in the morning and return to bulldozed homes.

About four years ago, a municipal official visited his home on the shores of the bay to offer him $128,000 for his property.

He chased him off with a machete, Torres said.

He and his wife, Maria, raised five children in the home, who in turn gave them 13 grandchildren and 32 greatgrandchildren, he said.

“This has sentimental value,” Torres said. “You can’t put a dollar price on this.”

PHOTOS BY RICK JERVIS/USA TODAY Vietnam, a low-income fishing neighborhood on the banks of San Juan Bay, has fought off redevelopment and was battered by Hurricane Maria.

Carmen Torres, 61, says she’ll continue to fight for Vietnam.

RICK JERVIS/USA TODAY Gabriel Miranda made a documentary titled “Vietnam, Puerto Rico,” detailing the struggles the neighborhood has endured.