Long-Time Resident Stands Up for Pillsbury Commons

has spent nearly 60 years as a Richfield resident and just as long as a community activist and working in the social services industry.

With being loud and proud in their opposition, DeSantis has made trips to the microphone during Richfield City Council public forum and recently wrote a lengthy letter to the city in an attempt to squash "

Richfield Commoners United, a neighborhood group that has formed against the development, also goes by Richfield SOS (Save Our Suburb). DeSantis argues the group's circulars making their way through the city are "examples of fear mongering, distortions, innuendos, misinformation, wild and misguided speculation, falsehoods and confusion to name some."

He also stated the families who would be living in the complex are working to earn a living just like anybody else in the neighborhood and workforce families should stop being referred to as "low-income."

"The SOS group consistently refers to the potential Pillsbury Commons residents as 'low-income' with the demeanor that they are inferior, the “scum” of the earth, and the lowest of the lowest and taking advantage of various forms of public assistance," DeSantis wrote in his letter to the city. "Some even say the entire Pillsbury Commons will become a Section 8 public housing project. This is absolutely hysteria out of control."

DeSantis also believes the project would allow workforce families to get their piece of the American Dream.

"The American Dream isn't limited to a single-family home," Camillo wrote. "What is sad about all this is the fact that Richfield is essentially 99% community, a work force community and we are squabbing over something everybody needs, a place to live."

DeSantis closed his letter with a couple questions for people to mull over:

"We often hear words like justice, equality, fairness, respect, opportunity, family values and children are our future," he wrote. "Are these universal values or selective values? Are we willing to apply them to the potential Pillsbury Commons families as well?"

DeSantis' full letter to the City of Richfield is attached to this article as a PDF.

Tell us how you feel about the project in the comments section below.

Sign up for the Richfield Patch newsletter!