By K. Michelle Moran
C & G Staff Writer

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — Chanting rallying calls like “Bailout the people, not the banks” and “Justice for Belva,” several dozen protesters braved a blustery day for roughly an hour-long picket in front of Wachovia Securities on Mack Sept. 29.

Organized by Jobs with Justice, the Moratorium Now! Coalition and the Detroit Metropolitan Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues, the protest concentrated on the case of East English Village homeowner Belva Davis while also drawing attention to the larger issue of mortgage foreclosures.

Davis, who lives on Bishop in Detroit, fell behind on her mortgage payments after she lost her job as a program manager for the Detroit Empowerment Zone Corporation. She found part-time work as a substitute teacher and a printing company representative, but her income dropped substantially. After getting a new job last October, she was finally able to resume her payments, but she said despite working with a housing counselor, her mortgage servicer — Palm Beach, Fla.-based Ocwen Financial, which is affiliated with Wells Fargo/Wachovia — refused to modify her loan, even though the company reportedly received almost $700 million from President Barack Obama’s administration for the Home Affordable Modification Program.

Davis and her attorney have been in and out of court in an effort to block attempts to foreclose on the home she’s spent so much time and effort decorating and updating.

The Rev. Edwin Rowe of Central United Methodist Church in Detroit, who’s a member of the Detroit Metropolitan Committee on Worker Issues, said 36th District Court in Detroit “has become a foreclosure court.”

“It’s a legal and it’s a moral issue,” Rowe said, calling upon fellow religious leaders to take up this cause. “The people are paying the price for this economic crisis. We have neighborhoods even in Grosse Pointe where there are foreclosed homes. Everyone loses.”

Davis’ neighbors are just as passionate about her plight, fearing another vacant home that will be pillaged by thieves and vandals, only to plummet in value and drag down housing values in the tight-knit eastside Detroit community.

“Belva is a good neighbor to the people of East English Village … and we support her right to stay in the community,” said Abayomi Azikiwe of the Moratorium Now! Coalition. “She’s an asset to the community. She’s an asset to the city of Detroit. She’s an asset to the state. She wants to do the right thing. It’s the banks that don’t want to do the right thing.”

Nancy Brigham, one of the residents of East English Village who took part in the demonstration, said they’re seeing people who are unemployed for a short span of time who are getting foreclosed on and evicted, despite the homeowners’ desire to make payment arrangements and stay in their homes.

“It’s a fantastic neighborhood,” said Brigham of her integrated community. “But suddenly your neighbor is being ruined. … I can’t believe the government allowed (the mortgage institutions) to take all that money without requiring them (to modify loans). They’re just destroying our neighborhood, and we can never rebuild what they’ve destroyed.”

Another protester, Dick Olson of Grosse Pointe Park, agreed that some of the federal bailout money “was supposed to be used to help people like Belva out.”

Jan Scullen of Grosse Pointe Park, one of the protesters, wondered if the bank executives “would be more receptive” to Davis’ case if they lived on her block.

“The people have been totally run over by the banks and the insurance companies, and the government has apparently not set any (guidelines) for the reasonable restructure of their mortgages, so it’s been left to grass-roots organizations like you see here, who are only interested in justice and fairness,” said another protester, Lotus Page of Grosse Pointe City.

A few of the passing motorists on Mack heeded a sign requesting their support by honking their horns.

When asked to comment on the protest, a Wachovia Securities employee said the Woods office was not the bank. A male employee who came to the office’s locked door would not comment and closed the door.

Police reported no problems with the protest, although one angry passing motorist stopped on Mack in front of Wachovia, blocking a lane of traffic for several minutes as he argued that the protesters should be objecting to British Petroleum and the Lockerbie bombing instead. The man said he owned property in Grosse Pointe Shores but refused to identify himself. He was eventually asked to move his vehicle by a Woods traffic enforcement officer.

“It was a peaceful protest with total cooperation by the people,” Woods Public Safety Director Michael Makowski said. “(The demonstrators) didn’t give us any problems.”

You can reach Staff Writer K. Michelle Moran at kmoran@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1047.