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Advisory Group Set up For
Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood
A Community Advisory Group (CAG), representative of all the neighborhood
stakeholders and geographic areas, has been created to provide citizen input into the planning and
implementation of the goals of the 1996 HUD grant.
"The purpose of the Advisory Group is stated in the first goal of the Revision of
the Grant Submission, approved and consequently formalized by HUD," says Suzanne Goodman,
Program Manager for the FPSE initiative. The Group will be responsible for:
- Receiving, processing and disseminating information regarding progress of the grant and
Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation (WUMCRC) planning
initiatives.
- Provide a mechanism for citizen input into the planning process and neighborhood
consensus building.
- Acting as a distribution point for neighborhood security and other surveys.
- Articulating the needs of the community; and
- Advising WUMCRC on matters relating to the HUD grant.
In effect, the CAG will fine-tune the plan to fit neighborhood requirements within
the framework of the contract between HUD and Washington University. "It will serve as a
vehicle for residents to have a very meaningful input into what happens with the grant money,"
says Phil Heagney. "It will also establish a way to provide clear and accurate information about
what the grant offers and to allow legitimate differences of opinion to be put on the table an
discussed openly. In my experience, no single group in the neighborhood has a monopoly on
good ideas, Solutions will come through the democratic process of residents discussing, debating,
trying different things, but above all, working with one another."
Another committee member and block unity officer, Connie Taylor, believes it will
be difficult to please everyone is such a diverse community where there are differences in income,
race and marital status. "But we can create a win-win situation," she says, "by focusing on a few
basic goals such as improving security, increasing homeownership and teaching people how to be
better landlords and home owners."
Initial meetings will be held frequently in order to establish a workable
organizational structure and will quickly move into an in-depth look at the goals and the budgets
that support those goals.
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