President Trump Signs E.O. that Creates OPPORTUNITY ZONES...Another Promise Kept.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Locally they couldn't be happier. They are still in charge but crime is down and streets are being fixed. Party stores that used to be a block apart are closing and a new grocery store is being built along with lots of low income housing. The bottom of the barrel is leaving to another rat hole they can live in other than that it's all good. Except the schools ate still zoo like. Thats just a general lack of respect for anything or anyone.

a reply to: Boadicea

what plan exactly?

the plan of opportunity zones?

wtf does that mean?

the plan headed by a council which doesn't exist? are you missing something?

your ad hominem is that if it's not good then what else?

if the government cant fix the infrastructure without the president's son in law' real estate firms -being bailed out by Canadian 'investors '- or billionaire cronies then I guess the people affected are all minced meat....

what in the EO sounds like a plan to you?
it's all vague and ambiguous
funny enough, the council is to be disbanded by January 2021.
still no members of this council yet to be identified.

originally posted by: LordAhriman
The problem is that a majority of citizens in this country don't want him to keep most of his promises.

Also, what about that promise that Mexico would pay for his useless wall? Who is he demanding pay, right now, while threatening to shut down the government? The answer is us. Taxpaying citizens. More of us disapprove of the wall than otherwise.

How do you know the majority doesn't want him to keep his promises? Who cares who pays for the wall, I'll gladly help pay for it, I care about the security of my country. I paid a lot of healthcare for those millions who were subsidized under obamacare and I didn't like it, so how's it feel with the shoe on the other foot?

a reply to: odzeandennz

That would bring jobs to the area. Only a bad idea when you want to keep your foot on the poor man's neck.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
While the EO may sound good in theory, it seems like all it does is promote gentrification in low income neighborhoods. Something that has been historically bad for the people currently living in those neighborhoods.

Who's to say it won't turn the impoverished into middle class themselves? If there are planned projects for those areas then this would mean jobs.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
a reply to: LSU2018

Gentrification does not help the people living in these communities. All it does is price them out of the area they were already living in.

Then they need to figure out how to help themselves. Maybe Trump can propose something relative to a nursing home but for poor homeless people, perhaps a homeless asylum. They can go outside for play time, have access to television, and stay clothed and fed with a warm bed but stay monitored. When they're able to find a way to help themselves then they can be released. Our ghettos are out of control and there are shootings daily. Who would want a life like that?

a reply to: odzeandennz

Okay, gotcha. You have nothing practical or productive to offer. You know this isn't the solution but have nothing better to offer that people could rally around and build upon and expand upon... In other words, no solutions.

a reply to: LSU2018

Then they need to figure out how to help themselves....

So rich people get hard earned tax dollars and other government entitlements to make more money off the backs of the poor... and the poor "need to figure out how to help themselves"...

You really don't see a problem there???

a reply to: carewemust

Did you just get hired by the Trump administration to boost his numbers? Wow, I don't mind Trump keeping on track with his direction, but I don't say we are blessed by it.

a reply to: LSU2018

It would mean service jobs. Those aren't going to make them enough money to continue living in their trendy new neighborhood. Especially when developers start buying up the buildings they're living in and turning them in to condos.

If you want to not only rebuild these neighborhoods but help the communities you need to do more than just give everything a facelift. You need to revitalize the industry in these areas so there's access to decent paying but low-skill jobs.

Cleveland is a good example. They had been a dying city for a long time after the steel industry left. Now they're one of the fastest rising cities in the country thanks to a booming a medical industry. And while there are a lot of new people coming in to the city, the makeup of a lot of low income areas has remained the same but they're doing better now than they were just a few years ago thanks to having access to better jobs.

Compare that to a city like DC. All they've done is gentrify their lower income neighborhoods. Sure H Street now has a booming nightlife but the community that used to live there aren't doing any better. They've just been forced out.

That's not fixing the root problem. That's pretending it doesn't exist because upper middle class white people are no longer afraid to go in that neighborhood.

Infrastructure and industry revitalization is what will help these communities. Not martini bars and five star restaurants.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

It would mean service jobs. Those aren't going to make them enough money to continue living in their trendy new neighborhood

I have been told for years and my entire time on ATS that service economy is where the US is going and there is no going back, I have been laughed at when I said I saw how a service economy only screws the average person while the rich get richer. Many folks here laughed at trumps attempts (how ever ham fisted they were) to get manufacturing jobs back in the US.

If we dont return to making thinigs in our country, everyone not in the top 1% will be sold down the river.

===============

All that said, its a chicken or the egg syndrome... revitalizing and area is tough under perfect circumstances, it requires a lot of capital to be invested and if we are being honest there is little incentive to go into these poor areas and try to start a buisness.
Tax breaks give an incentive, yes that could lead to gentrification, the alternative is things stay the same.

If people stay on top of the local govt there is a chance they will steer it correctly if they have ignored it, it will be a money grab.

a reply to: Irishhaf

To be fair both service jobs and manufacturing jobs are pretty much going to be nonexistent in the next decade. So far the only solutions I've seen to this issue are a UBI or throttling back on progress. Neither of which is a long term solution.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
If the neighborhoods have been run down for decades, but it suddenly gets cleaner, more job additions, and reduced crime in a handful of years thanks to outside money perhaps the locals should piss off and find a dirty gutter they are more comfortable living in.

I have personally seen this improvements along the Florida avenue corridor from Sligh & FL up to MLK & FL. Seminole and Tampa heights have benefitted a great deal from these kinds of improvements. Both Central Park and west boulevard homes were absolutely # housing projects rife with drugs, prostitution and other criminal activity that are now gone and soon be replaced with similar development projects to continue bringing the downtown area to a thriving full service community, instead of the void of entitlement tax leeches that existed prior draining the counties coffers with high density rent subsidies and extra heavy policing.

Of course our county has pulled off alot of this on it's own, but hopefully this executive action could still be of benefit to get rid of Robles park, the last housing projects left standing in Tampa. None of these places Even had Central ac, and the friends I went to school with always used to complain about living in the # holes.

Former residents get first dibs to move back in the new neighborhoods anyways, but most never do. They toss that chapter of their lives to history and enjoy being pulled out of the bad memories associated with those locations.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Gentrify the whole country and let the lower class die!

What a novel approach to genocide.

a reply to: Xcalibur254
Who died? I just stated that the previous residents all had first dibs for returning to the new neighborhoods. Our city and county actually know how to serve its citizens, does yours??
Some came back, most preferred their new living conditions with the buy out money they received. You seem to believe people prefer to live in squalor??

The redevelopments are typically mixed income residence and commercial avenues. Go visit a housing project and ask the residents how much they love living there.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

If the neighborhoods have been run down for decades, but it suddenly gets cleaner, more job additions, and reduced crime in a handful of years thanks to outside money perhaps the locals should piss off and find a dirty gutter they are more comfortable living in.

I think that says it all.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Sounds good in theory.

Hillsborough in dire need of more affordable housing, faith group says
Thousands of teachers, firefighters and other professionals like Maquivar are struggling to afford decent housing or are paying more than half their income on rent, according to the Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality, an interfaith group that champions social causes. It is asking county leaders to dedicate more money for affordable housing.
...
Housing advocates say families should not spend more than one third of their income on housing. Otherwise, they risk spiralling into debt when unexpected expenses like car repairs or medical bills spring up.

But in Hillsborough, more than 215,000 families are spending more than 30 percent on rent, according to the Florida Housing Data Clearing House, a resource partly funded by the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida.

Two front-page articles this week starkly contrast the availability of housing in Tampa Bay. The first detailed the inability of a disabled Section 8 voucher recipient to find housing and the lack of affordable housing in Pinellas County. The second reported on $500 million in new development in Tampa, to include luxury housing. Of that, none is earmarked for mixed-rate or affordable housing. So my question to the developers is: What is enough profit? Is wringing every penny from areas — with infrastructure that taxpayers build and maintain — so necessary that not even 1 percent of the housing units will be affordable? www.tampabay.com...

As the U.S. renter population nears 44 million households — or 37 percent of U.S. households — and rents increase nationwide, rental affordability remains an important concern. Nearly half of U.S. renters are “cost burdened,” spending 30 percent or more of their income on rent. As illustrated in previous Apartment List research, the vast majority of low-income renters do not receive rental assistance. Nearly one in five renters were unable to pay their rent in full in the past three months. Households that struggle to pay rent often cut back spending on other basic necessities and may ultimately face eviction, with lasting consequences. The inability to pay rent in full is more common with low-income renters because unexpected expenses, such as medical bills or car repairs, often leave these renters with little income left over to put towards rent. www.apartmentlist.com...

originally posted by: 3n19m470
He shouldve just signed an executive order to give that land to the poor for free. Bastard has no idea how real economics work. Stimulating growth is no way to manage an economy! Why let the rich developers turn these areas into bloominv prosperous communities, just becuase they have all the tractors? Just give the land to some poor kid with a shovel, they can do just as good of a job! Or just take away that rich mans tractors and give them to the poor kid! Why cant Trump just...DO THAT?

You almost got me--I didn't decipher the sarcasm until I had written a sweet reply about how brilliant it is to advocate federal theft of private property.

Well done.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

That is an article on housing prices overall. Perhaps you should post this one, that is actually more applicable to the topic and related to the actual housing g projects I was referring too.

Boasting great views of the Downtown skyline and convenient access to Tampa’s urban job center, Ybor City and the Channel District, Central Park is emerging with new residences, businesses opportunities and great recreational amenities. At the mixed-use Encore development, the Trio apartment complex opened and Reed apartment complex is nearing completion. To the immediate west, the redevelopment of Perry Harvey, Sr. Park is imminent. By blending the neighborhood’s incredibly rich cultural history with the best principles of sustainable urban design, Encore’s distinctive character is igniting the rebirth of the Central Park neighborhood.

The Central Park CRA Community Advisory Committee is seeking individuals to serve. The purpose of a Community Advisory Committee is to insure that the interests of residents, property owners, businesses and other stakeholders in the area are represented in key decisions. Community Advisory Committees provide input and make recommendations to City staff and the Community Redevelopment Agency concerning their respective areas. Interested parties must live or work in one of the redevelopment areas or have significant interests within the area.

Central Park was the only housing projects and neighborhood I could not enter at leisure in my teenage years without being g harassed or threatened with violence. I made a wrong turn down a street one day and the entire public road between the houses across from them and one of the buildings was blocked off by a massive crowd of folks just waiting for trouble. I had to turn around or I would have faced violent repercussions, based on the hostile yelling I received.

That block has now been leveled and people can freely travel that road again

"To know your history, to know what your people have gone through, is so important," she said. Hardy was born on this land, as were her three children.

Hardy was back this week to see how things were progressing at the site. She was joined by about a dozen other former residents of the housing projects known as Central Park Village.

They met in a church across the street from the land to hear the latest word from the Tampa Housing Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Earlier that day, HUD officials presented a $30 million check to the Tampa Housing Authority toward the development.

Besides flowers, seniors have moved into a building, the first in what will be Encore, a neighborhood with public housing and market-value condominiums.

Hardy and the dozen others who had lived in some of the 483 concrete units until they were demolished in 2007 were promised new homes in Encore.

Since moving out, Hardy has been living in Belmont Heights Estates.

At the meeting, she learned that HUD's Choice Neighborhood Grant will pay for services for residents such as job training, behavioral and mental health, and a wellness center.

Hardy and her children each have disabilities and have to ride buses to doctors appointments and for simple chores such as grocery shopping. Hardy prays for a car. And for her new home in Encore, where these services and better transportation options will make her life easier.

The grant is for a new skate park, playground and multipurpose field at Perry Harvey Park, and an early Head Start program and free after-school care and tutors. It will also pay for a 2.5-acre urban farm next to the future Meacham Middle School.

It will renovate the 1921 St. James Church into a computer lab, and later, an African-American history museum. That is really important to Hardy.

"Our children need to know where they came from," she said.

Construction is planned to start on two more buildings in the coming months. All are certified silver by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. A storm water vault will be covered with 1,600 square feet of solar panels that will run the neighborhood's street lights.

For now, the fields with flowers are bordered by paved streets lined with palm trees, and marked with street signs: Ray Charles Boulevard and Hank Ballard Street, a nod to the musical roots of the area.

"Music tells the story of our lives," Hardy said.

As of December, nearly 300 former residents were still eligible to return.

But most move on, Housing Authority chief executive officer Jerome Ryans said. He expects fewer than 20 percent will return, he said. "If you have a desire to come back, please come back," he said at the meeting. "But as we told you earlier, there are rules and regulations. We all know what Central Park was like years ago. It was trouble."

It was known for drugs and gangs, but it was also a friendly neighborhood, Hardy said.

"It's what you make of it," she said.

this article is five years old. Most of those developments are near completion or already done. Man, it certainly sounds D's like they were all killed off in some genocidal action with all those amenities.
Belmont heights, Seminole heights, Tampa heights, and the. College Hill area have all successfully been redeveloped in a similar fashion. Some people return, many prefer to move on.

I love how some people can complain about how criminals and losers ruin neighborhoods they grew up in forcing them to leave, or wishing they could afford it, but some of those same people talk out the other side of their mouths about how horrible it is to redevelop similar communities because it allegedly forces out the poor??

My only first hand experience is with the actions of my city and county, and the residents mostly seem pleased with the results of these actions.

That last statement was a general statement to the audience, and not directed at you IIB.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

As of December, nearly 300 former residents were still eligible to return.

That's a phrase that needs to be clarified. Are they eligible to return and pay the same rent they were paying except now they'd be living in the new luxury condos? Or does it mean they'll be tolerated in the new community so long as they have the money to pay the increased cost of living that is now three to four times higher than it was?