We want to congratulate both new and incumbent members who have been elected to the City Council.
There is much optimism that this council will take a fresh look at problems facing this city, and that it will make decisions for the right reason - on the basis of what is best for the city and its citizens.
The Community Development Council is the trade association for Community Development Corporations (CDCs) that work in the trenches, along with many others, to preserve and improve threatened neighborhoods. This is an agenda we feel is shared by many in Memphis, and certainly by the City Council.
Through our years of work and advocacy, the CDCs have learned much about the health of communities and identified factors that both enable and prevent revitalization. The CDCs of Memphis look forward to working with the new council and would like to offer these perspectives and recommendations for the coming term.
Make policy and establish accountability. According to our City Charter, it is the role of the council to make "policy, laws and regulations," and it is the duty of the mayor to carry them out. Do not micromanage. This is a waste of your valuable time. The council, like any other board of directors, is there to set policy. Here are some examples:
Policy - Concentrate infrastructure investment in existing, built neighborhoods in order to discourage flight and development in the bean fields.
Accountability - Instruct staff to map patterns of infrastructure investments and report to the council annually.
Policy - Properties with delinquent taxes will be taken by the city after the legally allowable three years of nonpayment.
Accountability - Complete this process before the properties are five years in arrears. The council will annually review properties in violation of this policy.
Policy - Reduce code violations on empty lots by 10 percent in 2008.
Accountability - Retain an independent third party to survey neighborhoods and document violations. Conduct another study 12 months later. At that time, the accountable city employee gets fired or gets a raise.
Establish priorities for uses of funding and put healthy neighborhoods at the top of the list. It is the job of the council to approve the budget and finance the programs as presented by the mayor. Both branches of government should agree that a commitment to neighborhoods requires an investment.
Bring more tools to bear on our neighborhoods. The Center City Commission has many tools that have allowed it to make great progress Downtown. Bring similar tools to bear on all of our older neighborhoods. Grant tax breaks on new houses built in disinvested old neighborhoods. This will save us money in the long run. Bring tax increment financing (TIF) to communities that need new investment.
Spend our money in ways that will save money. There is much evidence that says funds spent on education and job training ultimately save money. We cannot currently build enough jails to hold our young men.
Although we do not excuse criminal behavior, we would feel better about locking them up if we knew that they had been aggressively offered job training opportunities as a way out of life on the corner.
There should be no sacred cows. Assess programs by their results, not their popularity. Early voting may have general support from citizens, but if citizens knew that this costly program has not increased voter turnout, would they think differently? Is there a better use for these funds? How many other programs are being funded yet are not delivering real results? Find out. That is your job.
Agree on principles and stand by them. Do not try to please everyone. Prioritizing and strategically funding programs will result, in the short term, in some winners and some losers. Traditionally, funds from City Hall have been sprinkled across the city so thinly that the neighborhoods remain parched.
Set a good example; start at home. At present, there are many city-owned vacant lots and properties in violation of the city's own anti-neglect ordinance.
Throw out the good-old-boy system. Traditionally, the way to get a vacant lot cleaned up has been to call your councilman. That member would then call city staff to see that the work gets done. Set up systems that work, set goals, establish accountability.
Use your bully pulpit to do good. Columbus, Ohio, has a public shaming program for negligent and predatory landlords. They put up signs listing the owners and mortgage holders, including their names and addresses. They have had great success getting properties improved.
Open up the process. Help bring wider representation to the boards and commissions that shape our neighborhoods, including the Land Use Control Board, Beer Board and Board of Variances.
Make racial reconciliation and economic fairness a part of your job. Memphis is on the front lines of a great national experiment as to whether people of different races and classes can live together. The council is as diverse as our city. Resist cliques. Support programs for the benefit of all.
No more business as usual. This work is not for the faint of heart. It is time for people of good will, starting with our City Council members, to stand up every day for what is right. When you do stand up, the CDCs of Memphis, and many others, will stand and work with you.
Change in City Council leadership brings the opportunity to make strides for the betterment of Memphis in the national spotlight, notes Steve Lockwood, but only with accountability.
Steve Lockwood is executive director of the Frayser Community Development Council and chair of the Policy Committee of the Community Development Council.
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