The Riverside Press, May 2, 2021, Knolls Crescent bank looks to close — for real this time
It’s always a pleasant surprise when grassroots community activism actually gets the attention of those in power and leads to something positive. The residents of Knolls Crescent got a taste of this last year when they successfully delayed the closing of their local Chase Bank branch.
Commercial banks are closing branches around the country — more than 3,300 last year alone, a record high. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition says 14 percent of all operational U.S. bank branches closed between 2008 and 2020.
Last year’s coronavirus pandemic hasn’t helped keep those branches open, especially after it pushed even some technological stragglers to bank online instead. Isolated urban neighborhoods like Knolls Crescent as well as small rural towns are being hit the hardest by branch closures.
