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What appears to be an urban development program with good
intentions has now left the city of Evansville shaking their heads. It’s no
secret that those living in the Evansville area aren’t too happy with the
government program “Front Door Pride.” There are many reasons why we should be
excited that our city is giving a genuine effort to rebuild our urban core, but
at the same time, there are also many reasons why we should demand Front Door
Pride be reformed. Why is Front Door Pride in need of reform?
For starters, the program fails miserably at taking into
account its market. Obviously, anytime you are paying around $200,000 to build
a home and then selling it on the market for a little over $100,000, you have
to wonder if A. Your program understands capitalism B. Your program is
sustainable. Yes, I do believe that the Front Door Pride neighborhood deserves
to have nice houses. I think it’s a great thing to drive through some of these
neighborhoods and see change taking place in an area that once had no hope. But I also fail to see how a neighborhood who
has been hit hard by the economy can afford houses that are priced over
$100,000 even after the city takes a major financial hit.
One organization that Front Door Pride should look to for
guidance and advice is Habitat For Humanity. Located just a few blocks down
from the Front Door Pride homes, you will see Habitat For Humanity houses that
are priced in the $50,000 range. And if you drive through their neighborhood,
you will see that just about all of these houses have been spoken for by needy,
and much deserving, families who simply cannot afford the lavish Front Door
Pride homes.
Another failed policy that Front Door Pride needs to reform
is their practice of buying houses here, there, everywhere. When you drive
through the Front Door Pride neighborhoods, you will see nice and new $100,000
plus homes that the city just completed standing right next to homes that are
just barely standing. One look at this alignment will tell you that this nice,
new Front Door Pride home is probably going to lose some of its value because
the city failed to build their houses together.
On the flip side, the Habitat For Humanity homes were built
together in blocks. As a result, the entire neighborhood has been completely
transformed, the property values are all about the same minus a few perks on
each lot, and the spirit of the neighborhood has been effectively changed. This
is what we need out of our Front Door Pride program.
As someone who believes that the key to turning around
Evansville is through successful implementation of Smart Growth practices, I
also believe that the city and Habitat for Humanity should consider building high-rises
in these districts in order to improve Evansville’s urban density while using
less land at the same time. High-rises would also do a better job of improving
neighborhood relations than the basic one room/one level houses that are split
from their neighbors.
Lastly but most importantly, I can’t stress enough that the
Front Door Pride program needs to be moved around the city regions from time to
time. Although I’m glad our city started with the 4th Ward since it
has been hit hard by the economy over the years and has seen very little, if
any, government investment in it, I do believe that it is time for the Front
Door Pride program to begin laying down roots in other Wards once it has been
reformed.
When you have some free time, take a stroll through the 3rd
Ward neighborhoods that are bounded by Main Street, Franklin Street, Virginia
Street, and the old Hercules Motor Company buildings next to US 41. I have
taken several pictures of these neighborhoods and have enclosed them for you to
see.
The condition of this region is something you have to see in
person in order to grasp the gravity of the situation. Once the manufacturing
companies around the neighborhood moved out, these neighborhoods have been left
to fight for themselves.
If done correctly, these neighborhoods can be a source of
pride for our city. They can help us attract small manufacturing and technology
companies to the old Hercules Plant buildings as well as Berry Plastics, they
can extend our Downtown investments, and they can show that our city is
committed to bringing prosperity and hope to all Wards in the city.
At one of the mayor’s traveling town hall meetings, I sat
down with Mr. Philip Hooper of the Department of Metropolitan Development. He
told me that many of the young professionals who recently moved here to work
for the company SS&C were looking for urban housing where they could walk
or take mass transit to their office. He also said the city was interested in
rebuilding the Jacobsville neighborhoods with young professional housing so
that Main Street was connected from the Ford Center to Bosse Field.
There is no reason that our Front Door Pride cannot be
revamped and partially relocated. The neighborhoods in the 3rd Ward
are simply unacceptable, especially when they come with so much potential.
Instead of Front Door Pride spending double on a home and then leaving it all
by itself, shouldn’t our city be building affordable housing in bulk in all
wards like the 3rd Ward? Shouldn’t those representing the 3rd
Ward be fighting to bring both public and private urban renewal projects to
this area?
It’s time for urban renewal in the 3rd Ward, it’s
time our Front Door Pride stopped hiding our back door embarrassments!
