Initial Dispatch from the Roy Transition Team
Yesterday, Mayor-elect Jacques Roy and his transition team gathered at the Bolton Avenue Community Center to begin work on laying out a foundation of ideas and plans for the next four years. Mr. Roy spoke for approximately forty-five minutes, instructing team members on their duties and his vision of smart growth (or community-based planning) for Alexandria.
Urban planner Pat Moore, who will advise the Mayor-elect on Vision, gave a twenty-minute presentation on smart growth principles and what he called “growing buffalo food” (which, he explained, are ways in which a community can bolster its ability to attract and keep jobs).
The team then broke into committees and subcommittees.
I can only speak for the discussions we had in two subcommittees to which I was assigned, housing and community development.
The initial findings of the community development subcommittee were that Alexandria needs to better market itself and its cultural and artistic communities and events. Additionally, I believe (and I’ve said this before on the blog) that we need to improve our amphitheater. The subcommittee discussed, among other things, ways in which we can diversify and increase the conventions we hold, city-wide events like Quein’ on the Red and Third Street block parties, and utilizing public access television to share regularly updated information about upcoming events in the city.
The housing committee recognized the dearth of affordable housing in Alexandria and developed several strategies for dealing with this problem. (All of which will be explained as the ideas become more fleshed out). The initial summary conclusion of the housing subcommittee says it best:
“The biggest housing issue for purposes of quality of life is the lack of affordable housing. This stems in part from the high percentage of residents living below the poverty line. It should also be noted that the last public housing project was built 30 years ago.”
If you have any questions or suggestions for housing or community development, please feel free to leave a comment.
CenLamar 
Affordable housing needs to be encouraged as a solution for lower income people. Renting needs to be discouraged. Many times lower income people do not have the knowledge or understanding about purchasing and owning property. Citizens whose families have owned their own homes for many generations can teach those that have not about getting a loan, inspecting a property, and figuring out what they can afford and maintain.
I do not believe that new housing developments that are poorly constructed are the answer. Alexandria has a significant stock of older houses that simply need to be renovated properly and in a tastefull manner. They can probably be purchased and renovated for a total cost far less than what a new house costs to build. Add to the fact that these older homes have plenty of character and 99% of the time are better constructed than any newer home and it just makes sense.
Not to mention the fact that renovating these older homes will also help to clean up the city and instill some pride in the general public.
The city can take the initiative to help clean up these older neighborhoods by making life tough for the landlords by enforcing codes. The city can also take the role in educating these disadvantaged consumers.
Upgrading existing housing makes sense if some HUD assistance or private subsidy is available. Maybe with Democratic control of Congress the minimum wage will finally be raised so more people can pay for a decent roof over their heads.
First clean up the Alexandria Housing Authority which has been dysfunctional for years. Subject to numerous unfavorable HUD audits, at one time rated by HUD as a “troubled agency.” A Board of Directors with little vision and less enthusiasm for seeing that the public interest is served. The City could well partner with non-profits (The Homeless COalition, Inner-City Revitalization, etc. come to mind) and use some CDBG and other Federal Funds to buy up the slum properties lining the “Sonya Quarters” and build single or, at best, duplex housing, use some of the green space acquired for playgrounds and a neighborhood meeting center. I read the list of those folks assigned to the transition teams..did not see many folks who have worked on housing/homeless issues over the years….just wondering out loud.
Jack Dyer…..social work and occasional commentator on the human condition!!
If you get a chance, point me in the direction of the Education Committee. I’m interested in what proposals they have for increasing the viability of education in CenLa.
Upgrading old houses for purchase would be a great idea, if, instead of just making them look nice, you made them energy efficient. Utility bills are crazy in those old wood frame houses. And, if you are only renting, you are not going to make improvements that will actually save you money. Home ownership should be encouraged.
I agree with much of what has been said concerning housing in Alexandria.
We definitely need to find ways to promote home ownership and educate people on the responsibilities and benefits of ownership.
I also believe that in-fill redevelopment is essential, and such a program would present a very viable solution to affordable housing. The costs of new construction are prohibitively high.
However, let’s think about this creatively: Our city is expanding, and pockets of prime property are now being developed. What happens twenty years from now? Well, at our current pace, the areas of growth will only be populated with high-end residential units and homes, which means we’ll be shutting out a vast portion (the majority) of our population from enjoying and living in new parts of our city.
Now, I know this may not be an incredibly popular idea (particularly among those in my family’s line of business), but we need to find ways of bringing affordable housing into new areas of town. Otherwise, our city would be growing lop-sided; demographically, we’d be even more stratified and segregated, and that’s never good for a community’s health.
We can’t just be thinking about how to solve the immediate problem; we need to make sure that we won’t have a NEW problem in twenty years.
Oh, and I am not talking about a massive affordable housing development, though that has been tossed around as a concept. I’m talking about working with developers to ensure a mix of housing types in new developments. Create more opportunities for planned urban developments.
“utilizing public access television to share regularly updated information about upcoming events in the city”
that does seem like a no brainer, the channel just sits there…..i know the facial details of the councilman way too well…..
roy!! roy!!! we want roy!!
If you’re referring to a PUD – that would be planned unit district.
As for some of the comments made – cleaning up the housing authority would be a huge step forward. For instance, did you know it is against the law for renters in federally support housing developments to be in possession of fire arms and drugs? This being the case, why then aren’t more raids conducted on several developments and the gangsters locked up? Why then do the AHA police simply turn and look the other way. One particular development on Monroe is causing problems for the entire neighborhood – including the schools in the area, yet nothing is done.
As for buying up properties in certain areas of the City – some of that doesn’t even have to occur. The City actually technically owns the property already. They have taken then for taxes, but guess what, no one wants to purchase these at tax sale. Let’s market these properties to developers specializing in low to moderate income or non-profits who can get homes build and turn them over to owners.
The City does need more code enforcement officers. They should be out in force every day inspecting homes that even appear to be run down. Property taken for condemnation can be worked just like adjudicated.