 "Stategy
for Vital Neighborhoods" summit was
held on Saturday, October 28,
with 140 invited guests
in attendance. Mayor Bob Day
welcomed everyone at 8:30 A.M.
and then Planning Director Neil
Montgomery set the tone of the
summit with details of the challenges
and opportunities of being a First-Ring
Suburb.
Marcia Nedland and Michael Schubert,
from Fall Creek Consultants, laid
the foundation for the summit. To
get the attendees thinking, they
asked the following quesitons:
* What is a healthy neighborhood?
* How do we change neighborhoods?
* What are healthy neighborhood
outcomes?
* What is the difference between
affordable housing production and
neighborhood revitalization?
The group broke to attend any
one of four workshops. The workshops
were repeated so everyone would
be able to benefit from two workshops.
Lunch was served but the information
kept flowing. Alex Koenig, Neighborhood
Planner for the Planning Dept,
presented the Strategy for Vital
Neighborhoods that was presented
to the Council a couple months
ago.
The final working sessions were
divided into four areas of interest:
Residents,
Public Sector, Private Sector, and Non-Profit
Sector.
Everyone came back together to
share their conclusions.
Mayor Day once again addressed
the group and challenged each person
to take the ideas and lessons of
the day back to their neighborhoods
and to not let this beginning die
from lack of effort. Framework
for Neighborhood Change
Presented by Fall Creek Consultants
Characteristics of a
Healthy Neighborhood
- A place where it makes
economic and emotional sense
for people to invest their
time, money, and energy
- A
place where neighbors successfully
manage neighborhood-related
issues and neighborhood change
How We Change Neighborhoods
- Read neighborhoods to
figure out what's working and
what's not working in terms
of people's decisions to invest
or not.
- Diagnose "what
went wrong" and
develop an approach for revitalization.
- Set
outcomes and indicators of
progress/success for a healthy
neighborhood.
- Choose the strategies
that will best achieve those
outcomes.
- Assess and strengthen
capacity to deliver revitalization
strategies; implement strategies.
- Measure
progress toward outcomes, not
activities.
- Develop new strategies,
based on outcomes, when needed—when
the old ones aren't enough
or the situation changes.
Healthy Neighborhood Outcomes
Outcomes are a way to describe
how a neighborhood looks and
behaves when it is healthy. Revitalization
strategies that seek to create
healthy neighborhoods are focused
on achieving important outcomes
in four areas.
Image
The neighborhood will have a
positive image that attracts
investment—from homebuyers,
homeowners, businesses, and government.
People will be confident in the
future of the neighborhood.
Market
The residential and commercial
real estate market will reflect
this confidence. The neighborhood
will make economic sense for
key investors—homebuyers,
homeowners, landlords, businesses,
and government—because
property values will be steadily
increasing. This will enable
homeowners, homebuyers, and landlords
to carry out improvements and
build assets. It will enable
businesses to remain or locate
in an improving neighborhood,
and it will enable government
to see the property value base
stabilize. At the same time,
the neighborhood will offer housing
options for, and be attractive
to, a variety of income groups.
It will help neighbors who want
to, to stay and benefit from
revitalization.
Physical Conditions
Physicial conditions, whether
residential or business, will
reflect pride of ownership and
a high standard of maintenance.
Public infrastructure will be
maintained and improved to a
standard similar to neighborhoods
currently viewed as better.
Neighborhood Management
Collective action by residents,
institutions, and businesses
will ensure the neighborhood
will compete well with other
neighborhoods for resources.
Residents will have the capacity
to manage the day-to-day activities
on their blocks. Neighbors will
feel comfortable being "neighborly"—looking
out for each other, getting together
to work on problems, taking action
to reinforce positive standards
and actions, etc. Neighbors will
feel safe in the neighborhood.
Principles for Creating Neighborhoods
of Choice through Revitalization
- 1. A neighborhood is defined
primarily by those who live
there. This definition is fluid
and varies by the different
groups and sub-neighborhoods
in the neighborhood.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is to acknowledge the variety
of population groups and locally-defined
boundaries, and to develop
strategies that respond to
those demographic and geographic
sub-neighborhood areas.
- The
condition of the neighborhood
is the sum of past and current
choices.
The work of neighborhood
revitalization is to influence
future choices.
- Neighborhoods
compete for public resources,
private investment, and political
influence, but most of all,
neighborhoods compete for the
choices of households to live,
stay, and invest in a particular
neighborhood.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is to make neighborhoods more
competitive at all levels, but
especially in attracting and/or
retaining households with choices
among many neighborhoods and
investment behaviors.
- A neighborhood
that is healthy enough to attract
positive investment choices by
current residents, homebuyers,
financial institutions, and others
has a market where property values
appreciate in a way that supports
such economic choices. In a
very hot real estate market,
property value may be less
of a concern than maintaining
housing quality or securing
permanently affordable housing
options.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is to define a property appreciation
outcome appropriate to the local
market, to design strategies
that support that outcome, and
to create an environment where
it makes economic sense to invest
time, money, and energy in the
neighborhood.
- The
health of a neighborhood is
determined in part by the degree
of confidence neighbors and
others have in the future of
the neighborhood. Confidence
is reflected in the range of
social, financial, civic, and
time investments people make,
regardless of income level.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is directly aimed at building
confidence and, thereby, influencing
investment behaviors.
- The process
of change in a neighborhood (i.e.,
what people mean when they talk
about their neighborhood getting "better" or "worse")
is set by how people "read" who's
moving in and who's moving
out.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is to recognize this pattern
and to address current and potential
investment and disinvestment.
- Social
disinvestment in a neighborhood
precedes financial disinvestment.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is to recognize this pattern
and to address both kinds of
disinvestment.
- A successful
neighborhood revitalization approach
represents more than just the
sum of individual projects. Revitalization
won't happen with only a project
focus and can actually be undermined
by such an approach.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is to read the way people perceive
and make decisions about the
neighborhood and their roles
in it and deliver strategies
to address that logic—as
opposed to only seeing a few
abandoned buildings and potential
tax-credit deals.
- Description
is everything in revitalization.
How you describe the neighborhood
and your work will have an enormous
impact on the investments you
engender.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is to be conscious and vigilant
about describing the neighborhood
and to work only in ways that
inspire confidence and investment.
- Money
follows the vision. When we
have a compelling vision for
real neighborhood change, the
resources will follow. Many people
will pay for a more expensive
strategy if it is a compelling
strategy that clearly deals with
outcomes rather than activities.
The work of neighborhood revitalization
is about discontinuing self-limiting
beliefs, creating the vision
and strategy that will accomplish
revitalization outcomes, and
seeking funding from sources
that support that vision and
strategy.
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