Thoughts on Community Economic Development

At our last neighborhood meeting we talked briefly about creating a community economic development plan for WeHo in order to attract and accommodate more businesses that can provide services to residents of the neighborhood (This was also one of the top priorities of residents who participated in the 2008 NCDC Wedgewood Houston study, p.17). By services I mean something to contrast the heavy industrial presence in Wedgewood Houston, such as retail, restaurant or groceries, etc. Such businesses could not only provide easier access to needed amenities, but could also ideally provide employment to...or better yet, be owned by residents of the community.

I think it is a perfect time for WeHo residents to initiate an economic plan for the area. We are literally surrounded by possible upcoming and drastic changes to our neighborhood, from the fairgrounds area master plan* to the relocation of the Sounds (meaning changes on the horizon for Greer Stadium) to the ever-improving Chestnut Street area (Houston Station, May Hosiery Mills, etc).

We can't stop change from happening, especially in an ever-growing and changing city. But we can provide guidance in how to make change happen in a way that suits our needs and wants as a neighborhood. The question is how and the answer requires education, resources, communication, and action. All of these are important because what's the point of putting together a great vision for our neighborhood if in the end we're all left shrugging our shoulders because we don't know how to pull it off?

In one of my classes this semester we discussed one of the biggest and most successful examples of resident-led community economic development. The Dudley Street Neighborhood in Boston was so devastated by poverty in the 80's that slumlords, frustrated by their inability to sell their properties in the area, took to burning houses down in order to collect on insurance. These were houses that people lived in. Fed up residents educated themselves and took action:

The 1987 comprehensive plan was updated in our urban village visioning process in 1996, involving over 180 residents and organization representatives. Their ideas affirm many elements of the 1987 plan, add important refinements and renew their commitment to creating an "urban village" and declare their belief that "Anything Is Possible". From this process, a major commitment was made to enhance economic power in the Dudley neighborhood. Through DSNI’s community land trust, the Dudley neighborhood has the only permanent affordable housing in the city of Boston.

Residents continue to guide this plan which established community control over a critical mass of the 1,300 parcels of abandoned land that had come to characterize the neighborhood. Residents gained control by convincing the authorities in Boston’s city government to take the unprecedented step of granting the community the power of eminent domain over much of the vacant land combined with a partnership with the city on the publicly-owned vacant land. The Dudley neighborhood thus acquired valuable assets, established a community land trust, set a criteria for development and a "place at the table" for the planning and development of the community.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

To date more than half of the 1,300 abandoned parcels have been permanently transformed into over 400 new high quality affordable houses, community centers, new schools, Dudley Town Common, community greenhouse, parks, playgrounds, gardens, an orchard and other public spaces.

Wedgewood Houston is not nearly in the dire straits that Dudley was, but we do have our challenges. We know that change is the only constant, what matters is how we respond to it. Part of that, I think, is not looking at our challenges as just challenges, but as opportunities; then taking action appropriately.

Similar Posts:

• Bringing in Better Business
• Taking care of the biz biz

*We should know more about this very soon. Proposals for the master plan were due a couple of weeks ago.