RE: CDC and resident capacity building program

[Kanya Dorland <KDorland@keysermarston.com>]

Emery

Housewives, ministers, homeless persons -- I wouldn't discount any of these
potential community players, but the demographics are much broader in
low-income communities. You forgot about the working poor.  There are
several non-profits/community based groups in the Bay Area that specialize
in affordable housing and micro-enterprise development.  While they don't
have a track record in brownfield redevelopment, they are meeting more
pressing sustenance needs in the community.  These non-profits/community
groups have skills and could do even more with more funding.  Since private
corporations/developers are not jumping at the chance to redevelop
brownfields, it's important that community groups have access to capital and
training to redevelop brownfields themselves to benefit their lives and
their community.  More importantly with community groups actively involved
in the brownfield cleanup process, it is more likely that the redevelopment
will benefit community residents.  Given the history of redevelopment in
this country, it's important that community based groups have the
opportunity to participate in the planning process (site selection and final
use).

Kanya Dorland

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Emery Graham [SMTP:"egraham"@ci.wilmington.de.us]
> Sent:	Friday, July 30, 1999 1:02 PM
> To:	cpeo-brownfields@igc.org
> Subject:	Re: CDC and resident capacity building program
> 
> 
> Maybe I don't understand what you mean by the community doing development.
> Maybe
> you could give some examples of what individuals living in a poor
> community
> might be involved in the development process. List the roles that these
> people
> play in the community prior to getting in development and then the roles
> they's
> play in the development process. Housewives, ministers, homeless persons,
> just
> who are you talking about. Tell us about the source of their investment so
> that
> they have an economic stake in the project's outcomes. List a sample of
> the
> types of jobs that the unemployed persons in the community would be able
> to
> fill
> during the projects construction and in the daily operations of " what"
> type of
> long term economic activity locating at the developed sight.
> 
> Nope, I won't sell community people short; but you will have to identify
> the
> community you're talking about. The ones that I've worked with for the
> past 30
> years have to have dedicated champions to carry them through the process;
> professional public servants who find great joy in serving and helping
> economically, educationally, and socially disenfranchised people
> participate,
> for once, in the creation, and capture, of wealth and political power. But
> that's just the beginning; in a capitalistic society there is the constant
> battle of economic survival. How do the people in your community fair on
> this
> point. What processes of human capital development do you employ to
> prepare
> community folk to be ready to operate and maintain the development you
> speak of?
> Real economic development is a ceasless journey, not a destination.
> 
> 
> 
> jrosenthall wrote:
> 
> > Don't sell community people short. Community people have been required
> to be
> > creative for years. Opportunity has been the problem. With the proper
> > resources, community people can make better decisions about their
> > surroundings than others. The government should act as a facilitator and
> > make opportunities available for community people to take advantage of
> all
> > the opportunities and challenges presented by brownfields redevelopment
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Emery Graham <"egraham"@ci.wilmington.de.us>
> > To: <cpeo-brownfields@igc.org>
> > Sent: Friday, July 30, 1999 1:17 PM
> > Subject: Re: CDC and resident capacity building program
> >
> > > Marty,
> > > It's tough enough to get good developers from our graduate and
> > undergraduate
> > > schools. What is it that makes you think that "community" people can
> be
> > taught
> > > to do land development? Do you perceive land development as a
> traditional
> > > "volunteer" activity? I'm confused. It has been one of the glaring
> > > downfalls of
> > > U.S. domestic development policy to expect that a large number of
> poor,
> > > uneducated, undisciplined community folk to do land development in the
> > > economically least desireable places for businesses to invest? This is
> the
> > > very
> > > same irony in that accompanies the poor's involvement in brownfields.
> Do
> > they
> > > have the money, the mind, the motivation to be effectively involved in
> the
> > > process? I don't think so.
> > >
> > > Emery
> > >
> 
> 
>