This weekend I'm home bound because I'm studying up on Oregon Urban Renewal... plans, history, pros & cons, stuff like that. My own town's urban renewal plan was put into affect quite a few years ago. Since then the urban renewal committee has decided to update & make some amendments & revisions to the plan. They've hired a consulting group to the tune of $31,000 to advise them in which direction they should go.
Noisy & suspicious newspaper sleuth that I am, eager to sniff out a story & uncover any corruption & greed that might be lurking in the shadows,(Politicians ARE involved), it is pertinent I understand the material before I can critic it.
"Urban renewal has been embraced by cities and counties of all shapes and sizes in
nearly every region of Oregon. It has offered municipalities a way to redevelop and
revitalize their communities, using public investment to stimulate private
investment in areas that otherwise would have remained stagnant or undeveloped."
The criteria for redevelopment is blight.
Not only are the 14 rules regarding what is blight vaguely written so much so that it seems practically every acre of land in Coquille could be considered blighted, the Urban Renewal Committee is made up exclusively of city council members. Public influence becomes limited once the public gives the Urban Renewal Committee the go ahead to pursue projects which are not always clearly defined & can be amended & revised at a later date. There is a lot or speculation involved in this kind of venture just because of the very nature of it, so it definately bears watching by the public.
IMO, The concept just begs to be abused, even though it presents itself as being mutually beneficial or in the very least benefiting the municipality.
More later...
posted by Rita @ 3:17 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
The first question that comes to mind is how much good $31,000 could do to stimulate the economy in a place the size of Coquille if they weren't spending it on consultants.
The second is whether the people who wrote the document you quoted are actually thinking about what they're saying, as opposed to just regurgitating clichés. ".....cities and counties of all shapes and sizes....." How is shape relevant? Would it matter if urban renewal has mostly been embraced by rectangular cities but not by triangular ones?
Seriously, watch for how much they talk about plans and what they should be able to do, vs. how much they talk about actual results already achieved by other places that have tried whatever they're proposing. Anybody can come up with a plan or a theory. The meat of the matter is demonstrating that it works.
Noisy & suspicious?
So.... I realize that you work for the paper... but what I didnt realize... are you some kind of investigative journalist? I was just curious... if so.. I didnt know this.
Urban Renewal, heh? I'll tell you what "urban renewal" amounted to in some town's around our nation. (Especially in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex)....buying up everything that is over a few decade's old...especially entire urban neighborhood's, at dirt cheap price's of the lowest income property owner's, and if they DONT want to sell... the government step's in with what's called "eminent domain" law's, paint the properties as "blighted" or an "eyesore", move out the working classes...and build high dollar residential/retail. Damn near ALL of inner Dallas has been or is currently being taken down... actually entire neighborhood's with thousand's of resident's and property owner's.
Thank You Ms.Rita.....
Urban renewal certainly sounds vague. Certainly it sounds needed in a place where the urban-sphere has decayed, but what is the renewal made up of?
Corruption exists everywhere, even in a big democracy with a nice transparent system.
infidel Your first question is precisely the one we hope to have answered at the upcoming public meeting with the consultants on the 30th. One of the issues is... some downtown merchants believe urban renewal efforts should be directed toward renewing the core downtown area & UR has had some small cosmetic downtown projects like face lifting on historic buildings, & new benches & awnings on the sidewalks, but the URA seems to want to put all their efforts into attracting developers to what we call the old GP Mill site which is 23 acres down by by the river that Georgia Pacific sold the city when they pulled up stakes and left in the late 1980's. Of course the city is thinking of the tax revenue the site will generate once it's developed. The downtown merchants are thinking of the money & interest that will move away from the downtown area if the site is developed. BTW. no one is beating a path to our door.
rev I meant to write "nosy & suspicious" but according to some people around here I am "noisy" also.
Ranch chimp Working for a small paper like ours requires everyone to multitask. We are all supposed to engage in investigative journalism, & be our own photographers, just as we are all expected to try to sell advertisements & then build the ads we sell. It's the only way to stay out of the red.
You've certainly hit on the negative points of urban renewal. It seems to be geared to the advantage of developers & bureaucrats, doesn't it?
fishy phil It's all vague & slippery. Fishy, even.
What is renewal made of?
Ideally caviar but in reality, Haddock.
prash Yes, corruption has always been with us. But so has idealism, the ability to change, & the challenge to finally get it right. The best place to be is with the force of the incoming tide & not the flotsam & jetsam that is swept away or lies stagnant & stinking under the dock.
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