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Now, in the summer of 2002, FPSE tells a tale of two cities. One
city prospers with grants and subsidies for housing units affordable to
families with annual incomes of $50,000 and above. The other city -- the
more than one-third of our households with annual income under $15,000
-- languishes in economic desolation.
Construction is financed with public funds. Underemployed and
unemployed neighbors have little if any access to neighborhood
construction jobs. Housing units for the affluent are coming on line. Long
time residents, especially senior citizens on fixed incomes, have to try
to cope with code-violation citations on their own limited incomes
The neighborhood boasts of being "at the heart of it all" while
the hearts of many residents ache with the stress caused by the threat of
displacement, dangerous living conditions, and inadequate health care.
Here is some of the history.
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Economic desolation amid revitalization
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The 1990 census showed that half of the FPSE households
had less than a $15,000 annual income.
In the summer of 1999, the FPSE Community Council included broad
neighborhood representation: residents from each of five areas, clergy,
human service providers, and business persons. The Council approved a
draft plan that stated nine principles, the first of which was:
"Reinforce and revitalize Forest Park Southeast as a traditional,
mixed-income St. Louis neighborhood."
The draft plan said redevelopment would be block-by-block, with
simultaneous housing efforts in four blocks, one in each quadrant of the
neighborhood.
Then, in November 2000, some members of the Community Council
resigned and started a new organization with only selected members. The
remnant of the Council reorganized and continued its commitment to the
preservation of economic diversity in FPSE.
For instance, the Council asked the FPSE Housing Corporation to
make 30% of the units in the Park East project available to poverty-income
families. The Housing Corporation answered that its financing scheme could
not allow that.
A Council officer asked Chancellor Mark Wrighton of Washington
University at a public forum what responsibility the university took to
help families who were being displaced from areas the university bought
for students and faculty. Wrighton did not answer that question, but
described how the university offered $4,000 to university-related
individuals who would buy houses in areas the university was developing.
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What does the FPSE
Community Council advocate? -
Simple, common sense remedies that respect people as more
important than projects and that implement the promised preservation of
diversity with balanced, block-by-block redevelopment:
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return to including a diversity of voices in setting
policy, including the Housing Corporation board;
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openness of the financial dealings in the neighborhood,
particularly the dealings of the Housing Corporation;
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family-wage jobs for residents typically excluded from
such work, starting with revival of the teen sweep program, funding for
the youth who collect the trash in the New Boyle Neighborhood, and a
program to teach sidewalk, porch, and step repair;
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greater support for the Fixx-Up program that provides
emergency repairs with a minimum of red tape;
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reallocation of funding so that the subsidies go to
those who really need them, and, in particular reserve at least 30% of new and rehabbed housing for our lower income
residents;
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sustain the supply of housing affordable to a majority
of FPSE residents by utilizing:
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a land trust to give ownership to residents with
assurance that affordability will continue upon later sale of the
property;
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sweat equity techniques like those of Habitat
for Humanity and YouthBuild to control construction costs;
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universal design to serve families with senior
and disabled members; and
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solar and geothermal energy to control long-term
utility costs.
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a small business plan that uses residents' abilities and
assets in their own businesses;
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implementation of the April, 2000 plan by the Council to
establish a cooperative broadband wireless network in FPSE, with three
main goals: more participation in neighborhood governance;
community-oriented policing efforts; and literacy-, job-, and family-skill
development for children and adults; and
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creation of more health resources, particularly by
recognizing the role of stress as causing violence and addictions.
The Council recognizes the necessity of economic change. FPSE needs new
residents and new businesses. The influx of the new, however, should not
increase the pressure on the already stressed families living in poverty.
Rather it should respect those families, letting them take their rightful
place in their revitalized neighborhood.
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