It's Great 'n Dayton

Dare We Go There?

Rattling around in my brain for a while has been a thought that many people have articulated over time. It resonated with me when someone said it at the CityLinks conference and it resonated with me last night when I heard a similar sentiment. It doesn't hold true for all people and the changing economy could make a difference as the rich get richer and poor get poorer but here it goes...

Most people are superficial. Many are greedy. Many need to keep up with the Joneses and buy large houses and fancy cars and things they can't afford. I wonder if people would consider moving into the city as gas gets more expensive. Why drive a Hummer when you could walk to everything you need!?!

Last night I heard this quote from a person who was actually quoting someone else. If anyone knows the original source, let me know: "The middle class doesn't need community so it doesn't contribute to it."

Could this be true? Could people building big houses with all those tv's and computers just not care? Are they greedy? Apathetic? Complacent? Trying to increase their standard of living?

Do they just keep to themselves, pull in the garage, put the garage door down, enter the house, watch tv, play on the computer and never interact with their neighbors?

It sounds like alot of people I know. It also sounds alot like the suburbs.

Don't we all need community? When was the last time you borrowed some sugar (or milk or butter) from a neighbor!?! We all need each other in some way. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. We all have something to contribute for the greater good. What has to happen for people to realize that?

Citizens on Patrol

Yes, that means you (and me).

And it means the police.

Police don't make our communities safer. Citizens make our communities safer. The public are the police and the police are the public. Officers just do it full-time. Those were statements made by Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl.

Saying that being the eye/ears for police is more passive, though helpful, he challenged us to be more active - and proactive. He spoke about community collective efficacy in which communities (neighborhoods) set clear norms that people understand and abide by. Neighbors hold each other accountable and confront one another about yard waste, litter, mowing, unacceptable behavior, etc.

I am really turned on by the idea of community collective efficacy and what it aims to achieve. I also recognize, after following the link and reading more about it, that it also comes with challenges. For example in any city (which is true for Dayton), a major challenge is that there already exists an enormous inequality between various neighborhoods. It's great for neighborhoods to set standards but what happens in a city where some neighborhoods get left behind when it comes to actively engaging both the citizens and the police to work together?

When asked what citizens can do, the chief offered these ideas:

Ask the question "what would make you fearful walking alone in your neighborhood during the day?" and then ask yourself "what would make you fearful walking alone in your neighborhood at night?"

We need to focus on what we can do to be pro-active. People think neighborhood watches are about looking out for crime. What they need to be about is creating safe, welcoming environments:

• Get people outside. Too many people are inside watching television or playing on the computer. What happened to the days when people were visible and interacted with each other in yards or on porches? Not only is crime reduced when there could be potential witnesses around but people learn information from each other and also get to know each other.
• Maybe start a walking group, 2-3 people, a social exercise activity and not necessarily as a "patrol" but it still creates the desired effect.
• Citizens on patrol. Actually have people scheduled in pairs to walk around at certain times to look out for undesired situations and to be a presence that could deter such situations.
• What about kids at bus stops standing alone? Parents should coordinate and offer to take turns waiting with the kids so they're not alone.
• Be smart about what you leave visible in your car. If you like it, lock it up.
• If a house is broken into, make sure all the neighbors know - not just for their own safety and property concerns but so that can watch the house and deter the statistic that 25% of all houses are broken into a second time.
• Be proactive so that crime is not invited.

The Chief spoke about alot of other things so to wrap up I'll summarize his priorities as I understand them.

1. Reduce violent crime by working with the courts, neighborhood groups, faith based organizations and a wide array of constituents and resources.
2. Reduce prostitution, thereby reducing opportunities for violence and drug use/selling. (There is even a movement to create a shelter/house for women who want to get out of prostitution).
3. Work on community outreach and expand into other neighborhoods models similar to the ORION project,the Phoenix project and the Weed & Seed program.

We have a linked fate. It's in all of our interest to get to know each other. From there we will respect one another, share with one another, and watch out for one another.

What's the Message? What's the Plan?

So last night's NLI class was about communicating our message, an opportunity for neighborhood leaders to learn more about the Dayton Daily News, ActiveDayton.Com and Dayton Access Television. You can learn more by following the links.

What I'm going to write about has nothing to do with the City of Dayton. Rather it has to do with poor branding and messaging. I don't even want to get started about the Get Midwest slogan. There's been enough written about that in other places.

What has really bothered me for a couple weeks now are the billboards that read, "I won't shake my baby because I have a plan."

I suppose we know who the audience is. Do they know who they are? Are they literate enough to read a billboard and then draw their own conclusions? What's the plan? Where do you get one? Are you supposed to recognize the logos of the sponsors of the billboard and contact someone? There are no phone numbers, no websites.

Is the plan to control anger management? Is the plan to get a baby to stop crying or to behave? What are you supposed to do instead of shaking?

The pastel colors were interesting. Why wasn't there a human face in the picture; someone to identify with? He/she could be saying "DON'T shake your baby. Get a better plan by calling xxx-xxxx."

I don't know why it bothers me so much. Maybe because it's an important message that's potentially ineffective.

What We Didn't Hear

In some regards I was slightly disappointed with the CityLinks conference. The presenters did an excellent job but anyone in the room could tell you the speakers were preaching to the choir. Critical to the success of such an endeavor would have been more active participation by those in attendance. We heard from the speakers but we didn't get to hear from one another. We also heard alot of theory but not alot of practical ideas.

The looming question for me is "when does the dialogue turn into action?"

We know that the Dayton Development Coalition is working on their focus areas of Aerospace R&D, Information Technology & Data Management, Advanced Materials & Manufacturing, and Human Sciences & Healthcare. Who's looking out for the people who are unemployed or underemployed and don't have skills in those areas? What opportunities exist for them?

Who's looking at urban sprawl? Housing studies show that we already have more homes than we need. I'm disheartened, on the heels of the conference, to see in today's newspaper that a Home-a-rama will be in Beavercreek. Haven't we had enough of these extravagent developments? Who's doing something about foreclosures? They don't just exist in the core city. Even the suburbs and former Home-a-rama sites have experienced people moving because they can't afford their houses anymore. Do we really need more house that keep getting bigger and more expensive? Do we really need to keep up with Joneses? So many people live beyond their means and spend money they don't have. Where has modesty gone? Where has the quality of family life gone? Who really wants to drive further when gas is so expensive!?!

I was also disappointed that no one addressed the Creative Class Initiative or discussed Dayton's many assets. There's alot that Dayton (and the region) has going for it and we are our own worst enemies when it comes to telling our story.

What's wrong with the picture? I have thought all along, and Helen Jones Kelly actually said it out loud, "It's always the same players and decision makers. What others are being included at the table?"

Who should those others be?

Oh yeah, there is something being done about foreclosures. Check out the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, CountyCorp, and Dayton's Home Ownership Center.

Poverty Reduction and What Life Could Look Like Again

Will attention to the core City really help?

According to Bro. Ray Fitz's presentation at the CityLinks conference it will. He even acknowleged that some people think that Dayton is past the point of no return. What we need to do however is look at our issues from different perspectives. "No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew." - Albert Einstein.

Some thoughts to consider:

• Reducing poverty in the core helps everyone
• Reducing disparities between jurisdictions leads to mutual growth
• Raising income in the city raises income in the suburbs
• Raising the housing values in the city raises the housing value in the suburbs

How do we get there?

• Develop and market clusters of industry
• Reduce income inequalities and economic inequalities
• Strengthen neighborhoods

This is all well and good and some organizations are taking the lead the three ideas mentioned above didn't include strategies. Anyone have any?

What WAS suggested who two-fold:

• Inside Game - focus on the center city and bring people back
• Outside Game - stop sprawl, redistribute low income housing, institute revenue sharing between jurisdictions

To do anything we need to work together. Economic development people are looking at recruitment and retention of jobs, people are looking at housing, people are looking at education, people are working in neighborhoods but all of these areas need to work together and strive to understand a common good to aim for together. Everyone has their own piece of the pie and what we're missing is the collective goal of making the total region economically viable.

If everyone works together we can have thriving families and succussful children, viable neighborhoods, jobs, quality education, equity in development, sustainability. What it's going to take is leadership.

The Problems

The CityLinks conference on April 22 was interesting. It opened with Bro. Ray Fitz from the University of Dayton discussing regional challenges. In statistical ways, with charts and numbers, he told us what most of us already know...Urban Sprawl causes inner city decay. This resonated with the closing keynote speaker Helen Jones Kelley (from Dayton and serving the state as Director of Ohio's Jobs and Family Services Department) who described two Dayton's; 1)where there's unemployment, underemployment, vacant housing, poor education, and violence, and 2) where there is affluence and southern flight yet some of these people still say they're from Dayton.

Urban Sprawl has left behind a concentration of poverty and what I got out of the conference was that for Dayton to be succcessful as a region we need to start doing something about the problems that not only plague Dayton but also the tier-1 suburbs. We need to work together because the problems affect all of us.

The impact of, and people most affected by, concentrated poverty include: unemployment, high dropout rates in our schools, welfare, female heads of household, teen birth mothers, fewer students passing proficiency tests, poor health, crime, reduction in private businesses in the city, price gouging in poor neighborhoods, no job networks, and inhibited opportunities for wealth building.

Even the first-tier suburbs are experiencing population decreases (losing high income people), the median income is shrinking, there are more vacant houses and more single parent families.

If the trends continue we will continue to see affluent families moving out (of the county/region), property values will decrease, there will be more abandoned properties (we already have more houses than there are families to occupy them yet we continue to build more), we will lose businesses and there will continue to be problems in families and in our educational institutions.

Housing Stock

On Saturday April 19 the NLI class spent the entire day touring neighborhoods in Dayton. We saw some of Dayton's oldest houses and some of Dayton's newest houses. We saw shacks and we saw mansions. We saw crack-houses and dilapidated, vacant structures. We also saw neighborhoods where residents take great pride in their own houses and properties and also great pride in the neighborhoods. We saw brand new Dayton Public School buildings and we saw a few old empty school buildings. The most amazing thing that we all realized is how much difference a street makes, or a block, or a gate. Even in neighborhoods of nice houses we saw the effects of foreclosures.

My boss asked me this morning what I thought of Dayton's housing. On a scale of 1-10 what condition is our housing in? My immediate reaction was a 6 or 7. I'm now wondering if it's 5-6. Of course it depends on the neighborhood but I'm trying to figure out an average.

On a scale of 1-10 what do you think of Dayton's housing?

What are some of the issues that we have to deal with when it comes to housing and neighborhood development?

What are some housing successes?

Downtown Buildings

Dayton is making a commitment to its downtown building inventory.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/04/17/ddn041808downtown.html

It's Always Something, April 15, part 2

Stanley Earley is a well-thought and well-spoken man. He strikes me as someone who ponders yet always does the right thing. He seems quiet but purposeful. He’s deeply passionate about his job and Dayton in general.

His point to us tonight is that as much as people gripe about the things that are wrong today, there’s always been something in Dayton that has either been devastating or at a minimum, a roadblock. And the people of Dayton always move forward in spite of it or because of it.

Whether it was the City’s founding, or when the canal was built, or when the canal was closed, or the great flood, or the business changes in institutions like McCall’s publishing, Frigidaire, Delco or NCR Dayton has always reinvented itself.  Horrible things can happen but it doesn’t make Dayton horrible. It makes Dayton different. A company coming into town can change Dayton just as much as when a company closes or leaves town.

We are at a junction now where Dayton is experiencing change. Change is a good thing. There might be things we don’t like about Dayton but it doesn’t mean we don’t like Dayton! We just don’t like certain things. And as I’ve previously written, if there’s something we don’t like, we need to be part of the solution.

And there is hope for our future. Young people are excited about living in Dayton, the city is being more aggressive about tending to vacant lots and abandoned structures, there is a buzz about downtown development and the Oregon District, we have great bike trails, waterways, and metroparks. We have Wifi throughout downtown and soon throughout the entire city. We have people actively engaged in making a difference through community and economic development efforts and also in the recognition of and outreach to the “creative class.” Greater Dayton has a large skilled workforce. It also has a large workforce of professional that work with ideas and numbers and research. We have assets and we are learning how to capitalize on them.

Asset-Based Management, April 15, part 1

Convening at the Innerwest Priority Board, 1024 W. Third Street, our speakers this evening were Aaron Sorrell (Housing and Neighborhood Development), Bill Nelson (Building Services), and Stanley Earley (Deputy City Manager).

The City of Dayton is changing its development strategy. There has been so much previous effort focused on jobs and economic development and the mindset is changing to acknowledge that while we still need to be attentive to those needs we also need to take care of what we have. This new strategy is called Asset-Based Management and Dayton has recognized at least three major assets: 1) downtown, 2) healthcare/hospitals (including the blood/tissue center), 3) education (including but not limited to major institutions like the University of Dayton.

Significant assets exist in Downtown Dayton: the arts, quality housing (95% occupied), businesses which provide 30% of the revenue generated by taxes, a walkable community, the waterways, Dayton Dragons, the Oregon District and more.

Miami Valley Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital have made significant investments in their own neighborhoods making them safer appealing places to live. This was done through partnerships with neighborhood groups, the City, Citywide Development and the University of Dayton. Hospitals would love it if employees lived closer to where they worked! The hospitals also want their doctors and nurses to feel safe coming to work.

As previously mentioned UD is also making a large investment in the development of its surrounding neighborhood. Part of the investment is in conjunction with Miami Valley Hospital. A new project for UD is the development of land between Brown Street and the Miami River.  UD is not the only educational institution. The City recognizes the healthcare training and education that takes place at the Blood/Tissue Center and at the Veterans Administration.

Sinclair Community College and Miami Jacobs College are also key contributors to the success of downtown.