#and when people said you’ve contributed to the gentrification of the neighborhood she said ‘how can I gentrify this area if I’m Latina’

[roeswater]

this vegan bakery in la is literally run by the worst woman I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing in my life

[ishthejourno]

Everything I’m Fighting Against Lives Under My Roof

To aspiring journalists - here’s lesson number one: work outwards and then in. 

Let me explain. 

I was having a conversation with my mom the other day at Costco about Harlem. I like Harlem. It has community. The sense of camaraderie reminds me of my honorary home of Newark, New Jersey, which I covered for local publications during my undergraduate career and even a little bit now. Newark has its rough neighborhoods but intensely cares about the effects of booming gentrification in the downtown area. It’s a sight to see really - blossoming industry next to impoverished areas and people begging for food. I know this happens in many cities but Newark is one of a handful with a nationally renowned reputation for being particularly shitty and combating the notion that it’s filled with crime and therefore, with bad people. After reporting in these neighborhoods and working at a non-profit in Newark, I got a clearer picture of what it’s like to be disadvantaged - not lazy - and how systemic socioeconomic problems regarding issues like race and class are a huge factor in opportunity. So when I walk through a neighborhood like Harlem, I don’t only see a slew of crime. I also understand hardship. I hate that people think that laziness or pickiness with jobs or only wanting to live on government assistance are the sole reasons behind low-income households or homelessness. That’s what my mother sees. That’s what my father sees. 

So while we were talking about these things, my mother got frustrated with me “justifying” crime. It only got worse after I tried to explain that while I’m not condoning crime, my reporting experience allowed me to see things differently. In response she said things like “I don’t do what you do,” “I’m not as smart as you” and my personal favorite, “I’m not a mayor or governor so why should I care?” She dismissed the conversation and told me to calm down because I was upset. I had a similar experience with my dad who said the same when I asked him about how he felt about the thousands of people dying at the hands of the Philippine president - this is the state of his homeland - and he stopped thinking about it after shutting off the TV. Other than the privileged position of being able to choose not to think about things like poverty and death, the “why should I care?” card hurts me as a journalist especially when it's played by my family. The way I see it - if you can’t converse with me about race, politics or economics, even if it’s not directly related to journalism or news, then you can’t possibly understand how I see the world and why I do what I do. 

Those interactions were like a microcosm of the world and industry that I’m entering. I know that people feel helpless in the hands of social issues. But even the informed conversation, the awareness that comes with trying to empathize and understand a world beyond your own can be a driving point for change. To get some fucking perspective and maybe be inspired to become more civically engaged, to vote, volunteer, to start something. I started thinking that if I couldn’t reach people in my immediate vicinity - how could I even strive for impactful change in communities that are not my own or even think about inspiring people who do not even know me? All my work falls on deaf ears. 

A friend of mine said it best - work outwards then in. And if you’re experiencing difficulties like me, do the same. Let the success of your work resonate and reach the people you aim to serve. People you love will recognize the impact you have and what you’ve contributed, even the slightest to positive change. Prove them wrong and show them ways they can do the same. I’m writing this as both a reminder to myself and to my growing dedication to transparency. Journalism is hard. It is NOT a 9-5. Journalism is working tirelessly and remembering the people you want to help. The rest will happen later.  

[gdmli]

Capital Core – Downtown Development                       Thursday, December 6, 2018

Being in a class in the recently renovated Downtown YMCA, was an appropriate venue for a class which was focused on the state of, accomplishments and challenges with the downtown core and surrounding neighborhoods.  Des Moines has been well documented for being a fabulous community in all kinds of rankings.  What we don’t hear about very often are all of the challenges and shortfalls which we face.  This class celebrated our successes but also brought many of those challenges to light……

Presentation #1- Downtown DSM Retail 2030 with Nikki Syverson

Nikki was pouring up some knowledge for a thirsty crowd eager to learn about more about the state of retail in Des Moines.

Our downtown residents have grown substantially in the past decade.  This has been good for retail.  The HyVee grocery store has made a huge impact in making downtown a sustainable place for people to live without fleeing to the suburbs for routine shopping requirements such as groceries.

The rest of the retail scene is more nuanced as is all traditional “brick & mortar” retail establishments in our ever-expanding online world.  It’s a precarious retail landscape these days to say the least but the East Village is managing it well by presenting a nice mix of national retailers along with local flavors.  Wonderful examples include West Elm (national) and Kitchen Collage (local).

The East Village has developed nicely into a user-friendly environment of destinations such as Zombie Burger and Raygun.  As the onslaught of online retail continues to march ahead, I feel good about our ability to create spaces and places where people want to visit, hang out and hopefully part with a few hard-earned dollars.  

Presentation #2- Affordable Housing with Eric Burmeister, Polk County Housing Trust Fund

and Matt Hauge, Community Housing Initiatives

Be prepared to be depressed.  Be prepared to feel guilty if you live in a moderately nice home.  Be prepared to be indicted if you’ve never stood up for Affordable Housing and for those that call it home.

Eric Burmeister delivered the facts.  Matt Hauge delivered an emotional knockout punch.  Let’s start with Eric.  Just the facts, ma’am.

We have 15,440 Extremely Low Income households (or “ELI” defined as 30% of AMI or Area Median Income) but we only have 8,237 units to house these families.  You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that we have a problem; an imbalance in supply and demand.  So what’s an ELI to do?  They have to pay more of their already sparse income on housing.  The average ELI spending 68% of their income while 30% is the general rule of thumb.  It may not be politically correct but the poor get poorer…….

This situation most likely contributes to the ELI’s inability to own a vehicle which means they disproportionately rely on public transportation or pedestrian-power.  That’s not the end of the world but with their major employment centers being Jordan Creek Mall and the Outlets of Des Moines in Altoona where low-wage retail jobs exist; this isn’t exactly convenient.  This commute is significant and utilizing public transportation, although reliable and cost-effective, is not as fast as private transportation.

It didn’t take long for all of us to understand that being low income and “house-poor” is a dreadful problem.  So why don’t we just build more affordable housing?  More on that later…….

Now that we’ve digested some numbers let’s switch gears and view the situation through the eyes of an affordable housing operator such as Matt Hauge of Community Housing Initiatives (or CHI).  Matt works directly with low-income families every day.  Even the term “low-income” is loaded by the way.  To some it has a negative connation so they prefer terms like “work force housing”.  As you can see, even how we talk about the issue it is problematic.  But people like Eric and Matt are talking about it to everyone that will listen.  They’re talking a lot and their raising awareness while affecting change.  I’m convinced that there will be a special place in Heaven for those guys and I’ll probably be doing their laundry up there.

Matt reminded me of the Grim Reaper.  “You never know if we might meet someday…….” he said trying to help us to understand that many of CHI’s residents didn’t plan to be there.  Many of them lived a “normal” life once which included holding down jobs, having a home and raising families.  But then something happened; a medical emergency, a lost job, a family crisis.  Something happened that could happen to any one of us God willing.

Matt shared heart-breaking stories of families “chasing housing” all over the country and asked us to think about the effect that would have on the children of these families that are uprooting every 12-18 months just to find an affordable place to sleep.  How do these kids find stability?  How do they feel connected to friends, teachers or a community?  They don’t.  They are isolated and broken from one move to the next.

Gunnar Olson challenged all of us to drop our “NIMBY-ism” ways and to encourage our local city councils to clear the roadblocks to develop affordable housing in our own neighborhoods.  “Studies show” [Blogger’s Note: I swear I’ve heard this but I didn’t verify] that intermingling affordable housing (in limited numbers) into market rate neighborhoods is a more sustainable than concentrating “projects” in large numbers but the economies of affordable housing development doesn’t lend itself to that approach.  More on that later………or next actually.

Presentation #3- Downtown Development Panel with:

Angie Pfannkuch, Christensen Development Vice President

Erin Olson-Douglas, City of Des Moines Urban Designer

Kameron Middlebrooks, Iowa State University Extension & Outreach Minority Business Coordinator

 This was a really good panel because up to this point I think many people in the room thought the problem of not having enough affordable housing could be solved by creating more supply (ie. building more units) but of course nothing is that simple.  Angie Pfannkuch explained the financial constraints created by land costs, soft costs (such as design) and construction costs which creates an environment of overall building costs that far outweighs what “ELI” residents can afford to pay for a unit.  It’s simple economics.

We all want to do good but doing good isn’t always economically feasible.  Speaking of doing good; is gentrification good or bad?  Kameron Middlebrooks largely viewed it as a negative if it meant that it pushed long-term, historical residents out of neighborhoods they could once afford.  Erin Olson-Douglas wasn’t so sure.  She felt if redevelopment was done with respect to neighborhood integration of diverse incomes then that investment into older neighborhoods could actually be beneficial.  No easy answers for sure.

Like what’s the answer to what happened to the neighborhood north of I-235 which has never recovered from having a giant interstate placed right through the middle of it.  This decision disproportionately dispersed African-American residents and businesses.  The truth is you can’t roll back the clock and you can’t feasibly fix the injustice which happened decades ago but that also doesn’t mean that you throw your hands up and do nothing of course.  The solutions will involve public and private effort.  Policies by government and investment by the private sector.

We clearly have a ways to go as it was noted that Des Moines consistently ranks as one of the worst cities for African Americans to live in the United States.  Those rankings are backed by a plethora of measures comparing African Americans to their white counterparts along such statistics as unemployment, income, prison population, on and on.  That’s probably not shocking for members of the African American community but its tragically embarrassing and troubling for everyone else.  It’s also painfully ironic when compared to all the “good lists” and rankings that Des Moines is recognized and honored with.  It’s clear that we need to work really hard to rectify this cancer if we’re ever going to truly mature and flourish as a community.

And if we could accomplish some of those lofty goals what would that look like?  Well, we’re about to find out……   

Presentation #4- Visioning Activity & Reflection / Discussion

Visionary Headline: Study Finds Des Moines to be the Most Balanced & Equitable Community in the United States 

To conclude the class, we broke up into groups to create a “success” headline.  We were asked to explain what success looked like (from the City Core perspective) and then to come up with a newspaper headline that captured those sentiments.  Mine would be the following with an article laying out studies that indicate that Des Moines rates as #1 amongst its peers for Affordable Housing, a vibrant & energized downtown (in regards to residents, office and retail standards) along with balancing incomes and racial demographics.  Sounds a bit utopian but hey you asked us to dream.

In Conclusion:  The Capital Core strategies are based on the philosophy that a strong, growing region needs a healthy central city in order to thrive. Doing so requires increasing the capacity and diversity of downtown amenities to attract people, while building and sustaining downtown housing at multiple price points to stay affordable for the workers needed to keep businesses open including minority and historically-discriminated businesses.