WHAT
DOES THE SOUTH BRONX EXPERIENCE
HAVE TO TELL US ABOUT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT?+
Frank Braconi*
Citizens Housing and Planning Council of New York
During the
past quarter-century it has become apparent that persistence of large
urban ghettos is a principal defect in the American model of welfare
capitalism. Those ghettos, which have assumed permanence on the American
landscape, no longer alarm an increasingly suburbanized mainstream
populace or demand the policy attention of the federal government.
Yet, the growing economic and social gap between the mainstream middle-class
and the millions still entrapped in inner-city slums is a reminder
that national prosperity does not necessarily erase historic injustices.
As the federal
government has retreated from large-scale anti-poverty programs the
techniques of “community development” have come to represent
the nation’s principle strategy for combating ghetto poverty.
Community development is supported by federal laws requiring private
financial institutions to invest in inner-city neighborhoods, by tax
policies that provide incentives for creating low-income housing and
hiring disadvantaged workers, and by some direct federal funding for
housing construction and rehabilitation. Thus far, the focus of community
development has been on the physical rehabilitation of deteriorated
inner city neighborhoods in the hope that environmental improvements
will stimulate job creation and counteract social disorganization.
No
community in the country has been the target of as much community
development activity as the South Bronx.** Financed
primarily through New York City’s own capital budget, federal
low-income housing tax credits, and private bank lending, the South
Bronx was the recipient of over $1 billion in community development
investment between 1987 and 1993. It was the focus of a number of
nationally recognized not-for-profit community development intermediaries
and the incubator of a number of innovative local development groups.
As the locus of such an intense effort, the South Bronx provides a
unique opportunity to evaluate the possibilities and shortcomings
of the community development approach.
This paper
traces the political and social history of the South Bronx Redevelopment
and examines the effects. The author notes that the most dramatic
and obvious effect of community development in the South Bronx is
that which is apparent to the eye. The South Bronx, once again, looks
like a thriving community. Additionally, the reduction in serious
crime is particularly impressive in light of the 20 percent increase
in population the South Bronx, experienced as result of the new housing
creation. While New York City has had a stunning drop in crime since
the mid-1980s, in several of the precincts comprising the South Bronx,
the drop exceeded the city-wide or borough average.
+This presentation
was given at the Moral Dimensions of Poverty Conference on October
16, 1999. The author participated in a workshop panel on Community
Strategies for Economic Development. The complete paper is available
through the Vincentian Center.
*Frank Braconi is the Executive
Director of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Council, a non-profit
policy research organization concerned with the physical and economic
development of the City. Mr. Braconi has written numerous reports
and articles dealing with housing, community development and the urban
environment. He is currently completing his doctorate in economics
at CUNY and teaches urban economics at NYU’s Real Estate Institute.
** Throughout this paper the South
Bronx is defined to include Bronx Community Board Districts 1, 2 and
3 which include the neighborhoods of Port Morris, Mott Haven, Melrose,
Longwood, Hunts Point, Claremont, Morrrisania and Crotona Park East.
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