jeremy m. lange

+ projects: - a delicate balance

The Northside community of Chapel Hill, NC has long been the historic African American neighbrohood for the city, housing returning veterans and service workers since the 1920's.

Over the last few years the stability of the neighborhood, and its historic pat, have come under pressure from new city development and the changing face of the area. Old residents pass away, and the homes, once 85% owner occupied, have become 85% rentals.

Photographed for the Independent | June 2010

As the new 10 story Greenbridge development was built, it became a lighting rod for a community and city discussions on development. As it gets ready to open, a look at the people who form the arguements for and against the restructuring of a historic area.

RD Smith has lived in Northside since he built his home after returning from World War II.Pastor Troy Harrison has been working to bring the two sides of the conflict together.
   
CJ Suitt and Kane Smego are members of the Sacrificial Poets, a spoken word group that has protested the Greenbridge development.
   
Belinda Caldwell volunteers at the food program at St. Joseph's chruch, which is across the street from Greenbridge, and has lived in Northside for 40 years.Michelle Cotton Laws is the Chapel Hill head of the NAACP and has spoken out against the development.
     
  
Rob Stephens and Hudson Vaughan are members of UNC Now, a group from UNC- CH that has worked for years in Northside and also healped lead neighborhood members against the development.
   
Delores Bailey runs EmPOWERment, a Northside community entity which tries and help residents retain the land in the neighborhood.Dela Pollack is a professor from UNC-CH who helped start university outreach in Northside and has also spearheaded UNC Now, a group of Northside residents and UNC students and faculty who spoke out early against Greenbridge.
   
David Mason Jr. grew up in Northside and his uncle Charlie Mason ran the supper club and motel in the neighborhood throughout the 60's, when James Brown played and stayed in both.Delaine Burnette Ingram is the owner of Delaine's House of Beauty, which is located 2 doors down on Graham Street from Greenbridge. She hopes the new development will bring customers to her store and that the communication between Northside resident and the new occupants of Greenbridge will help heal the rift between the two groups.
     
  
Gladys Pendergraph runs the food program of Saint Joseph's Church, which is across the street from the Greenbridge Project.Nate Davis runs the historic Hargraves community center near the development site and grew up in Northside.
   
Tim Toben and Frank Phoenix are two of the main developers behind Greenbridge.
   
Velma Perry has lived in Northside for her entire life and in the home her father built for the last 89. Tim Ross is giving up his house nearby the development site to move into a smaller space at Greenbridge with the hope of decreasing his carbon footprint.