Maybe we should create volunteer Garden Corps or Yard Corps efforts to help overwhelmed people care for their yards

A house with an unruly front yard on 200 South in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake has so many homeowners who go out of their way to do attractive plantings.  

I don't know what their backyards look like, but some front yards are just stunning.  While others are just "merely" very nice.

I do know it's a ton of work.  At our DC house, for DC the backyard was big, not quite 50 feet wide and 90 feet long, with a garage.

It was pretty big for us.  When we bought, the defining element were two huge trees with such a great canopy that between them was a "living room" that was so thick that while not quite impervious to rain, provided a lot of protection.

OTOH, there was so much shade, we couldn't grow vegetables in the back, so we did in our front yard, which being smaller, was easier to maintain.  

We took up the Square Foot Gardening method, where you build your own growing medium, 1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite/perlite, 1/3 five different types of compost.

The first year we bought all the different kinds locally.  And it was expensive. 

Another year we found mushroom compost being sold at a farmers market in Richmond which was pretty cool.  We would call Veteran Compost for a load, but they never called back.  

Did you know that from yard waste, Montgomery County, technically the Maryland Environmental Service, makes a compost called LeafGro, like how Milwaukee's sewer socialists created Milorganite?

We liked to travel to places in Pennsylvania like Lancaster and rented a car to do so.  

I realized if we stopped at a farm store out there and bought our year's worth of compost, the savings would pay for most of trip!  

There are farm stores in the DC region, but I always liked the ones in Lancaster County.

The first year I pulled all kinds of "weeds" from the beds.  At a tour of the Winterthur House and Gardens, as we were being shuttled up to the house, the driver said "And you might think that the lawn is full of weeds.  No, those are native plants, flowering."

I realized what I had been doing was pulling up natives.  

Fortunately, the plant seeds were hardy and they came back.  The beds looked a bit unruly, but were beautiful.

Over the years we added more native plants, based on the US Fish and Wildlife publication Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  

My biggest lesson was to sit back, observe and learn from the yard, from what previous owners had done.  I still had the problem of buying stuff that I wouldn't get around to planting, like dahlias, but we planted a bunch of stuff.

Another lesson.  Apparently the realtor in prepping the house for sale before we bought, planted 3 azaleas on each side of the entry to the front door.  One one side, two kept dying off.  I replanted them twice.  They died.  I finally figured out I should plant something else...

Blue mistflower.

We'd go to area plant sales to shop for them.  Not just to sales elsewhere as the local Ace Hardware stores in Old Town Takoma Park and Petworth were also a good source.

We added a bird bath to the back yard (we bought an older home appropriate style from the catalog at a store in Alexandria; I can't remember the name.  We found it by going to a nearby French restaurant, which closed many years ago).

I learned that more than birds needed water.  I failed to get the photo, but once there was an inchworm walking around the rim, bees drinking water, and if I remember correctly, a grasshopper or butterfly.

It made a huge difference for birds.

Sadly, the two trees, one a Willow Oak, the other a Maple, reached the end of their useful lives and died. But I let a bunch of Willow Oak seedlings grow.  Because of a variety of circumstances it's been 7 years since I've been back and I want to see their progression.  Even by the time we moved out west a number of saplings were taller than me.

Back when the Willow Oak was still alive, but the Maple had died.  An easter egg hunt.

We used to hold a brunch-y thing and an Easter egg hunt for the neighbor kids and friends we met through them.  It was always a good time.

Another thing we discovered the second year is wild blackberries along the back fence.  We got some yield, but after awhile, the birds and squirrels won out. 

I realized it was our responsibility to  recognize that fauna have a right to the food too.

We planted some blueberries but they never really took, and birds got most.  We did have mint growing pretty profusely.  Rosemary was off and on.  The bay leaf tree was so so.  We grew lemongrass one year, garlic another--it's planted in the fall, but I thought the work required was greater than the cost of buying, although if you planted exotic varieties it'd be different.  We learned the best way to grow basil was in a container on the front porch, so it got some shade and didn't bolt early.

In parts of Ward 4, DC has planted serviceberry bushes in the planting strips on some streets.  With the little girls next door we would pick them and make pie.

It took a year or so of my talking about it, but the impetus was Suzanne and we finally built a compost bin, of pallets that we scavenged from the industrial road behind the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Takoma.  (Now used pallets cost a lot.)  We used plans from Montgomery County.  DC didn't offer an equivalent resource.

Before we composted formally, I collected leaves with a leaf machine (electric, like our mower).  We had so many, even though the recommendations today are to leave them be.  The leaf sucker makes them into little bits.  I just piled them against the bad soil by our garage and they made beautiful leaf mold and improved the soil.

(For the bin, I also learned to stock up on leaves in the fall, to be able to use them the rest of the year.  We didn't "clean up" grass clippings, just left them. And sometimes I would snag a neighbor's bag of grass clippings to speed up the heat in the compost bin--but only later I realized they might use fertilizer, put junk in the bags too, etc.)

Our bins after I pulled out some reserved leaves.

As the wood degraded over the years, we replaced it with plastic bins.  

Regardless of address, the County sanitation and recycling booth at the Montgomery County Agriculture Fair gives them out for free, and that's where we got them.  Going to the Ag Fair is fun regardless--sometimes we'd take the neighbor kids who loved the circus rides.  

Arlington has one too, but it's fun in a different way.  We never managed to go to the Maryland State Fair.

Separately, we had a pile for twigs and such.  We had tons but I never wanted to pay to compost them at the place in Montgomery County that will take them.  We just let them degrade, and they did.

I always meant to get a chipper but we wanted an electric one and at the time they weren't robust enough.  One of my recommendations years ago on the DC Sustainability Plan was for the creation of a community chipper (and log splitting) program.  But they'd degrade.

Our house has a walkout basement, which is a super cool feature.  While this is big for DC, as you go west, those houses and yards are even bigger.  But I do know of a house within easy walking distance of Takoma Metrorail Station that is one acre!

We had butternut squash grow out of the compost pile one year (I wasn't too religious about turning) and tomatoes another.  

When we lost our front tree due to waterlogged roots and it came down, after weeks of heavy rain, I took out all the compost and put it in there.  More than 30 tomato and cilantro plants took root.

I still regret not getting off my ass and planting asparagus.  Once it takes it grows for decades.

The worst thing of all was dealing with plants that were out of control.  We never could get out all the ivy that had been planted years ago, and Virginia creeper.  We had a Rose of Sharon tree that probably grew from seed, and Suzanne realized it was enveloped by vines, and I had to go in and delicately take them all out.

We also solved an interesting mystery.  One bluestone paver at the bottom of the stairs to the back from the front.  And another by the rear patio entry.  She figured out that the other stones must have been buried by subsequent growth.  They were.  I had a terrible backache that day, but we started digging out and raising the stones, some of which were quite heavy.  And later I realized my back pain was gone, from the work of digging and stretching.

Oops, the Takoma Park House Tour was last weekend.  They are fun to go on, also to volunteer, and then you get to go see the houses for free.

I called our yard rustic.  

But the amazing thing was how important that rusticity was to attracting fauna.  We had birds of various types, insects including butterflies and fireflies.  And yes, raccoons from time to time.  

Once a champagne colored (beige) skunk walked through the back yard.  Other neighbors experienced deer which fortunately never happened to us.  (Over the years I rescued raccoons from our garage and a neighbor's waste bin.)

My final lesson was rustic versus manicured made a huge difference.  

When we would go on the Takoma Historic House Tour the super manicured yards were always barren of birds and insects (fauna).  I'd take rustic over manicured any day.

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Sharon Schueler (left), Leif Dormsjo and Al Foxx clear weeds, dirt and grass in a courtyard at Calverton Middle School in Baltimore. (Baltime Sun photo by Kim Hairston).  This photo is from 2005.  Ironically, a decade later, Mr. Dormsjo served as the director of the DC Department of Transportation.

Volunteerism. So how does all this relate to the Garden Corps idea?  Also see with out of date links, "National Volunteer Week: April 16th-22nd," from 2023.

I saw that yard while taking photos yesterday, and it made me realize that like programs that help seniors and others with housing maintenance and repair ("A case in Gloucester, Massachusetts as an illustration of the need for systematic neighborhood monitoring and stabilization initiatives: Part 4 (the Curcuru Family)"), sometimes people just need help with their yards.

Photo from AthensNow, "My Neighbor’s Yard Is Overgrown/Unkempt/Has Junk Piled Up. What Can I Do?."

There are some programs where people will let others garden in their yards.  Or glean fruit from trees.  There is the Master Gardener training program sponsored by the Agricultural Extension Service in every state.  Some counties have urban oriented MG programs.   

Montgomery County's program often has people tabling at libraries and other places for advice and workshops. Some places offer a Master Composter training program.  Arlington County, Virginia has EcoAmbassadors focused on climate change issues.

Many parks agencies sponsor weed pulling of invasives and planting natives in their place. 

Technically illegal, I would do guerilla tree branch trimming on the route to and from the bus stop closest to our house.  

What about extending these kinds of program to yard help?

The Brookland neighborhood has the Greater Brookland Garden Club, and has for many years.  Members have monthly "parties" at houses and often are called upon to give advice.  

The group sponsors a Welcome to Brookland gateway sign with a planting bed.  

Decades ago, Savannah had a small block grants program that people could use for neighborhood projects like greenspace ("Enabling Productive Neighborhoods: The Role of a New Kind of Leader").

Asset-Based Community Development Manuals:

-- Leading by Stepping Back: A Guide for City Officials on Building Neighborhood Capacity, 
-- City-Sponsored Community Building: Savannah’s Grants for Blocks Story, 

H&R Block sponsors a similar program available nationwide.

San Francisco has created a variation of a neighborhood service district--they have those too, but unlike a business improvement district, it includes residential property as payers into the district--called a Green Benefits District (something that I will write a separate entry about).  

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But it's an idea.  I don't have the capacity or physicality to create it myself.  However, it could be a program of a revitalized Garden Center at Sugar House Park.

Rayful Edmond's death reminds me of my introduction to Washington, DC

The Post reported, "Inside the sudden death and complex legacy of an ex-D.C. drug kingpin," that Rayful Edmond, a kingpin during the crack cocaine days of the late 1980s and early 1990s, has died.  (Also see "Running Low on Rayful," Washington City Paper.)

Besides all the deaths, in another way, his is a tragic story, because clearly he had the smarts to be a very successful businessman.

... authorities say that in the 1980s, he commanded a ruthless crack cocaine operation, raking in an estimated $2 million a week and fueling a deadly epidemic that plunged D.C. into the national consciousness as America’s murder capital. 

The sudden death stunned Edmond’s family and attorneys, who have said that although he was once a prolific salesman of drugs, he claimed not to have used any himself. And his demise elicited sharply divergent reactions in D.C., a place that prides itself on second chances. To many who investigated and prosecuted him, Edmond was a larger-than-life criminal who profited from death and addiction in the city. 

To some who considered him a friend and neighbor, he was a local legend whose charisma helped build an empire, and who was known to cover rent, food and medicine for those in need. “He may have been convicted of serious crimes, but Rayful’s only intention in life was to be able to help people,” said Tiffani Collins, one of Edmond’s attorneys. “Sometimes people go about giving that help the wrong way, but there is no doubt in my mind he would have wanted his life to be a lesson for anyone to benefit from it.”

... The nightly crossfire among street crews guarding their turf — and profits — helped to sharply drive up D.C.’s annual homicide toll in the late 1980s and early 1990s, peaking at nearly 500, almost double the rate in 2023. Although Edmond was never convicted of a violent crime, authorities say he was responsible for hundreds of deaths, from murders to overdoses. 

When I first came to DC, it was in 1987, and I wanted to live in the city as opposed to the suburbs.  I lived in Ann Arbor--a city--before the move, and in Detroit off and on until I was 12, and then the suburbs for 6 years.

Then, not only was I a knee jerk liberal but mostly "young and dumb," not really ready to live in the 'hood.  I joke that I wish that Elijah Anderson's books Streetwise and Code of the Street had been already published, so I could have been better prepared!

Flicker photo by Ted Eytan.

Why this matters is we lived a few blocks away from his main distribution area, a set of two one way streets near Florida Avenue and today's thriving Union Market, Morton Place and Orleans Place. 

One thing I learned from this is that one way streets make it easier to make and hide drug transactions.  (In the H Street neighborhood, G Street and another pair of one way streets had similar problems.)

On Thursday morning, the blocks of Morton Place and Orleans Place NE that were once the epicenter of Edmond’s operation were quiet, full of well-kept rowhouses with fallen yellow ginkgo leaves blanketing the sidewalk. 

Then an open-air drug market called “The Strip,” Edmond’s employees once stashed drugs in abandoned houses here and sold them at a clip of 30 transactions a minute. High-rise apartment buildings have popped up in the surrounding blocks in recent years, next to Union Market, a foodie’s paradise serving everything from bubble tea to Mexican-Korean fusion.

Now Redfin lists transactions on those streets from the high 600s to over one million.

I thought the area was a good place to live because even though H Street NE was riot scarred, it was close to Union Station, Downtown, and Capitol Hill-US Capitol.  Then again, 30 people were murdered in the area in our first 18 months, and we had a lot of problems, serious marriage-breakup problems, with crime.

I moved from knee jerk liberal to what I called an "inner city progressive" whose liberal tendencies were mediated by the reality of the local conditions and governance.  (Still it was about a decade before I actually got off my ass and got involved, because I believed if I didn't the area would continue to languish--good timing since trends shifted favoring urban living).

Loree Murray was an activist involved in many issues, including DC statehood.

When I did get involved, one of the first organizations was Near Northeast Citizens Against Crime and Drugs, founded by a lady who lived around the corner from the mayhem ("A Woman Who Won't Sit Still From It," "Fought D.C. Cocaine Epidemic," Post) and police service area meetings--one of the problems we had is the area was split between two different police precincts creating problems of coordination.

Near Northeast Citizens Against Crime and Drugs was exactly the kind of community response and organizing initiative that Patrick Sharkey discusses in Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence as why we had the crime drop in the 2000s, nationally, and in DC.

A nearby apartment building, post-reproduction of space, was named in the honor of the founder of the group, Loree Murray.

FWIW, this area gave me another lesson, my lodestone in revitalization, in that investments in transit infrastructure in the right places has the fastest ROI, when the infill NoMA Red Line subway station opened in 2004 (case study) which brought about a huge influx in new residents.

Cook County property taxes

Counties across the US are mostly funded by property taxes.  If communities within the county decline, and/or costs continue to go up, a county's revenue base is threatened.  Cook County, Illinois, which encapsulates Chicago, has had property tax issues for some time.

High property taxes, higher taxes proportionately on properties owned by lower income households, graft in property tax appeals ("Powerful Chicago official charged with corruption," "County property tax official running for sixth term rakes in cash from appeals industry," Chicago Tribune), and increased number of vacant properties not paying taxes are just some of the issues.

Crain's Chicago Business has an article, Cook County's property tax system is complex and burdensome. Here’s how it can be fixed," listing 7 policy options.

1. Create circuit breakers 
2. Get vacant properties back on the tax roll
3. Increase assessment frequency
4. Reduce government spending
5. Raise other taxes
6. Implement a 'millionaire tax'
7. Address appeals 

I didn't think the solutions were particularly amazing.  Circuit breakers are homestead tax credits.  The article focused on amounts that were pretty minimal.  Some areas of the county have as low as 50% collection rates, because of the high number of vacant properties.  

The County has a lot of different agencies funded in large part by property taxes, and the article suggests perhaps some could be consolidated.

The County has also initiated a reinvestment plan in some of the communities with lagging collection rates, but it's had minimal impact--one property! (Transforming Places).

Once again, this reminded me of the pathbreaking program in Hennepin County, Minnesota, where declines in property tax assessments in Minneapolis, then a declining city, were increasingly worrisome, with potential significant worse outcomes in the future.

Hennepin did an analysis of Minneapolis, and identified the factors that separated the stable neighborhoods from those that were declining.  They created a revitalization program focused on Minneapolis, to turn declining neighborhoods into successful and stable ones.  This journal article, 

"A COUNTY AND ITS CITIES: THE IMPACT OF HENNEPIN COMMUNITY WORKS," Journal of Urban Affairs (2006), describes the program.  What they found is that housing in areas by parks, rivers, and lakes retained the most value.

Faced in the nineties with a growing imbalance between the declining prosperity of its core city (Minneapolis) and suburban municipalities, Hennepin County, Minnesota, pioneered a different path. In 1994, Hennepin County launched an urban redevelopment program, “Hennepin Community Works” (hereafter HCW) that clearly supplemented the more common models of county activity. HCW devised an entirely new redevelopment role for the county, and has consequently had a major impact on Minneapolis and its suburbs. 

Since its inception, Hennepin County commissioners have committed close to $200 million of infrastructure spending into a targeted redevelopment program with five goals: (1) to enhance the tax base; (2) to reshape troubled neighborhoods; (3) to improve transportation within the county; (4) to protect and develop green space; and (5) to create new jobs. While much of the U.S. urban past since the eighties has featured decreasing levels of public sector funding and involvement with urban affairs, Hennepin County voluntarily took on substantial additional financial and political commitments with this program

... HCW began here in 1994 as a public works program initially intended to address declining property values. Since then, HCW has significantly transformed portions of the county through major housing, transportation, parks, and environmental restoration investments. Through 2008, HCW launched nineteen projects, totaling $197.5 million in investments.

Later it was matched by a couple of complementary reinvestment initiatives by Minneapolis, which furthered the impact of HCW and now Minneapolis is thriving.

I have a set of entries on suggesting revitalization programs for East County Montgomery County, Maryland, Pontiac Michigan, and St. Louis.

As I stated in the article about Pontiac, I am embarrassed that as a former resident of Oakland County, it never occurred to me that one of the wealthiest counties in the US should have created a specific revitalization program for Pontiac.  Although the county was one of the first in the US, to create a Main Street commercial district revitalization program to support the various smaller towns across the country.

-- St. Louis: what would I recommend for a comprehensive revitalization program? | Part 1: Overview and Theoretical Foundations," 2021
-- "St. Louis: what would I recommend for a comprehensive revitalization program? | Part 2: Implementation Approach and Levers," 2021
-- "Revisiting St. Louis revitalization planning in the face of population shrinkage," 2023

-- "Pontiac Michigan: a lagging African American city in one of the nation's wealthiest counties," 2022

-- "Social urbanism and equity planning as a way to address crime, violence, and persistent poverty: (not in) DC," 2021 

-- "East County, Montgomery County, Maryland: Council redistricting spurs ideas for revitalization | Part 1 -- Overview," 2021

Cook County needs a similar program.  The current program, which has led to the rehabilitation of one property, is obviously a failure.  But a quick Google search shows a number of revitalization programs.  Obviously, they need to focus, while also address the property tax conundrum.

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In DC, my experience was that additions to transit infrastructure done right had the most and fastest impact on neighborhood revitalization.  Chicago and Cook County, though served by heavy rail and bus transit, as well as commuter rail service, like most everywhere, still has opportunities for transit improvement, and that should be leveraged as part of a "Cook County Works" program.

DC Public Safety Summit, Wednesday May 10th, 9am

I'm the first to say I don't know how to reduce violent crime other than ensuring police time is spent in the areas with the most crime, and that crimes involving gun possession be prosecuted diligently.

Recently, DC Police Chief Robert Contee said that the average person arrested for homicide in the city has been arrested 11 times before.  Similarly, homicide victims have a high rate of involvement with the criminal justice system.  It's pretty clear that a small number of people are responsible for a lot of crime.

Charlie has called our attention to the DC Crime Facts e-letter, and the site provides a lot of analysis about crime in the city.

DCCF has also alerted us to a "public safety summit" tomorrow, convened by Mayor Bowser, and bringing a lot of public officials to the table, with citizens invited.

Wednesday, May 10 at 9:00 a.m. 
District Emergency Operations Center 1015 Half Street SE, 10th Floor

Officials Attending:

Mayor Muriel Bowser 
Brooke Pinto, Ward 2 Councilmember, Chair, Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety 
Lindsey Appiah, Acting Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice 
Robert J. Contee, III, Chief of Police, Metropolitan Police Department  
Matthew Graves, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia 
Brian Schwalb, Attorney General for the District of Columbia 
Anita Josey-Herring, Chief Judge, DC Superior Court 
Linda Harllee Harper, Executive Director, DC Offices of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and Gun Violence Prevention 
Kristy Love, Executive Director, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council  

It will be broadcast live on the city's cable television channel.

DCCF has a post, "Questions for Mayor Bowser's Public Safety Summit," providing lots of questions to be asked of the public officials.  It's pretty focused and trenchant and worth a read.  

He points out that arrests are down in the most dangerous parts of the city, and that areas of high crime have 300% to 400% more crime and incidents than "safe areas," but safe areas are overstaffed relative to crime.

What about a real Citizen Summit on Crime?  I doubt that much will come of the summit, as it was announced the day before, and there is no posted agenda.  But it also reminds me of something that Mayor Anthony Williams did two or three years running.  They were called Citizen Summits and were designed, theoretically, to get citizen insights into city policy and budget.

They got more publicity, including in the planning press, than they deserved.  I was critical that they were mostly window dressing, but I did attend one, and if they were organized to engage people in substantive ways, they could be very effective.

I would have an agenda, provide "education time" so people can be exposed to best practice insights,  featuring well known academics and other professionals, and go from there.

Academic insight.  Patrick Sharkey has written Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence,  about the pre-covid crime drop and attributed a fair amount of it to citizen participation in community efforts to reduce crime.  

Alex Vitale takes a different tack, focused on overpolicing and criminalization of social issues in End of Policing.  It's provocative and worth reading, although maybe not relevant to the murder and gun problems.

-- "The opportunity to rearticulate public safety delivery keeps being presented: Rochester New York" (2021)

There is the broken windows approach.  

-- "Broken windows/collective efficacy: Baltimore; Newark; Grand Junction, Colorado; Pittsburgh; Albany" (2019)

A lot of academics criticize it, but I think they are missing the point.  BW never really got implemented, instead it was transmogrified into "zero tolerance policing" not community policing and improvement.

-- "George Kelling, co-creator of the "Broken WIndows" thesis, dies" (2019)
-- "The state of "broken windows" versus "problem oriented policing" strategies in 2016: Part 1, theory and practice," 2016
-- "The state of "broken windows" versus "problem oriented policing" strategies in 2016: Part 2, what to do"
-- "Night-time safety: rethinking lighting in the context of a walking community," 2014
-- Crime prevention through environmental design and repeated burglaries at the Naylor Gardens apartment complex," 2013

Herman Goldstein (deceased), wrote a lot about "problem-oriented policing."

And there is a lot of work on "violence interruption."  I go back and forth about it, but there is some potential there.

But basically there needs to be a place-based approach to the most dangerous areas in the city, something I wrote about in terms of equity planning and social urbanism.  

-- "Social urbanism and equity planning as a way to address crime, violence, and persistent poverty: (not in) DC" (2021)
-- "Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisances: Part 3 (like homeless shelters)" (2020)

I think that Mayor Bowser has bobbled the issue for years. And I don't see things changing.

Note that William Bratton's latest book is very good ("Bill Bratton Explains His Ideas of Good Policing," New York Times).

I can't think of a worse idea: nonprofit suggests building homeless shelter in San Diego's Balboa Park

Art map.

San Diego's Balboa Park is a 1200 acre culture and parks complex, including 17 museums, the San Diego Zoo, and a variety of public gardens.  Built to host the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition, later it hosted the 1935–36 California Pacific International Exposition.

With the rise in homelessness, spurred both by a rise in the cost of housing and the pandemic, public camping has increased significantly, and public parks and trails are often used as encampment sites, creating significant problems for many communities, which lack the financial and other resources to build the amount of housing and programs required to fully address the problem.

Posting on the Nextdoor community information system.

Here in Salt Lake City homeless camping in public parks has been a huge problem--at Liberty Park, a bit lesser problem at Fairmont Park. And is a problem at other city parks as well.

I was surprised to see that the Lucky Duck Foundation and separately a City Council member have suggested building tent shelters at Balboa Park, each capable of housing 500 people ("Balboa Park groups oppose proposed homeless shelter, saying it would be a violation of city, state rules," San Diego Union Tribune).

San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn has suggested the Inspiration Point parking lot in Balboa Park could serve as a possible site for a large, safe campground or other homeless services. His proposal has the support of Mayor Todd Gloria, but has not yet had a hearing before the full council.

The philanthropic Lucky Duck Foundation also has suggested the eight-acre lot at Interstate 5 and Park Boulevard as a site for large tented shelters that could accommodate about 500 people.

In planning I talk about its purpose being "designing conflict out" instead of designing a program that from the outset creates ongoing conflict.  

While I know that dealing with homelessness and shelters is more a management and program issue ("Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisances"), I can't think of something worse than putting a homeless shelter in a major park.  Unless there is a major set of programs and services for the patrons, which would limit their hanging out in the park.

The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority outbids Wall Street to buy houses in Cincinnati

Arts and retail focused community development corporations.  In "Revisiting stories: cultural planning and the need for arts-based community development corporations as real estate operators" I argue that to best buy, hold, develop, and maintain arts-related uses you need an arts and culture focused community development corporation (or the city or county government) to act at the city-wide/county scale.  

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the Playhouse Square Development Corporation, and Jubilee Housing of Baltimore (focused on live work housing) are particularly good examples.

In "The SEMAEST Vital Quartier program remains the best model for helping independent retail," I state that SEMAEST in Paris is probably the best example of a city-chartered authority doing this.  Their focus is on maintaining independent retail.

Transit and real estate appreciation.  Transit focused community development corporations.  Similarly, in the face of real estate price increases in response to new transit infrastructure, I've suggested that a CDC could operate similarly, wrt both commercial and residential property, specifically for the Purple Line in Suburban Maryland ("Purple Line Corridor Coalition study: Same Old, Same Old | Gentrification will result from investment in transit infrastructure"). 

Sadly, wrt the Purple Line I first suggested this in 2007.  Fifteen years later, still no action.

Historic preservation.  Same for historic preservation.  The best way to arrest the possible demolition of a property is to buy it.  Having revolving funds and other mechanisms to be able to respond quickly to do so solves the problem ("Saving urban corner stores needs public assistance: Mott's Market on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC ").  

In Cleveland, not so much lately, the Cleveland Restoration Society was a leader in buying properties, sometimes using receivership statutes to cure notorious nuisances, rehabilitating them, and selling them at a loss if necessary, as a stabilization measure. Other preservation groups have done this similarly in places like Macon, Georgia, and Galveston, Texas. 

Serendipity and opportunity. And in my writings on "transformational projects action planning," one of the points about successful wide-scale revitalization programs is that there needs to be serendipity and the ability to seize opportunities as long as they fit within the outline of the master plan ("Why can't the "Bilbao Effect" be reproduced? | Bilbao as an example of Transformational Projects Action Planning").  

1. A commitment to the development and production of a broad, comprehensive, visionary, and detailed revitalization plan/s (Bilbao, Hamburg, Liverpool);
2. the creation of innovative and successful implementation organizations (Bilbao, Hamburg, Liverpool, Helsinki);
3. strong accountability mechanisms that ensure that the critical distance provided by semi-independent implementation organizations isn't taken advantage of in terms of deleterious action;
4. funding to realize the plan;
5. integrated branding and marketing programs to support the realization of the plan (Hamburg, Vienna, Liverpool, Bilbao, Dublin);
6. flexibility and a willingness to take advantage of serendipitous events and opportunities and integrate new projects into the overall planning and implementation framework (Bilbao, Liverpool, Helsinki).
   

Two examples of serendipity come from Bilbao.  First, in getting the Guggenheim Museum to open there, after Graz, Austria rejected their proposal.  Second, once the Museum opened recognizing that in addition to the subway, they need better surface rail transit (tram/streetcar) to serve the Museum District, and they got it running within a few years--one-third of the time it took DC to open a streetcar line.

Bias for action.  I guess this presupposes that the agency is predisposed to act instead of sit around.  I've written "bias for government inaction" is a problem, that government agencies aren't always that proactive, and tend to not have much of "a sense of urgency" when it comes for a need to act.  

Winston Churchill is famous for the quote:

You can always trust America to do the right thing... after she has exhausted all other alternatives.

Now, the bias is to not act, often because of ideological grounds, and an unwillingness to come up with the money for the change, even if the cost of not acting is much more expensive.

Housing market, venture capital and single family housing as rentals.  Since the 2008 Recession, Wall Street venture capital firms have developed large portfolios of single family housing, converting the properties to rental from owner occupied.  This was facilitated by banks wanting to simplify their REO (real estate owned) portfolios created by rampant foreclosures.

Because financiers have quick access to large amounts of capital, they can generally offer better terms than any individual or small company.  This has changed the nature of the real estate market in many communities, especially weaker markets.

A home recently purchased by The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority.Jeff Dean for NPR.

Cincinnati.  The Port Authority in Cincinnati, recognizing that it is chartered as a community development corporation, realized it could step in and compete against venture capital and acquire REO portfolios ("It's harder to buy a house. This city fought back by outbidding corporate landlords," NPR).  From the article:

So when that California company, Raineth Housing, went under, the Port moved to buy up its properties scattered around Cincinnati. It's a first — she doesn't know of any other public agency like hers in the U.S. that's done it — and it's risky.

Brunner says the agency outbid 12 other investors, taking on $14.5 million in debt for those 194 homes. It has since paid $2 million more toward fixing them up.

Because large institutional owners are not usually committed to local communities, they may run the properties poorly (some do, others don't), so local ownership can also be an opportunity to improve the house and stabilize the neighborhood. ...

It's a challenge to fix up homes and keep sales prices low

The Port's purchase price per home averages out to roughly $78,000. But the amount it will sell them for depends on how much it has to spend to fix them up. And once the agency was able to look inside all 194 homes, it was clear many needed a lot more work than expected.

Their intent is to keep the properties as affordable, and that ideally they can sell them to tenants.  But this is complicated by the poor condition of many of the properties.

Conclusion.  The Port Authority in Cincinnati illustrates my points about having a (1) community development corporation or similar entity already created (2) that is ADEQUATELY CAPITALIZED, (3) with the wherewithal to act when important, transformational opportunities are presented.

Project Rehab, University City District, Philadelphia: Best Practice Neighborhood Stabilization Program

In 2020/2021, I wrote a five part series on creating a model framework for systematic neighborhood stabilization, suggesting the creation of a national program comparable to the Main Street commercial district revitalization program, but for neighborhoods/residential property, modeled after a program created in Pennsylvania, called Elm Street.

-- "The need for a "national" neighborhood stabilization program comparable to the Main Street program for commercial districts: Part I (Overall)"
-- "To be successful, local neighborhood stabilization programs need a packaged set of robust remedies: Part 2"
-- "Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisance programs: Part 3 (like homeless shelters)"
-- "A case in Gloucester, Massachusetts as an illustration of the need for systematic neighborhood monitoring and stabilization initiatives: Part 4 (the Curcuru Family)"
-- "Local neighborhood stabilization programs: Part 5 | Adding energy conservation programs, with the PUSH Buffalo Green Development Zone as a model," 2021 

The major point is the framework and ability to implement, but that programs need complementary remedies to be able to act, and organized initiative so that they are able to implement and effect change.

Photo from the first Project Rehab project, in 2012.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has an article, "A ‘Mr. Fixit’ helps West Philly residents and businesses cut through red tape," about the Project Rehab initiative of the University City District business improvement district.  It focuses on addressing problem properties--distressed, vacant, etc.--as a way to "cure nuisances" by assisting the property owner, rather than seizing or demolishing buildings.

It's not a huge program, they've addressed about 5 properties per year since the program's creation in 2011.  That demonstrates not failure, but how time consuming the process can be.

From the website:

While Project Rehab responds to the unique needs of each property owner, the core steps of every project are the same. 

 1. Property Monitoring and Identification UCD uses a variety of methods to monitor problem properties in the district. Staff conduct physical surveys to identify distressed real estate, and seek input from community and civic associations as well as concerned community members. Staff also work closely with the City, making use of information and investigations gathered by the Department of Licenses and Inspections. 

2. Owner Identification Project Rehab then uses a variety of resources to clarify property ownership, which can be challenging to unravel. Staff conducts online research and interviews community organizations, neighbors, and owners’ family members. Project Rehab also partners with government offices such as the Philadelphia Revenue Department, the Records and Deeds Office, the Register of Wills, and Licenses and Inspections to obtain information on owners and their properties. 

3. Defining the Course of Action Once we establish contact with an owner, Project Rehab and the owner develop a course of action for the property, which often entails renovation for eventual personal use, sale, or rental/leasing. Whatever the desired outcome, UCD provides a range of free supports and services to help the owner achieve their goals: 

Financing: Working in partnership with local banking institutions, UCD drafts and develops financing packages for owners who want to finance the rehabilitation of the property. 

Rehabilitation: UCD has developed a list of licensed contractors who are experienced with the rehabilitation of distressed properties. Staff provide support and knowledge to owners throughout the process, helping to obtain all required permits, licenses and inspections. '

Sale: UCD has built a network of realtors who support those owners who decide to sell their property. Zoning: UCD connects owners with local attorneys and community organizations to work through the zoning process. 

Conservatorship: Project Rehab works with 501-4C not-for-profits to utilize Pennsylvania legislation known as the Act 135 Conservatorship Act to redevelop distressed properties with no known owners. 

Along the way, the Project Rehab team is able to deploy outside the box strategies to help each owner achieve their rehabilitation goals, regardless of the issue surrounding the real estate. From helping a family open an estate to untangling title issues to ensuring that owners are well represented while seeking equity development partners, Project Rehab is a guide and support for property owners.

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The UCD is an association so to speak, not a typical business improvement district where property owners in the district are taxed a small amount on the assessed value of the property. Instead property owners in the district pay voluntary amounts.

-- "In University City, a model for a [neighborhood improvement district]," Philadelphia Daily News, 2012

It was pointed out to me that this wasn't altruistic, but a strategy by the nonprofit property owners--University of Philadelphia, Drexel University, Amtrak, etc.--to ward off the idea of taxing nonprofit property owners as a way to generate tax revenues for cities.  Some institutions pay what are called PILOTs, or payments in lieu of taxes.  

--"Proposal to eliminate nonprofit property tax exclusion in Maine," 2015

But some cities, which have significant swathes of property off the tax rolls because of the concentration of nonprofit institutions within their borders, look to tax nonprofits too.  (Note that Ontario doesn't have the kind of tax exemption system we do in the US.  Even the provincial government and nonprofits pay property taxes.)

Separately, Pittsburgh is looking for PILOTs as a way to fund infrastructure improvements ("Pittsburgh City Council proposal would turn to nonprofits for infrastructure funding," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).  

PILOTs are an alternative to an earlier proposal to impose a 1% tax on tuition and medical bills--the city has two major hospital systems and at least two large universities, Carnegie-Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh ("Pittsburgh Councilman Ricky Burgess proposes 1% tax on higher-ed students, medical patients," PTR).

That built on similar proposals, at least for a capitation tax on students, in Providence, Rhode Island.  Providence College was disfavorable ("Student Fee Would Break Bond of Trust").

Community improvement strategies for keeping the property tax base up: Something school systems should think about? | Nesquehoning Pennsylvania

Hennepin Community Works.  I mention quite frequently that Hennepin County, Minnesota created a community improvement program for Minneapolis starting in the late 1980s, because they noticed that with population leakage due to suburban population outmigration, the city's housing stock was depreciating in value, affecting property tax valuations, and therefore property tax revenue.  

They realized that if this continued, it would pose severe economic problems for the county.

They also noticed that the housing that kept its value the best was proximate to high quality amenities such as parks, greenways, and lakes.  This lead them to focus on place-based investments.

Later, Minneapolis developed a couple of complementary programs, and later, the County added light rail transit to the program also.

-- "A County and Its Cities: the Impact of Hennepin Community Works"," Journal of Urban Affairs (2008)

Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania/Panther Valley School District.  The Washington Post has an article, "A closing factory, a booming economy and a town’s search for identity," on the closure of a firefighting truck plant in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania.  

The company was founded in the late 1940s and was family owned, until the death of its founder.  A couple years ago, the company was sold to a private equity firm owning other firefighting equipment manufacturers, and the decision was made to consolidate KME's operations with other facilities, meaning that the plant in Nesquehoning will close in 2022.

The article says the labor market is decent in the area, so it won't matter so much.  But it doesn't discuss the wage rates at the KME plant, or at other employment alternatives in the region.

It mentions that the founder and the company had a strong philanthropic focus on the community, and the importance of the company to the city tax base.

But it also mentions even with the plant, that the community was experiencing disinvestment.  From the article:

The school district also depended on KME for its tax base. The impact of the factory’s closing was still being worked out. 

But the Panther Valley School District was already in trouble. Its six-year college graduation rate was under 12 percent. The district was severely underfunded, despite having the state’s 10th-highest property tax rate, officials said. Now, it was one of several districts suing the state over education funding. 

Even as Panther Valley saw property assessments increase in 2020, Walck said, the amount of property tax revenue going to the schools declined because so many other properties fell into blight. “It’s not a good situation,” Walck said.

This reminds me of the Hennepin County realization.  

Even in communities with relative success--for example, Nesquehoning is a lot better off than Flint ("The real lesson from Flint Michigan is about municipal finance," ) or Pontiac ("Pontiac Michigan: a lagging African American city in one of the nation's wealthiest counties," 2022), cities in Michigan that were once very successful as home to major automobile manufacturing factories, but as those plants shut down, the local economies were devastated--shouldn't they look at property tax assessments and revenues as indicators of community success, and develop programs similar to Hennepin County Works, as a way to ward off economic decline?

Typically, when people look at the property tax-school funding issue, it's more about how communities with lower tax bases underfund their schools by comparison to high tax base communities (The Property TaxSchool Funding Dilemma, Lincoln Land Institute).

But this element is subtly different.  

Oakland County, Michigan: city/township school districts versus county-wide school districts.  Interestingly, when I went to K-12 schools in Michigan, Oakland County then was (and still is) quite wealthy.  School districts are organized mostly by city or township, not the county as is typical in Virginia and Maryland, although some districts might span multiple communities.  

Many were quite wealthy, with many fully enrolled schools.  Although even then, the next door school district was starting to close schools on the edge of its boundaries (one of the schools happened to be close by, even though it wasn't our school district).  

Now, many of the cities that had multiple high schools with burgeoning enrollments have only one school, and many schools at all levels have closed and consolidated.

I wonder though how the tax base has been?  It's probably been reasonably stable, not hurting school district revenues, especially as they've responded to falling enrollments by closing schools.

One advantage of county-scale school districts is the ability to share revenue across a county.  

OTOH, standard models for what schools should look like ("Missing the most important point about closing Clifton School in Fairfax County,"2011; "The bilingual Key Elementary School in Arlington County as another example of the "upsidedownness" of community planning," 2019) means that they might not be making better decisions either.

Conclusion.  School boards in smaller communities these days seem to be more concerned about whether or not to wear masks ("The Topic Of Masks In Schools Is Polarizing Some Parents To The Point Of Violence," NPR), parent involvement ("As School Board Meetings Get Hostile, Some Members Are Calling It Quits," NPR), book banning ("Books are being banned from school libraries. Here's what that does to students," USA Today), and politicization more generally ("How One Governor’s Race Has Channeled National and Local Anger Over Schools," Education Week).

I wonder if they are capable of thinking more broadly about funding and how to invest in schools and communities in order to maintain and improve the property tax base, to protect funding streams?

The building blocks of neighborhood revitalization (reprint from 2005)

For the past few years, I've tried to append in the comments threads on entries of relevant articles, resources, etc., that I've come across since (so long as I remember the article).  While searching for an article to append I comment, I came across this one, from March 2005.  

I didn't blog in earnest til February 2005, so it's one of my earliest entries.  Meaning I've been blogging for almost 17 years.

The book House by House, Block by Block: Rebuilding America's Urban Neighborhoods, by Alexander von Hoffman, details success stories in urban revitalization. According to the book, there are five common threads to stitching a challenged community back together: 

• A sense of place. A community has to see itself as worth saving. It needs a central idea around which people can coalesce - whether it's a history visible in cobbled streets and gaslights, a central church or school about which people who've stayed in the neighborhood have fond memories, or something as simple as a name. 
• A group of tenacious leaders, reflective of the whole community. Reviving neighborhoods need "people with a certain kind of courage - maybe even foolish courage - in the face of devastation," says von Hoffman. That doesn't mean one charismatic leader. It means a broad coalition, including the "usual voices" - activists, religious and political leaders, philanthropists, developers - and voices less commonly heard: members of all the area's major ethnic groups, ordinary citizens who've never been politically active in their lives. 
• A problem, and good conversation about it. Groups start with a shared sense that their community has a problem. They probably don't agree on what that problem is, and they certainly don't agree on what to do about it. So the first step is to facilitate an exchange in which every voice gets heard, every grievance aired. This is a slow process, as everyone who's taken part in such a conversation acknowledges, because fundamentally it's about trust, and trust doesn't happen on a deadline. If participants have the patience to see the process through, however, they almost invariably arrive at a common sense of the problem they're facing - and a common vision of how to tackle it. 
• A sustainable plan, and the people who can implement it. At some point, though, it's time to stop talking and get practical. Community groups that aim for less - rehabbing a single building, constructing a swimming pool, repaving a street - often stop there, having failed to look systemically at what their area needs and what steps might really get them there. 
• Political support. The strongest coalition with the best plan is worthless without political leaders who take it seriously. Realistically, Chrislip says, you can't expect politicians to be behind every new neighborhood initiative that starts up. But the sooner they start coming to meetings, seeing a group's seriousness about change, and being engaged in the process, the better for that neighborhood's future.

Coyotl-Coyote, a 14-foot sculpture done by artist Larry Gonzalez Rivas, is unveiled during the Willits & Sullivan Beautification Project celebration at the intersection of Willits and Sullivan Streets in Santa Ana on Saturday, January 22, 2022. The sculpture is the first to be commissioned by the city’s Arts & Culture Office. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG).

The article I wanted to append is from the Orange County Register, "Santa Ana unveils new sculpture, part of a neighborhood beautification effort," because it's relevant to this series:

-- "The need for a "national" neighborhood stabilization program comparable to the Main Street program for commercial districts: Part I (Overall)," 2020
-- "To be successful, local neighborhood stabilization programs need a packaged set of robust remedies: Part 2," 2020
-- "Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisance programs: Part 3 (like homeless shelters)," 2020
-- "A case in Gloucester, Massachusetts as an illustration of the need for systematic neighborhood monitoring and stabilization initiatives: Part 4 (the Curcuru Family)," 2020
-- "Local neighborhood stabilization programs: Part 5 | Adding energy conservation programs, with the PUSH Buffalo Green Development Zone as a model," 2021 

White Tower, Thessaloniki.  Photo: Herbert Frank, Wikipedia.

Another very interesting article in my email feed yesterday is "Conceiving monument networks through lighting design" (Academic Letters, 2021).  It's relevant to various past entries on lighting as an element of activation and master planning:

-- "Philips Lighting changes name to Signify," 2018
-- "Lighting as an element of urban design and community identity: Cleveland chandelier + Chicago lighting design framework plan design competition," 2014
-- "Night-time safety: rethinking lighting in the context of a walking community," 2014

A case in Gloucester, Massachusetts as an illustration of the need for systematic neighborhood monitoring and stabilization initiatives: Part 4 (the Curcuru Family)

-- "The need for a "national" neighborhood stabilization program comparable to the Main Street program for commercial districts: Part I (Overall)"
-- "To be successful, local neighborhood stabilization programs need a packaged set of robust remedies: Part 2"
-- "Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisance programs: Part 3 (like homeless shelters)"
-- "A case in Gloucester, Massachusetts as an illustration of the need for systematic neighborhood monitoring and stabilization initiatives: Part 4 (the Curcuru Family)"
-- "Local neighborhood stabilization programs: Part 5 | Adding energy conservation programs, with the PUSH Buffalo Green Development Zone as a model," 2021 

Part 1 of this series discusses the need for focused neighborhood stabilization and improvement programs, particularly in weak market neighborhoods. With a proposed model being a reworking of the Main Street commercial district revitalization approach, but for neighborhoods, which the State of Pennsylvania has already done, calling it "Elm Street."

-- Elm Street program, Pennsylvania Downtown Center
-- Elm Street Managers Handbook
-- Chambersburg Elm Street Neighborhood Plan

Part 2 discusses packaging a set of remedies, so the programs can act expeditiously. 

To do that programs need to collect data and information and create maps showing the condition and state of properties, and identify potential solutions, including organizing community volunteer and self help/DIY initiatives such as the "Paint Ypsilanti" initiative that helped residents in the Depot Town neighborhood, when their houses were in need of a new paint job.

Rebuilding Together.  The piece mentioned the Rebuilding Together organization, which has local chapters that assist people without the means to do so to make necessary repairs on their houses.

 I attended their national conference in 2013 ("One element typically ignored in housing policy: helping low income families stay in their homes via repair assistance").

The organization terms April as "National Rebuilding Month" (the organization used to be called "Christmas in April"), and encourages affiliates to focus their service efforts then, culminating in "National Rebuilding Day," held on the last Saturday in April.

A project underway by Rebuilding Together Manchester in Connecticut.  Photo: Bob Kiefer.

Local affiliates may or may not have full time staff, but the bulk of the work is done by volunteers, both amateur and professional.

Funds tend to be a mix of government grants and locally raised donations, depending on the group.
Affiliates with paid staff tend to undertake more projects and do projects throughout the year, rather than just in April.

One focus is the installation of ramps for the disabled, which chapters tend to do all year, not just in April.

Manchester, Connecticut.  

More recently, rather than focusing on one-off projects, some RT chapters have started focusing each year's activity on particular neighborhoods, repairing dozens of houses at the same time, having a multiplicative impact on neighborhoods, going beyond that of a focus on individual houses.

Each year, collectively the chapters repair over 10,000 houses with the involvement of as many as 100,000 volunteers, with an equivalent value of around $100 million.

Neighborhood Housing Services.  In some respects you can argue that RT is a "self-help/DIY" version of the public program Neighborhood Housing Services, a program created by Congress in the 1960s, that many cities adopted to do similar kinds of work.

Through hundreds of programs across the nation, public and/or nonprofit agencies provide grants and other repair and housing rehabilitation services to people in need, mostly using public funds from HUD community block grants.

-- Maryland NHS webpage
-- "Neighborhood Housing Services: A Program with Promise," Vanderbilt Law Review, 1976
-- "Redlining Practices, Racial Resegregation, and Urban Decay: Neighborhood Housing Services as A Viable Alternative," The Urban Lawyer, 1975
-- "Building a Better Neighborhood Housing Partnership," Housing and Society, 2007

The programs may target households in terms of income eligibility as well as specific neighborhoods.  Some programs have energy-related initiatives and/or offer technical assistance workshops on topics such as foreclosure or home buying.

Also, many cities and counties, often in conjunction with senior aging programs, have created focused programs to provide such services to older-aged households.

The note that the Curcuru family received July 20 telling them their house is an “eyesore.” (Photo here and below: Michelle Baran)

The difference between Neighborhood Housing Services and initiatives like Elm Street and Rebuilding Together.  To make clear, while NHS type programs are important, what this series recommends is the support of initiatives that are more directly intertwined with civil society supportive elements.

The difference between the Main Street model and the community development corporation model is that non-professional citizens/residents are incorporated into the organization as members, volunteers, and leaders.

Gloucester, Massachusetts and the Curcuru family.  The Washington Post has an article, "A couple was shamed for their aging house. Hundreds of people stepped in to help spruce it up," about the Curcuru Family in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and how the health and income challenged family hasn't been able to keep up their house in good condition.

The house, long in need of painting, was called out as an eyesore in an anonymous missive.  Once this was disclosed in a Facebook post, the family received many offers of help and the house will be repainted.

Obviously, the house needs to be painted. Anyone can see that's the case.

But the state of disrepair should have been seen as an indicator of the need for help, rather than as an opportunity for anonymous shaming.

A long time ago, a colleague made the comment that the reason that there are so many lawyers is because people are unwilling or not very good at engaging with other people to deal with problems and differences, so they need third party intermediaries.

Another way to think of organized stabilization initiatives is as a friendly third party intermediary.

By collecting data, making assessments, and organizing a system of help, it's possible to deal with this kind of issue as a conversation rather than as through anonymous accusations and shaming.

Note that Gloucester has a housing rehab support program, but it's got a long waiting list.  And judging by the Post article, it's probably not particularly proactive in identifying houses of particular need.

The advantage of creating initiatives like an Elm Street neighborhood stabilization program or Rebuilding Together is that they draw on a wider variety of resources, including volunteers, than is typically possible through a staff-driven city agency.

Columbus Ohio and the Old Towne East neighborhood.  In Part 1, I mentioned the 2003 documentary "Flag Wars," about the demographic change--"gentrification"--of a neighborhood close to the Downtown of Columbus, Ohio.

The footage was mostly shot in the late 1990s.

-- Discussion Guide

The neighborhood is marked by huge houses, and had a preponderance of older black families, mostly low income.

Like the state of the Curcuru house in Gloucester, many of the houses were in disrepair, which of course is why some people were motivated to buy there--houses were cheap, big, and well located, and sweat equity could generate a great financial return.

Vacant houses in Olde Town East.  Wikipedia photo by Zhao 737.

So many of the houses are so large, that keeping them up would be a challenge for all but higher income households (e.g., in the last year, repairs and appliance replacement at our small bungalow in DC have already totaled over $4,000, and I wish we'd put some more money into landscaping).

Instead of looking to creating "mutual assistance programs" to help economically challenged households, many new residents profiled in "Flag Wars" called on the city's Code Enforcement inspectors to ticket and fine the homeowners.

Needless to say, this created animus ("‘Flag Wars’ Helped Me See Systems Of Racism In Housing And Its Effects On My Own Family," Columbus Navigator).

While it's taken a couple decades, apparently, these days, the neighborhood has "arrived," at least pre-pandemic, judging by last summer's historic house tour ("Olde Towne East home tour to feature the old, new, grand and sleek," Columbus Dispatch).

The Olde Towne East historic home tour features condominiums currently under construction at 1369 Fair Avenue. Pictured are owner Misty Linn (L) and her partner Katie Kikta (R). Tour organizers say the event illustrates the variety and health of the area's housing. Photographed on Tuesday, July 2, 2019. [Barbara J. Perenic/Dispatch]

Manor Park DC and the Albright Memorial Methodist Church.  An ongoing theme in writing about cities is the decline of churches as older church-going residents move to the suburbs.

As church congregations shrink, the ability to maintain buildings diminishes, especially as buildings age, and that is the case with the Albright Methodist Church on Rittenhouse Street NW in the Manor Park neighborhood (between Takoma and Brightwood).

Comparable to the letter received by the Curcurus, a resident living across the street from the church complained about their failure to maintain the roof, that tarps continued to cover part of the roof for many years, that it is an eyesore etc.

It's not that the church didn't know about the problem, but they spent many years raising the necessary funds to fix it.

He could have talked to them, and he could have even volunteered some of his time and energy to helping them facilitate and speed up the repair.  I guess the saving grace was that he didn't do it anonymously.  But in any case, most of the discussion on the list was more about defending the church.

That was a few years ago, and I seem to recall that the roof has finally been fixed.

While churches typically aren't eligible for government funds for repair (see the First Amendment), some historic preservation organizations do provide assistance to churches in these situations, sometimes with the support of the national organization Partners for Sacred Places.

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Columbus, Ohio community identity billboard