Water, food and shelter are non-negotiable needs for human beings seeking a shot at long term survival. We can endure some thirst, some hunger and some exposure to the elements, but few would argue that those three, together with air to breathe, comprise the basics of tenability. In a humane society most of us share the feeling that no one among us should be systematically denied adequate water, sufficient food and a safe, dry, warm place to lay one’s head. Even our prisons provide three squares and a cot. Over the years America has embraced the idea that none should be condemned to live in squalor. We have made elimination of slums a national priority, though execution of that imperative has varied from place to place and wobbled in the shifting of political winds. In the post-WWII era eradication of slums took the form of “urban renewal.” Wholesale condemnation and bulldozing of entire blocks and communities was coupled with construction of public housing projects. Those who legislated and executed such plans were generally operating with the best of intentions. The fact that most of the demolition took place in non-white neighborhoods was surely redolent of racism, but much poverty emanates from the same source. It can be argued that the root cause was not so much discrimination in the moment as discrimination in the past that led to wide disparities of wealth. Here in Asheville, the city government and the Asheville Housing Authority worked together to demolish wide swaths of our traditional African American community and to relocate our black population in duplexes and apartment blocks. Resentment remains close to the surface for many citizens who lived through that shift. The City service garages and offices on S. Charlotte and the hospital and medical facilities on Biltmore and Ashland are daily reminders of the great displacement that created our current public housing situation. Asheville has one of the highest per-capita public housing populations in the state, and the Asheville Public Schools educate the highest percentage of students living in public housing in North Carolina. It’s no secret that the housing model adopted here and in many other cities around the country has failed. Today’s planners aim for mixed-income neighborhoods because those have proved to be the most stable over time, but our public housing residents are uniformly poor. Today’s wisdom is that a mix of ownership and renters builds community, but our public housing population is overwhelmingly subsidized tenants. Public policy has exacerbated problems inherent in this creation of modern ghettos. Single women with children are entitled to their own units, so a young woman who wants to get her “own place” has a huge incentive to get pregnant. Showing too much income reduces rent subsidies, so even if the children’s father is present and contributing, there is a huge disincentive to report income or even to take a formal job. With unemployment among young, black men at record levels, the attraction of the black market is great, and with no ownership stake in a residence the potential loss from arrest and conviction is negligible. We have institutionalized poverty and now have third- and fourth-generation families subsisting in the same units as their grandparents and great-grandparents, with no more hope of escape than their forebears. Fixing the system is no easy task. The most successful alternatives to our post-war ghettos are mixed-income and mixed-ownership neighborhoods that have been intentionally created with funding from Federal Community Development Block Grants, state and local incentives, and public-private partnerships. Transitioning from our failures will mean further dislocation of residents, uprooting of long-established, dysfunctional neighborhoods, and demolition or refurbishment on a massive scale. It won’t be a job for a year but for a decade, and it’s long past time to begin. The choice comes down to incentivizing positive change or maintaining an inhumane and debilitating status quo. My hope is that leadership in our City government, our faith communities, our Chamber of Commerce and Council of Independent Business Owners, our medical community, our colleges and public schools, our small businesses and our major manufacturers will move together to deconstruct our failed public housing model and find a path forward to real renewal. Cecil Bothwell, author of nine books, including “She Walks On Water: A novel” (Brave Ulysses Books, 2013), is a member of Asheville City Council. By CECIL BOTHWELL Water, food and shelter are non-negotiable needs for human beings seeking a shot at long term survival. We can endure some thirst, some hunger and some exposure to the ... Read more U.S. still ‘the land of Opportunity,’ but.... By LEE BALLARD My last column on this page was about American exceptionalism: how we aren’t necessarily. This column is about American exceptionalism: one way we still are, so far. The one ... 224 Broadway St., Asheville, NC 28801 | P.O. Meet n fuk space Sample of private placement offerings Mexico vs usa soccer history Bls for healthcare providers pre-test test answers Rick petko joins paul jr design Free minnie mouse printables for jewelry Www.michigan.gov outlookww.michigan.gov outlook How does goshen lift system parts work Folding wooden stool plan Huge. areola. photosuge. areola. photos How much bleach in a bleach bath scabies Flute sheet tonight is the night Carmelita fox is cameron diaz Bloons td 5 cheats kindle fire Cool softball poster ideas My mom commemorative speech Madea sayings Madre cojiendo con su hijo videos Meet n fuck bakugan Hoffmaster linen like paper tablecloths Going away note Costco online application Sample resume for college students with job at Real sorority paddlings Videos moritas virgenes Powered by pligg home business web site Does prozac help you sleep Flirty prank call soundboards Shoot large loads Freeroll poker passwords pokerstars Lyrics run dmc christmas Free knitted scoodie pattern Undersea treasure slots free Electric meter hacking procedure Cartoon picture to obesity Place value rounding worksheets whole and decimal Deena plastic surgery Airplane symbol for bbm Examples of objectives for a cosmetology resume Sample wildcat playbook Free crochet cocoon Cerita bokep sama pembantu Presidential election videos for second graders Knit newborn cocoon Billboards of against alcohol Dogwood tree coloring sheet The banning of steroids in sports Dogg the bounty hunters wife naked Animal oratory topics Mywalmart com paystub onlineywalmart.com pay Initial nco counseling Country signatures for cell phones Opana snort vs swallow Letter to immigration officer sample Short dating jokes Tokarev for sale Spanish adjectives that start with npanish adjectives that Keppra and lortab compatibility Free sample pest control business plan Growing up songs for slideshow Watch invisible stud subbed Fillable da 1594 Birthday symbols for facebook wall Pictures of pumpkins 49 ers Free dreadlocks styles pictures Birthday tributes fathers Lausanne google maps Pills resembling adderall Frequent urination in women and bloating Not the half has been told Letters for facebook status Petco printable job application form Invitation wording ideas 2nd birthday Gantt charts project management excel templates Cupcake minnie mouse Cerita adik ipar My scorpio man dissapears is he coming back Class of 2013 clip art North central regional jail website Fun fantasy football team names dallas cowboys Executive introduction announcement letters Safe dose of ibuprofen How to write divorce letter for financial aid Deutchmaker brand hot dogs Guard promotion calculator Bible black subbed stream Free medication administration record templateree medication Bead weaving bracelet Pareto data recovery software product key Witty bar promotions Ap world history rome quiz Phentermine without prescription cod Lonely planet santa barbara Adderall xr cause major hair problems Dean coxx whip cream video Will brown recluse spider get on plants Silent reading worksheets Suprapatellar joint effusion Phlebotomy practice test online Major body cavities for labeling Ashford university online bookstore Alliterative names generator Level h review units 1 -3 vocabulary com Miley cyrus shower video Free slots zeus 2 East kentwood baby swim classes Gun rack designs Porno,com Bicorn hat tutorial Medical football team name Citation machine songs Keygen flight simulator x acceleration Videos women beeing groped Disease low testosterone What did emily dean do to herself Wwwvocabularyworkshop level c test Buckler beer alcohol content Jose conseco steroids Photos of mens unwanted boners Kbr horse training At&t uverse broadband red light Movie where girl poops on guys face Self storage default letter Is there such thing as brown spotting Chase employee pay stubs online How to use carfax for free Cornice board designs western Missing daddy quotessx Dad son wanking video Nursing pinning speech Official invitation letter for dinner party Signatures for cell phones about boyfriends Auto woodcutter and banker Delete individual call on iphone without jail breaking Standard blank job application forms Local host east administrive Making your own aquarium Character letter court Malayalam kambi kadakal 2011 Niece s wedding speech Vocabulary workshop level d answers unit 5 Asa softball bats illegal Cute poems for my boyfriend Home depot platinum plus carpet Miranda cosgrove flashes camerairanda cosgrove flashes Tpdf weekly lesson plan template Vocabulary workshop new edition answers unit 4 Punografia xxx grates de ecuador Xfinity router 10.0.0.1 password Did chelsea handler have plastic surgery Self performance review samples Vocabulary workshop level g teachers edition Practice test for ncct for medical assistants Madhouse by cocaine Coordinate plane graph picture worksheet Fob testostorone boys Money talks holiday sale free Tfunny texts to send to my boyfriend Ghetto gaggers full Snort adderall chest hurt Deancoxx full free movies online now Lesbain tribbing mobile videos Jabcomix me and dad Poems for moms passed Bank of america theater chicago obstructed view Pictures of things that begin with the letter u Ttorsemide to lasix dose conversion Nationwide beauty academy hilliard ohio Restore os x leopard Letter of apology for payroll mistake Duo interpretation two female 10 mg generic adderall tablet vyvanse equivalent Michele noonan plastic surgery Insurance handbook for the medical office workbook answer key Basketball stat template Myspace needle cursors Getting off synthroid Minolta maxxum 5200i How to write a complaint letter to apartment manager Dogknotstuckinwife Key largo vacation home rentals Pictures tummy tucks gone wrong Trex deck bench plans Malibu strings models Contoh-contoh coding visual basic dengan database mysql Pot leaf emoticon for bbm Lottery winner statistics Enviorment farme building games Ibuprofen dose arthritis Greek stencils for pottery Metro inn apartments 4th grade student council speech samples for secretary Birthday speech for dad at 80 years old Pokmon cards Nicotine effect on the environment Like cinnamon challenge Floating egg experiment Basketball i am poems Round friendship bracelet patterns instructions Drug information on omeprazole
留言列表
