The New York Times profiles Mayor Jones and his move to fight poverty in Richmond:
The city Mr. Jones runs remains divided in many ways. New high-rises are going up downtown. There are plans for a minor-league baseball stadium. And trendy restaurants and bars attract young college graduates who are moving into the city’s new condominiums.
But across Interstate 95 on the city’s East End, vacant lots and boarded-up houses are commonplace. Poverty in the city, concentrated in the East End, is at 26.3 percent, compared with 15.9 percent nationally. Nearly half of Richmond’s population of 210,000 lives in poverty or is at significant risk of falling into it.
PHOTO by Jay Paul for the New York Times
31 comments
What, the redskins didn’t shower us with riches?! I’m astonished.
RT @chpn: New York Times profiles Mayor Jones and the fight against poverty http://t.co/1u6189qz0f
RT @chpn: New York Times profiles Mayor Jones and the fight against poverty http://t.co/1u6189qz0f
RT @chpn: New York Times profiles Mayor Jones and the fight against poverty http://t.co/1u6189qz0f
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RT @chpn: New York Times profiles Mayor Jones and the fight against poverty http://t.co/1u6189qz0f
RT @chpn: New York Times profiles Mayor Jones and the fight against poverty http://t.co/1u6189qz0f
so now its Jones and Co. to the rescue to displace the poor out of the east end and into the counties, good job local bourgeois
At every meeting about the Creighton redevelopment, Councilperson Newbille makes a point of stating that the plan will have one-for-one replacement for each public housing unit. I don’t think any of these are going to the counties. https://chpn.net/news/2013/08/01/planning-under-way-for-redevelopment-of-creighton-and-whitcomb_28367/
Isn’t Newbille the member who never returns constituents calls, emails and otherwise ignores anyone who disagrees with her? Fixing the poor problem means actually addressing the underlying cause, not shuffling folks along. A leading factor education. Anyone know how we’re doing on that front? I’ll give you a small hint. No one in Church Hill wants to send their kids to a city school if they can help it.
RT @chpn: New York Times profiles Mayor Jones and the fight against poverty in RVA http://t.co/1u6189qz0f
RT @chpn. New York Times profiles Mayor Jones and the fight against poverty in RVA. http://t.co/xHnw5urzIk
“The goal of the process goes well beyond the physical rehabilitation of the area. At its root is the alleviation of poverty through the improvement of the quality life for all residents in the area through the creation of mixed-income communities. ”
From the same link above. Do y’all even read the posts before you comment?
Oh I read them I just don’t trust what any politician has to say when it comes to the benefit or the lack thereof for the working class while also benefiting business. These are two opposing interests.
There are many goals. Action is more difficult. I recall the Mpact too. I went to those meetings and the #1 request and concern was greater police presence in the neighborhood. Guess the Mayor got busy with a new initiative. I agree with Gunther. Much is made about business benefitting the community, but show me actual data that shows all these business breaks do anything more than hire a few people. I mean the city gets more taxes, paid largely by those people who should benefit from them,but that doesn’t happen much either.
Sounds like a step in the right direction. Addressing poverty is surely more important that baseball stadiums and concert arenas. I think it would be great if City Hall made anti-poverty their number one mission and goal. Some nice progress on this front has been made in other large cities with similar issues; hope Richmond leaders can learn from what has been achieved elsewhere and make real improvements in this regard.
Shame that the mayor and counties aren’t recognizing how important public transportation (and its ability to link people with jobs) is to the equation.
Addressing poverty is part-and-parcel with economic development. You can’t put them in separate boxes. The Mayor DOES know how important public transportations is. It’s the Counties that don’t… and their businesses like Amazon have staffing trouble because of the Counties’ anti-public-transportaion approach.
Matt @10 and others, if you take the position that the City should spend its money solely on public housing, school lunches, and public transportation (with no corresponding investment in economic development and amenities to help pay for all that) then you are taking the same position as the old men who put all the poor people in the projects in the 50s and 60s and saddled the City with costs it could never afford.
Every time you say the City doesn’t deserve X training camp, Y new hospital, Z ballpark, for the reason that it should throw money at the poverty (poverty intentionally concentrated there by long-gone leaders of the region), then you are part of the system designed in the 1960s to make the City fail.
@Next Friend
Bravo!
@12 – spot on!
A few additional points:
I was pretty skeptical before reading the article and expected the usual mish mash of reheated crap that doesn’t work with fluffy ideas and no plan. I’m cautiously optimistic after seeing at least a few new ideas in there.
The mentoring idea is a good one (as proven by CHAT) but I wonder if a.) it’s phasing in too late to make a difference at 11-15 years old and b.) getting the city involved is the right answer or if this should remain a volunteer sector activity.
The manufacturing training program is the highlight in my opinion. Rather than chasing jobs with mass transit and continuing to spend money to house, feed and generally care for the problems of a largely unemployable population it’s much more effective to make them employable. I’d prioritize this well ahead of housing changes as if this succeeds it solves a lot of the other woes.
I’d love to see the same approach also taken in the schools. For students who clearly aren’t on a college track, (and maybe even for those who are on a lower college track) let’s switch to teaching real world employable skills. That way they are leaving school with something worthwhile instead of an incomplete version of the college curriculum.
The housing stuff is cart before horse and looks like a risky bet to me unless they have a solid plan for what will attract the upper half of the mixed income puzzle. I haven’t seen it yet and I hope we don’t dump more money into nicer houses for the same problems. Right now it smells like only the developers who are sure to get sweetheart deals will benefit.
The nutrition stuff and wastewater assistance are fine but likely to be icing on the cake at best. They sounds like the type of things that get added to make this a “5 point plan!” versus a much less impressive “3 point plan.”
Only lightly touched on utility costs in article…
http://www.oregonhill.net/2013/10/01/city-water-rate-reform-work-continues/
@15 – the light touch is appropriate given what a small drop in the bucket this issue is when it comes to the overall problem.
I disagree, Alex. But you know that.
In my opinion, allowing our residents to hold on to more of their money for a basic need is very much preferable to handing out money for billionaire’s sports teams.
The water issue is what, maybe ten or twenty bucks a month back at best unless we want to seriously underfund our utilities? Job training, better education are a swing of thousands a month for these folks. You really want to tell me they’re on the same scale? How many people are going to be lifted out of poverty by your pet project?
Go beat your tiny little drum somewhere else. The city’s looking at real solutions for once.
Poverty defined:
1. the state of being extremely poor.
Poor defined:
2. lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society.
Alleviating poverty is as simple as handing out money. Whose money gets handed out?
@ Chris Harnish – there are some major changes happening at Chimborazo and Bellevue Elementary Schools that are helping to reverse this trend. A major step towards change is siphoning white school flight and economic and racial integration of neighborhood schools.
Real question: How do city people get the county people on board to dismantle de facto economic and race segregation carved in figurative stone by (i) city/county boundaries, and (ii) the inability of anything but cars to cross those boundaries? That’s the $64,000 question.
Next Friend,
Start with the Dillon Rule. As long as the cities and counties are distinct and separate entities, you are not going to make much progress.
@Paul The independent city system is actually not totally a Dillon Rule issue. There is a specific piece of state legislation enacted during Massive Resistance that says the City of Richmond cannot annex. The fact that it needs to be repealed (or kept in place depending on what side) is well known in nerdy legal and land use circles, but my question is not one of mechanics. How do you pull it off politically? How do you win over public opinion to want to do it?
I think giving families an extra $20 a month with a reduced utility bill is REAL poverty fighting.
I will take my ‘little drum’ over your condescending attitude, Alex, any day of the week.
As for regionalism, now that the center is growing again, I am in no hurry for the counties to pass off the eroding inner ring of their suburbs over to the City. Regional cooperation and congregation has to be done in an equitable manner.
Scott – I agree on regionalism. The four major jurisdictions (City, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover) should be one municipality. None of them work efficiently or equitably separately. So politically, how do we get there?