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F ebr ua ry 1 9 93 N ew Y o rk 's C ommun ity A ffa irs N ews M a ga r:in e $2.5

Officials say there's nowhere else to shelter them.

A R E A P O L IC Y B O A R D F L IP - F L O P D H IG H W A Y S O R S U B W A Y S ?T H E N E W W A V E O F A N T I -P O V E R T Y P R O G R A M S

-Thecity is sending hundreds of homeless people with AIDSto sleep on the floors of crowded welfare offices.


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ei tv Limi tsVolume XVIII Number 2

City Limits is published ten times per year ,monthly except bi-monthly issues in June/July and August/September, by the City LimitsCommunity Information Service, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to disseminatinginformation concerning neighborhoodrevitalization.SponsorsAssociation for Neighborhood andHousing Development, Inc.New York Urban CoalitionPratt Institute Center for Community andEnvironmental DevelopmentUrban Homesteading Assistance BoardBoard of Directors'Eddie Bautista, NYLPIICharter RightsProjectBeverly Cheuvront, former City LimitsEditorErrol Louis, Central Brooklyn PartnershipMary Martinez, Montefiore HospitalRebecca Reich, Turf CompaniesAndrew Reicher, UHABTom Robbins, JournalistJay Small, ANHDWalter Stafford , New York UniversityDoug Turetsky, former City Limits EditorPete Williams, Center for Law and

Social Justice Affiliations for identification only.

Subscription rates are : for individuals an dcommunity groups, $20/0ne Year, $30/TwoYears; for businesses , foundations, banks,government agencies and libraries, $35/0neYear, $50/Two Years. Low income,unemployed .$10/0ne Year.City Limits welcomes comments and articlecontributions. Please include a stamped. selfaddressed envelope for return manuscripts .Material in City Limits does not necessarilyreflect the opinion ofthe sponsoring organizations . Send correspondence to: City Limits.40 Prince St.. New York. NY 10012. Postmaster:Send address changes to CityLimits. 40 PrinceSt. . NYC 10012.

Second class postage paidNew York. NY 10001City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330)(212) 925-9 820FAX (212) 966-3407Editor: Lisa GlazerSenior Editor: Andrew WhiteAssociate Editor: Steve MitraContributing Editors: Peter Marcuse .Margaret MittelbachProduction: Cltip CliffeAdvertising Representative: Faith WigginsOffice Assistant: Seymour GreenIntern: Beth GreenfieldPhotographers: F.M.Kearney. Suzanne TobiasCopyright 1993. All Rights Reserved. Noportion or portions of this journal may bereprinted without the express permission ofthe publishers.City Limits is indexed in the Alternative PressIndex and the Avery Index to ArchitecturalPeriodicalsand is available on microfilm fromUniversity Microfilms International .An n Arbor.MI48106.

2jFEBRUARY 1993jCITY UMITS

Webs of CommunityI

magine a spider in the South Bronx, spinning a delicate web that linksneighborhood residents, tenant organizations, community groups,schools, hospitals and small businesses. This image of connections isone way to describe an important new trend in community development.Instead of focusing on an isolated project like a park or an apartmentrenovation, a number of foundations, government agencies and otherorganizations are now implementing a broader, more inclusive model forchange. At last!The new model has two important aspects. It starts off with a goalneighborhood revitalization-and then proceeds to fund a variety ofprojects that work together to meet that goal. It also mandates substantialinput from people living in the neighborhood itself.In New York alone, there are more than a handful of projects experimenting with variations of this approach: the Comprehensive Community Revitalization Program, Agenda for Children Tomorrow, HealthyStart, the Neighborhood Networks, the Community Building Initiativeand the Bushwick Geographic Targeting Task Force. Across the country

there are scores of similar projects, most of them still in their infancy.These projects merit attention, enthusiasm-and some questioning.It's important to examine who backs them, how communities participate,where money is targeted-and what finally results.Some projects seem to be relying on the idea that neighborhood-basedgroups should become a bridge connecting community residents withprivate and public resources. This could create mini-versions of theEnterprise Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation,which funnel corporate cash to community groups. This approach has anexcellent track record of accomplishments, but it was created by corporations and foundations an d emphasizes efficiency an d professionalismrather than the time-consuming task of building communities from thebottom up.For comprehensive programs to work, they must have a sincerecommitment to the challenging task of community organizing, an dneighborhood residents should have voting power to help determinehow and where resources are distributed. Without this, these programscould easily become band-aids for social problems instead of a real forcefor social change.

Cover photograph by Andrew l ichtenstein.


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1 I ' ~ f j ' ' i I I FEATURESNo VacancyFor the first time, hundreds of homeless people withAIDS are being sent to dingy, unsafe overnight welfareoffices. 12Making ConnectionsSix South Bronx community groups are taking part in anexperiment in comprehensive funding for neighbor-hood change. 18DEPARTMENTSEditorialWebs of Community ............... ................ ................. 2BriefsYouth Dollars ........................................................... 4Empty Stomachs ......................................................4

A Taystee Future? .................................................... 4~ 1 u t u a l Distrust ............. ...... ............. ........................ 5ProfileCatalyst for Change .................................................. 6PipelinesThe Politics of Poverty ............................................. 8A Reconstruction Agenda .................................. .... 22City ViewPrescription for Success? ....................................... 24Review

Teach Your Children Well .................................... 25Job Ads ....................................................................... 27

Catalyst/Page 6

No Vacancy/Page 12

Reconstruction/Page 22

CITY UMITS/FEBRUARY 1993/3


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YOUTH DOLLARSA youth-oriented job-trainingprogram that originated in EastHarlem more than 20 years ag owill now be expanded in 10cities nationwide.''YouthBuild'' was born in1979 when a team of localyouths started rehabilitating anabondoned building on EQst119th Street. Now, theYouthBuild Act, introduced byCongressman Major Owensfrom Brooklyn and folded intoan appropriations bill, allocatesa minimum of $17.5 million for14 projects.th e YouthBuild programprovides hands-on experiencein rehabilitation and construction, training for acquiring a

high school equivalencydiploma, and skills for gettingand keeping a job. In EastHarlem, abOut 55 percent of theyouth who take part are placedin jobs, according to Sonia Buof the Youth Action Program,which runs the local YouthBuildproject.But even as the program hasbeen accepted nationally, it hascome close to extinction in NewYork City. las t year, the YouthAction Program lost 50 rrcentof its funding because 0restrictions impased by thefederal government, continuinga downward spiral that beganin the mid-19S0s.Because of the cuts, the citycould only provide funding forseven months of training insteadof the usual nine to twelvemonths. And the program hadto be limited to 17- to-21-yearolds, instead of extending to 24-year-olds as it had in the past.Instead of training abou t 100youths, only 70 were accepted."Much of the Aexibility of theprogram was lost and, as aresult, it became har der toimplement," Bu adds.The federal appropriationshould brine funds for NewYork and other areas by thesummer. In the meantime, Busays "we're hoping that theprivate donations will continueand that the federal moneycomes soon, or this programwill die."In New York City, YouthBuildprograms are operating inManhattan and the Bronx. Withfederal funding, Congressman4/FEBRUARY 1993/CITY UMITS

Owens hopes that it will beexpanded to areas likeBrownsville in Brooklyn, whereyouths can rehabilate many ofthe abondoned buildings, saysOwens' spokesman Scott Henry.''YouthBuild has shown real,hard r e s u l ~ and the kids ofBrownsville need a positiveprogram like this," Henry says.o Dwl_ OestrIcher

EMPTY STOMACHSSoup kitchens are finding itnearly impossible to cope withthe rising tide of.hungry NewYorkers knocking on their doors,according to a survey by an

advocacy group for emergencyfood programs in the city."We find pearle are in aperpetual state 0 emergency,"says luz Rodriguez, executivedirector of the WashingtonHeights Ecumenical FoOdPantry. "Families must choosebetween paying rent or buyingfood."According to the survey,conducted last September by theNew York City CoolitionAgainst Hunger, 59 percent ofthe 273 city soup kitchens that

r e s ~ n d e d sent people awayunfed. About two-thirdsreported that they served

smaller and smaller portions offood during the previous sixmonths. And SO percent saidthey were feeding more peaplethis y e a ~ than last.Most people go to soupkitchens and food pantriesbecause they have exhaustedtheir public benefits like foodstamps and public assistance,according to the survey."Nothing is being done toaddress the causes of hunger,"says Judith Walker, executivedirector of the Coolition, callingthe city's 750 emergency foodproviders a "huge stop-gapsolution."Even with the number ofpeaple on public assistancerising to over one million in1992, and unemploymentcrossing over into the doubledigits, state aid to food progr


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work with real estate agents tofind a suitable building for thenew plant.The state's Urban Development Corporation recentlyawarded $75,000 to the group,and foundations and bankshave pitched in another$46,000. The money will beused in ~ r t to pay fOr theservices of consultants from theICA Group, which has helpedset up a number of workerowned and community-basedbusinesses, including Community Home Care Associates inthe Bronx (see "CarefulT aining" , August/September1992).ICA has already completed astudy examining the possiblemarketing strategies for the newbakery, as well as an analysisof competing companies. 'Whatwe found was that the b a k e ~ isfeasible," says Gail Sokoloff ofICA . 'We're positive andhopeful" that it can work.The city, meanwhile, is intenton retrieving $780,000 in taxbreaks given to T ystee over theyears . Wall ace Ford, commissioner of the Department ofBusiness Services, saysStroehmann can' t finalize thesale of its Flushing propertywithout paying the city back forthe tax breaks. Stroehmann isreportedly selling the site of theformer plant to Home Depot, aSouthern retail chain.

Once the tax money isrecovered, Ford says, the cityplans to invest it with theworker-owned bakery. 0Andrew White

MUTUAL DISTRUSTA vocal group of a few

dozen tenants is challenging thelegality of the Cooper SquareMutual Housing Association(MHA) barely a year after it~ a n renovating its firstbuTIding .The MHA's opponents havejoined together as the LowerEast Side United Tenants,holding frequent meetings in thecommunity, rallying supportersand raising money for a lawsuitagainst Cooper Square and thecity. The tenants, who numbered38 at their most recent meeting,

Community Cllre: Members of East Brooklyn Congregations in the new family health center they establishedwith St. Mary's Hospital in East New York.

char ge that the city's housingdepartment approved theproject in 18 formerly cityowned buildings without theproper consent of the tenants.The MHA is an offshoot ofthe Cooper Square Committee,which has fought for more thanthree decades to preserve lowincome housing in the neighbarhood. But that's not enough toconvince some tenants of theorganization's good intentions."They've turned their backon the community," chargesFrank Consorte, a member ofLower East Side United Tenants."Cooper Square sold us out.They're trying to get rid of lowincome people, but they'redoing it in a slick way," he says.He lives in one of the 18buildings, which are on Thirdand Fourth streets between theBowery and Second Avenue.The buildings have a total ofabaut 330 apartments.A mutual housing association is a method of owning andmanaging several buildings in acooperative manner. Majordecisions about repairs andmanagement are made by acentral board of directors, witha majority of members electedby tenants and others appointedby local community groups. Thebasic idea is that sharedownership improves thecooperative's chances ofsurvival. The plan also promisesto preserve rents at levels as low

as possible--while still coveringmanagement and operatingcosts.But many tenants paid lessthan $100 a month in rent formany years, while the buildingswere owned by the city. Now,the monthly payments are muchhigher. As soon as the MHAtook control, rents shot up to$175 for a one bedroomapartment. And after extensivecity-funded rehabilitation workis finished, there will be furtherincrease:. For instance, a onebedroom apartment will costabout $315, says Deanne0'Aloia, director of the MHA.At a recent meeting of thedissident tenants group, manyof the people present said theyopposed the MHA because theyfeared their monthly paymentswould soor out of their reach .Others said neighbors had beenthreatened with eviction forrefusing to pay back-rent owedto the city.But 0'Aloia says that theincreases are necessary to coverthe costs of operating andmaintaining the buildings.While the city is paying for therenovation work, it will not helppay any of the managementcosts once the work is done. Sheadds that city and federalgovernment rental ass istance isavailable for anyone whoseincome is low enough to qualify,so that no low income tenantswill have to pay more than 30

percent of their income in rent.S ~ e says that about one-tenth ofthe tenants in the first ninebuildings to join the MHA arereceiving rental assistance.The tenants group alsocharges that Cooper Squaredidn' t win the r ~ u i r e d approvaof 60 percent of the tenantsbefore forming the MHA.Consorte has a petition he sayswas signed by three-quarters ofthe tenants in his buildingopposing the MHA. But thecity's housing departmentrecenrly sent City Councilmember Antonio Pagan copiesof ballots confirming that morethan 60 percent of the tenants ineach building originallyapproved the plan. Pagan hasopposed the MHA in the past,and the building where he livesis the only.city-owned buildingon his block that isn't pa rt of theprogram."AII we can do is accept [theballots) as valid," says aspokeswoman for Pagan.0'Alaio says she is confidentthat the Lower East Side UnitedTenants will not derail the MHAproject. Rehabilitation of twobuildings is now finished, shesays, and work in two others isunderway. 'We're movingforward. To that extent I'm notconcerned, I she adds. "To theextent that [the opponents) arepreying on people's fears, that'sunfOrtunate. It could slow downthe project." 0 Andrew White

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By Fara Warner

Catalyst for ChangeEthel Velez is a woman with a mission: turningJohnson Houses into first-rate public housing.Hts off!" Ethel Velez snaps attwo teenage boys entering thecommunity center of JohnsonHouses, a fortress-like projectin East Harlem."Yes, Ms. Velez," they both say ,quickly tucking away their baseballcaps.It's a picky request, but an important one, according to the 45-year-oldtenant association president. Sittingat a table in the freshly painted room,she points to a sign that says "Gentlemen Please Remove Your Hats" andsays, "You either enforce the rule orturn your head . After you turn yourhead for five or six years, it's no t a ruleanymore."Velez, a strong-willed and detailoriented woman, has never turnedher head on the project where shegrew up . Once a graffiti-marred,apathy-afflicted development wherethe sidewalks were littered with crackvials, Johnson Houses are now relatively safe and litter-free, with thetenants actively participating in planning and lobbying for repairs. AndVelez is not about to le t the police, theNew York City Housing Authority , orthe tenants give up and ignore Johnson Houses again.

"Tenant involvement is the brick an dmortar of the projects."Refuses To Take CreditFor someone who's helped turnaround a housing project, Velez issurprisingly soft-spoken, almost selfeffacing when asked about he r efforts.She refuses to take sole credit for the

and she remembers a time when public housing was seen as a step upinstead ofa safety hazard. Her motherbrought her up to value communityinvolvement, and both she an d herbrother, who directs the New YorkBoys Choir, have an activist leaning.Velez, who used to work as a resourcecoordinator for East Harlem schools,directed her considerable energy toJohnson Houses in 1982, after sheattended a conference of the NationalCongress of Neighborhood Women.There she heard Bertha Gilkey, thewell-known tenant leader of CochranGardens in St. Louis, speak of herwork. As Gilkey spoke, Velez became

Just last year, the project-home to4,000 tenants in more than 1,300apartments-was renovated with $21million from the Department ofHousing and Urban Development (HUD),and Velez made sure tenants had a sayin how the money was spent, rightdown to where the outside lights wereplaced. Her activism-and guidancehas helped instill a ne w degree ofpride within the development, residents say.

Setting an Example: Ethel Velez says, "We have to teach people to respect public housing again ."

"Neighbors respect each otherhere," says Mary Taylor, a JohnsonHouses tenant for 42 years. She explains that the respect is part of abigger change; the crime situation hasimproved, the buildings are in bettershape, and the grounds are kept u p -much of it thanks to Velez. "I thinkshe is magnificent," she says."Women like Ethel Velez shouldbe commended," adds Dave Caprara,who led former HUD secretary JackKemp's Office of Resident Initiatives.8/FEBRUARY 1993/CITY UMns

improvements at the project-andshe's quick to note that strong tenantleadership is no replacement for asubstantial financial commitmentfrom the government.In fact, in the decade or so thatshe's been in charge of the JohnsonHouses tenant association, her thinking has shifted. Once she supportedthe Reagan-era ideology of sellingpublic housing to the tenants. Butover the years she's recognized someof the limits to that approach. Now,she says, in New YorkCity, it's enoughto foster a productive relationshipbetween tenants and the New YorkCity Housing Authority (NYCHA). "Iprefer to call it cooperative management, where we work together to improve the conditions ofthe projects,"she says.Velez was raised in Johnson Houses

truly inspired. "I'd have never thoughtabout doing anything in the project.I'd have gone to school, then on tocollege, buU'm listening to this womantalk an d I realized I identified with[her]," she recalls.St. Louis InspirationVelez, who had never boarded aplane before, flew to St. Louis to seeGilkey's achievements first-hand. AtCochran Gardens, she saw a development managed entirely by tenants,with a tenant board overseeingbudgets, funding and the day-to-dayoperations of the project. The trip,Velez says, "sold me on the idea thatchange could really happen."On her return, she was determinedto test some of Gilkey's ideas at Johnson Houses. She soon found that itwas easier to take a plane to St. Louis

aa


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than move the intransigent housingauthority bureaucracy and overcomethe lethargy of tenants left bitter byyears of slow repairs an d unsafe hallways. Nonetheless, she pushed forward, reviving tenantassociations thatha d been languishing and bringingBertha Gilkey to East Harlem to explain that tenant control can work.In 1985, Velez participated in afederal program to try taking JohnsonHouses out of the hands of the government and into tenant control. But theprogram folded within a year, and heraspirations never bore fruit. "Etheljust kept going despite that," recallsSonia Bu, who works for the YouthAction Program in Harlem.At the time, federal officials weretrying to use examples of feisty, determined tenant leaders like Velez topromote a major policy shift awayfrom publicly-managed housing an dtoward tenant control. It wasn't apopular position among some housing advocates, who say that turningpublic housing over to tenants lets thefederal government shirk its basic responsibilities. "Tenant ownership isvery tricky," says Victor Bach, a housing expert from the Community Service Society. "One of the criticisms isthat tenant ownership takes problemprojects and gets them off the back ofthe administration."

Others say that the only way tenantinvolvement can work is through theleadership of uncommonly committed people-like Velez, ~ i t h her getthings-done personality. "Ideallywhathappened at Johnson Houses shouldhappen in every project," says VentorHolly, a former management officialat the development. "But you can'tsimply dictate that a leader should belike Velez."Commitments FulfilledThere's no doubt that Velez hasgotten things done. After years ofprodding , the 17 brick high-rises ofJohnson Houses, which stretch betweenEast 112th Streetto 115th Streetand from Lexington Avenue to ThirdAvenue, are scrubbed clean andmostly free from graffiti. Well-litsidewalks ensure a degree of safety atnight, and during the day, a brightlycolored playground with seesaws an dswing-sets is filled with mothers an dyoung children.Every month, the tenant association holds meetings-now attendedby between 75 and 200 tenantswhere residents voice concerns that

are passed on directly to NYCHA'smanagers. Many who are active saythe tenant association has only a smallamount of the internal strife that marsmany other tenant groups. "Ethel hasa warm, firm way of dealing withpeople," Bu notes. "They know shecares. She has lived in those buildingsforever." .

The lack of factionalism could bethe result of Velez's commitment toensuring that tenants' requests arefulfilled. For instance, one major demand was that all outside doors haveworking locks. "We got a petition go-

Velez avoidsstressing tenantownership as a

panacea.

ing to lock the doors," says Velez."That was unusual because there areno intercoms in the building. Now,four years later, there's a mandate thatall city housing projects have lockeddoors."Velez says it was the collectiveefforts of residents that changed theproject, and their participation wasessent ial for the latest round of federalrehabilitation money. "We asked[tenants] i f you had a million dollars,what would you want done with theproject?" Later, she sent the wish-listto HUD, which helped convinceofficials there that the project shouldbe renovated. Velez also sent out thousands of questionnaires to get tenantinput into the rehabilitation.

And now, even Velez avoids s tressing tenant ownership or managementas a panacea. In the 10 years it took toturn the project around, she learnedsome hard lessons. She started outbelieving otherwise, but now feelsthat the day when tenant management can work isn't here yet. "Notnow; not without years ofeducation,"she says. "We have to teach people torespect public housing again."She's also softened her attitude towards the housing authority an dlearned that working with them, instead of against them, has advantages.

For example, in an effort to secure theproject from loiterers, tenants in Johnson Houses asked for a black ironfence to encircle the walkways andbuildings. But fences are forbidden byhousing authority guidelines. Thanksto the cooperation between the tenants an d the housing authority, anexception was made an d the fencewas allowed.Respect is the KeyStill, the changes at Johnson Housesgo much deeper than physical improvements. "To make things change,you have to get to the tenants andmake them aware of what they coulddo to change what's happening," saysBetsy Pritchard, a 40-year resident."Now, [the tenants] want to find outwhat's happening."

Instilling respect is the key, saysVelez. Without this, "no management,tenant or otherwise, will get childrento behave or get their parents to keepthem under control."These days, Velez is available eighthours a day because she's the paidproject director of a program forteenagers and senior citizens at thelocal community center.The programis currently using housing authorityfunds to oversee an entrepreneurialprogram, with teens selling "ProjectWear"-T-shirts and other items theydesigned themselves. Slogans include"People Unite" an d "Let's sticktogether."Still, Velez is far from satisfied.Across the street there are empty lots,graffiti-covered walls, burned-outbuildings and liquor stores. It's a viewthat has defeated many others, but toVelez, it's just a matter of time beforethis too must change. She envisionsnew stores here, locally-owned, thatwill hire neighborhood youths an dbring money back through the community. Her quiet bu t firm mannerinstills optimism. "It will be better 10years from now," she says.Fara Warner is a reporter forBrandWeek. Donna Leslie contributedadditional reporting.

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Call Faith Wiggins!(212) 925,9820CITY UMITS!FEBRUARY 1993/7


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By Steve MitraAbout-Face on Area Policy BoardsThe Politics of PovertyIn a major shift away from plans announced last year, thecity's Community Development Agency has decidedagainst slashing federal anti-poverty funds in 26 of the 33neighborhoods that have long benefited from the money;instead, the city will add additional money and 11 new neighbor-hoods to the program-including two of the city's wealthiercommunities: Greenwich Village and Stuyvesant Town.

The city has also backed off from anearlier plan to eliminate the 33 AreaPolicy Boards that decide whichneighborhood organizations shouldreceive the federal funds. But theboards are still due to lose much oftheir independence and influence,and in the future, members will probably be appointed rather than elected.The neighborhoodboards are responsible for distributingmillions of dollars infunding to community-based nonprofitgroups that ru n avariety of socialservice programs.Gladys Carrion, commissioner of he Community DevelopmentAgency (CDA), saysthe changes are necessary because themoney is not beingused as effectively asit could be."Poverty has

Supporters of Carrion's plan disagree. They say it is long overdue, an dpoint to a long history of corruption inthe neighborhood boards, some ofwhich became havens for "povertypimps" in the 1970s an d 1980s. Theyalso point to the general lack of publicawareness about the boards, and theminuscule voter turnout in elections

organizations. Until recently, CDAdistributed millions of dollars infederal Community Services BlockGrant funds an d city money to localgroups based on the recommendations of the Area Policy Boards. Theboards, each with about 21 members ,include five representatives of localelected officials, two leaders of community institutions like hospitals ormerchants' associations, and the restelected by voters every four years.But under the new plan , a sixmember "Proposal Review Committee" in each district decides whatorganizations will receive money.Three of the committee members areselected by the local policy board,an d three are CDA staff members. Thecommittees will distribute about $11.6million this year-$9.3 million fromthe federal government an d the restfrom the city.That's left some members of theboards feeling like they 've beenstripped of their power. "With thesechanges, the boardswill become tokentrustees," says Thomas Helm, chairperson of Area PolicyBoard Two in th eBedford-Stuyvesantsection of Brooklyn.The independence

of the boards may diminish even further.After their currentterm expires in June,1993, Carrion says shewants to stop holdingelections for th epolicy boards altogether. The city hasU'i not held Area PolicyBoard elections sinceu: 1987, when the voterchanged, poverty hasincreased," she says."We can't just continue to do what weare doing." She plans

Chan&Inc Apnda: Members ofArea Policy Board Eight in Crown Heights debate theirdiminished role in the anti-poverty progrom. turnout was a dismalone-half of one per-to target money more directly at needypopulations-including pockets ofpoor people in some otherwisewealthy communities .The assault on the powers of theelected Area Policy Boards has broughtindignant protests from those whostand to lose influence and their allies."My basic problem is that it reflectscontempt for grassroots empowerment," says Congressman MajorOwens ofBrooklyn, who was Commissioner ofCDA from 1968 to 1973 whenthe agency was in its infancy. "This isa step towards wiping it out."a/FEBRUARY 1993/CITYUMn&

for board members, as reasons for thechange (see "Failures of Democracy"June/July 1992)."I think the changes are a healthy,positive step," says John Mollenkopf,a political science professor at theCity University of New York. "Theboards tended to be self-perpetuatinggroups that weren 't doing a good jobof accountability."Token TrusteesAt the core of the new plan is arevised system for deciding how themoney is doled out to neighborhood

cent. "If you call the[current] boards 'representative,'you're using the word loosely," shesays. "We're looking for meaningfulcommunity participation."She adds that she is consideringgiving her agency the power to appoint board members as one way toreform the process an d to break thehold of special interests that dominate some of he boards. Last summer,a report prepared for CDA by Nicholas Weiner of the New School forSocial Research found that the agency"had complete discretion over reconstituting Area Policy Boards, because


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they are unique bodies created byNew York City and not required byfederal or state legislation." Most othercities do not have similar democratically-elected, local-oriented bodies,the report found.But board members scoff at thenotion of community participationwithout elections. "How can you dothat? They're looking for a no-painway of participation," says FrancisByrd, a member of Brooklyn's AreaPolicy Board Eight in Crown Heights."Of the programs of the 1960s, thiswas the last one remaining in whichgrassroots people were elected tooffice," adds a furious William Hill,also of Board Eight. And RobertoCabellero, chairman of he Lower EastSide Area Policy Board and part of areform group that took control of thatboard in 1987, questions whetherCarrion's changes can really solve theproblem of money going into the pockets of poverty pimps. He points outthat, at times, corruption has beenrampant inside the city agency, whichwas implicated in several influencepeddling schemes in the 1980s. "Let'sjust hope it's no t politics as usual atCDA," he says. "They are politicaltoo ."Funding BoostEven as the boards' influence is indecline, the CDA is expanding its antipoverty program . The number oftargeted community districts willincrease from 33 to 44 as. funding forthe program is boosted-largely because of a $4.8 million infusion ofcityfunds by the Dinkins administrationfor the fiscal year starting July 1,1993.This is a turnaround from Carrion'sproposal last summer to cut fundingfrom communities like East Harlem,Jamaica, and the South Bronx andtransfer some of the money to areaslike Borough Park and Bensonhurst inBrooklyn, and Stuyvesant Town andthe West Village in Manhattan. Sheargued at the time that the old methodof distributing funds, based solely onthe number of people on welfare ineach neighborhood, ignored the needsof many poor people. While the newplan rejects the cuts, Carrion remainsadamantabout targeting a wider population ."We want to try and enhance thesafety ne t," says Carrion. "This program is designed to address the needsof the working poor. We want it tohelp more than just people on publicassistance. "

To do that, the agency has adopteda new formula for determining whichneighborhoods should receivemoney-and how much each of themshouldget. The old formula was basedon the number of people on publicassistance in each community. Withsome exceptions, a district took parti f 20,000 residents , or at least 15percent of its population, receivedpublic assistance.Under the new rules, a district willreceive funds i f 30 percent of itspopulation, or 30,000 residen ts , haveincomes at or below 125 percent ofthe poverty level-or $17,438 for afamily of four. In addition, a districtcan qualify if i t has pockets ofpoverty-500 or more people livingwithin a few blocks of each other withincomes at or below 125 percent ofthe poverty level. Still , in the lattercase, there must be a minimum of8,000 people fitting the poverty criteriafor a district to take part n he program.The new criteria not only increasethe number of districts getting money ,but also make it easier for areas normally considered relatively affluentto qualify for aid. Angel Linares,

spokesperson for CDA, says the newcriteria were designed to capture bothghettos-with vast areas of povertyand isolated poor areas in well-to-doneighborhoods. "Some areas havebecome more affluent over the yearsBut within these communities thereare specific pockets of poverty that getleft out of the system," he says. "Sometimes it's just one streetwith a housingproject. We have to capture and servicethis population as well. "So , despite the fact that th eStuyvesant Town area was found tohave a median income of more than$30,000 per family in recent censusdata , the area is now eligible for someof the CDA money. Still, the districtwill get a relatively small amountonly $32 ,848. Bensonhurst, with amedian income near $20,000, willreceive $75,615. By comparison, EastHarlem is slated to receive $500,516and Jamaica will get $436,517.Carrion's about-face follows a seriesof impassioned public hearings lastyear, where communities across thecitymounted a campaign to hold on totheir funding.With pressure from the communi-

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CITY UMnS/FEBRUARY 1993/9


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ties mounting, Linares says, Carrionwent to Mayor Dinkins and asked formore funds . The mayor effectivelyavoided a bitter election yearbrawl bypromising the new money.History of Profiteers

CDA is no stranger to controversy:the latest flurry of reforms is just onein a line of many. Established in 1966during the "War Against Poverty"started by President Lyndon Johnson,the agency's role was simply to monitor the financial dealings of 26 localcommunity corporations thatreceivedfederal anti-poverty grants. However,over the years , these corporationsbecame centers of political influencepeddling, and furthered the rise of socalled "poverty pimps."In an attempt to reform the system,Mayor Ed Koch created the 33 democratically-elected Area Policy Boardsin 1979. But within five years, aninvestigationby City Limits found thatwhile Koch's efforts had eliminatedsome profiteers, several others hadsimply slipped behind the scenes totake control of the boards and thefunding (See "What's Poverty Got To

Do With It?", November 1984). Sincethen , some boards, notably one on theLower East Side of Manhattan, havebeen taken over by reform groups.CDA programs are a ghost of whatthey used to be. This year's federalgrant of $9.3 million is a fraction ofthe $80 million annually that was the

Helping morethan people on

public assistance.norm in the 1970s, says Linares. In1981,Congress repealed the EconomicOpportunity Act of 1964-which ledto the creation of CDA-and in itsplace set up the Community ServicesBlock Grant program. As federal funding dropped during the last decade,th e small amount of anti-poverty

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money became the focus of increasingly bitter battles for funding .Changes in PovertyThe dynamics of poverty in NewYork City clearly have changed sinceMayor Koch set up the policy boardsearly in his administration . Thenumber of people living below theCensus Bureau's poverty line grew by21 percent between 1977 an d 1989,according to a study for CDA by theCommunity Service Society. And thenumber of city residents on welfare orfederal Supplemental Security Income(SSI) rose from just over one millionin 1977 to 1.2 million in 1991. By1991, census data showed that one infour New Yorkers lived below thepoverty line.The increase in funding reflectsthis rise in poverty. But the changes inthe way the system works are stillperceived as an affront by some whohave been active on the policy boardsfor years. The distrust sparked a furorlast November when CDA awarded$1.9 million in contracts to nonprofitsfor technical assistance to the community groups that receive the federalmoney. "There was no input from usas to where the money went," arguesFrancis Byrd of the northern CrownHeights Area Policy Board.He says the move just confirms hisfear about the future role of the boards."We're at the point where we don'teven know what we can negotiate.The community is excluded in thisprocess."He and others seethe city's changescynically. "It seems like it's [a case of]politicians trying to get control ofsomething they don 't have controlover," says Francisco Marrero, Jr. , ofthe Bronx's Area Policy Board Two .But not all board members areopposed to Carrion's changes. "It'smuch better now ," says Carole Johnson, chairperson of he Brooklyn boardthat covers East New York. She sayscooperation with CDA will be aneffective way to distribute money. "It'smore hands-on. We will be workingtogether with CDA."Some experts agree that the shifting of power away from local boardsand towards the centralized agencymay be a good thing. Says BrendaMcGowan, professor of social work atColumbia University : "Ideally youwould have local communities decidewhere the money goes. The trouble isthat it's the local politics that are themost vicious. " L-


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BY ANDREW WHITE

T he besieged walls of the city's emergency housing program for people withAIDS are crashing down, and for the first time, hundreds of chronically-illmen and women are being left with no option but to sleep on the floors ofcrowded welfare offices in unsanitary conditions that physicians describe asa potential breeding ground for tuberculosis.Virtually every night, single homeless men and women with AIDS are sent to thecity's notorious Emergency Assistance Units, where hundreds of homeless familiesenter the shelter system and often spend several nights without beds, because thereis nowhere else for the city to send them.

During the week of Christmas, the city sent 81 homelesspeople with AIDS to the crowded overnight offices, according to city data. Two weeks later, the most recentweek for which figures are available, the Division of AIDSServices referred 152 people with active AIDS to theoffices. Sixty-eight of them were given beds in temporaryhotels sometime during the week; the rest ventured backto the streets, friends' homes-or any shelter they couldfind.. "Never before have I seen this," says Andrew Coamey,the intake coordinator at Housing Works, which provideshousing for homeless people withAIDS. "It's never been like this."

moment, the city does only a cursory screening for tuberculosis before sending people to the welfare offices.StephenFisher, the director of he AIDS services agency,acknowledges that people with AIDS are sometimes spending two or more nights in the welfare offices beforereceiving beds for three or four days in motels near theairports in Queens. "Having people wait at the emergencyassistance unit is not appropriate," Fisher concedes. "Weare trying to identify how we can avoid the whole situation."Normally, a homeless person with AIDS goes to thecity 's AIDS services office and is sent

"It's outrageous," adds Am yHerman, director of the New YorkAIDS Coalition. "The system cannotaddress the needs of the people it wasdesigned to help."The overnight welfare offices arefrequently jam-packed, the air thickwith the smell of sweat and dirty diapers. Many nights, dozens of homeless families sleep on chairs, in cribsand on cardboard spread across the

Hotels are full-and dingy welfareoffices are gettingthe overflow.

to a residential hotel until permanenthousing can be found. This systemwas set up to avoid having homelesspeople with AIDS and other diseasescrowded together, which can quicklyworsen their illnesses. But now, thecity says the hotels are full and thewelfare offices are getting the overflow. "Wemayhavereachedthesaturation point," Fisher explains.The situation worsened on January 1, when New York adopted anexpanded definition of AIDS that includes illnesses common amongfloors at the office on Catherine Streeton the edge of Chinatown. Now, anincreasing number of single men and women with AIDS,sometimes in hospit al gowns, also sleep huddled againstthe wall.Mixing homeless people with AIDS in crowded spaceswith homeless families is not the primary health concern,doctors say. They explain that the gravest danger at theovernight offices is that homeless people with AIDS whomay well have tuberculosis pu t other homeless peoplewith AIDS at serious risk of catching the disease. At the12jFEBRUARY 1993/CITY UMITS

women and drug users infected with the HIV virus. Thenew definition allows more people to qualify for cityservices. As a result, says Ellen Alpert, director of AIDShousing in the mayor's office, officials expect the city'sAIDS services caseload to expand as much as 62 percentthis year, from about 10,050 to as many as 16,300-thousands more than anticipated just four months ago. Sofar, more than one-quarter ofthe people with AIDS haveneeded a home.


13/28

FIat-4ut: A homeless woman with AIDS sleeps on the floor of the Catherine Street Emergency Assistance Unit. In one week, the city sent 152men and women with AIDS to this office because there was nowhere else to shelter them.Tuberculosis FearsPhysicians and a d v o ~ a t e s are fearful that the city'sinability to find rooms for homeless people with AIDScould be a health hazard. They say the Division of AIDSServices (DAS) is incapable of screening out all the peoplewith active tuberculosis before sending men and womenwith AIDS to the crowded overnight welfare offices,where they breathe stagnant air in close quarters alongwith hundreds of other people."It's completely inappropriate to have people withmvwho are at risk for TB, and may already have TB, sleepingin the Emergency Assistance Unit," says Lauren Shapiroof themv Law Project at South Brooklyn Legal Services.

"With a lot of sick people in a crowded place with poorventilation, you will see all kinds of diseases transmit ted,including tuberculosis," adds Dr. John McAdam of St.Vincent's Hospital's Department of C o m m U l ~ i t y Medicine.Tuberculosis can destroy lung tissue and damage otherorgans, including the brain. The disease is usually contagious to healthy people only after prolonged exposure toan infectious person over many days or weeks. But peoplewith weakened immune systems, like people with AIDS,can catch tuberculosis much more easily, says Dr. KarenBreudney, director of the infectious disease clinic atColumbia Presbyterian Hospital. "If you're HIV positiveand you are exposed even briefly to tuberculosis, it'sentirely possible you'll pick it up and get sick," she says,

adding that the city should at least be checking lists oknown tuherculosis cases at the city health departmenbefore sending people with AIDS to the overnight officesFisher says a system for checking cases against healthdepartment lists is being put together, but he's not sure ipeople will be checked before they are sent to the welfareoffices. "The details haven't been worked out," he says.In the meantime, it's a lottery whether or no t the DAScaseworkers can determine if a person with AIDS hastuberculosis. The only way they can t,lJlll for sure is i f theperson tells them, or i f he disease is noted on the medicaforms people with AIDS present to the city to get assistance. In some cases, a homeless person arrives directlyfrom the hospital, an d the city caseworker can call a doctoor social worker there for information. Still, Breudneysays many doctors don't mention tuberculosis on themedical forms because it hasn't been one of the diseasesclassified as an AIDS-related illness,She Preferred the Street

I f anyone fits the description of this decade's typicaperson with AIDS in New York City, Elise Henry doesMore than two-thirds of recent AIDS cases in the city arepeople of color. Nearly halfbecame infected with the HIVvirus as a result of intravenous drug use, according to theHealth Systems Agency of New York City. And thousandsof them have been homeless at some point in their life.Henry fits that description exactly. She is a thin, tiredCITY UMITS/FEBRUARY 1993/1


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bu t eloquent 45-year-old, born and raised in Harlem, whohas had full-blown AIDS for more than two years. A fewmonths ago, already very sick, she lost her apartment andlanded on the street, a situation she was familiar with afteryears of drug use and periodic homelessness. She went toDAS seeking a hote l room, bu t none was available; towardthe en d of the day, DAS sent her to the emergency assistance office on Catherine Street."I'm a street person an d I was amazed at what I saw,"Henry says. "I worried about TB, bu t there was nothing Icould do about it. I was so afraid. I saw people in there Iknow have TB, herpes, AIDS. I couldn't understand,thinking 'Why am I allowing them to do this to me? I haveto die to get a home?' "The next day, she went back to DAS, hoping for a room.None came through. She returned to Catherine Street,spent another night, an d still didn't get a hotel room thenext day. The third night, she says, she had had enough."I went back up and slept with the b u m s in the park atEighth Avenue and 26th Street, she says. "It was betterthere. I was so sick, an old man got up off his bedding tolet me lay down for awhile."Finally, Henry got a room in a midtown residentialhotel. But hundreds of people still spend their nights insqualor at the welfare offices. "It's the dirty little secret ofwhat goes on in these

guest houses were converted into luxury cooperatives andrentals in the 1980s. Many of those that remain are in badshape,with drugs freely sold in the hallways. Officials saythey are hesitant to house any more homeless people insome ofthe worst. Others don't have private or even semiprivate bathrooms, which are necessary for AIDS patientsbecause of sanitation and health requirements.The number of people with AIDS placed by the city inthe hotels has more than doubled since 1990, from about800 to over 1,700 today, despite a 1990 promise by theDinkins administration to phase out their use. The formerly homeless people with AIDS often stay in the hotelsfor years.This has infuriated advocates, who say the city couldsolve the crisis if more people were moved out of thehotels an d into permanent housing. "Ifpeople were movingout, this wouldn't be happening," argues Shapiro of theHIV Law Project. She an d others add that it is extremelydifficult to wean an addict off drugs in a hotel, because ofthe lawlessness and lack of social services. In a privateapartment, it's easier for people like Elise Henry to go

straight.But the current crisis has forced Shapiro to focus heradvocacy on an immediate, short-term goal. She saysgetting people with AIDS out of the hotels and intopermanent housingall-night welfare offices," says StevenBanks of he Legal AidSociety's HomelessFamily Rights Project."They're dumpinggrounds for a numberof failures in city programs."

The Crisis Builds: Chart shows weekly placements inresidential hotels vs. referrals to overnight welfare offices.Ashotel rooms become harder to come by, more homeless peoplewith AIDS are sleeping in the offices.

mustbe the long-termsolution, but "giventhe situation thatexists now, they haveto ad d more hotelrooms."1 ~ ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - ' - - - - - - - - & , _ - - , Yet that 's proven tobe a difficult task.Some long-time residents of the hotels,where many low income and elderlyNew Yorkers live, saythey are frightened bythe new infusion offormerly homelessAIDS patients. Theysay they fear thatlandlords have an incentive to empty theirrent-regulated roomsand take in DAS clients for a hefty, citysubsidized profit. The

city pays landlords

Hotel Shortage ~ 1 ~ ~ - - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - The shelter situation for people withAIDS began to worsenlast fall, Fisher says.The residential hotelswhere the city housesmost homelesspeople with AIDS areno t exactly qualityhousing-most are dilapidated, oftendangerous places. Butat least people haveprivate rooms and private or shared bath-rooms.

,ti 8040o

week endllll= 1124192

residential hotelsSource: NYC Division of AIDS Services

Those hotels are supposed to be only temporary shelteruntil permanent housing can be found. Once that happens, the room can be assigned to another person withAIDS. But many people haven't been able to move out ofthe hotels and into permanent housing because of bureau-cratic inertiaand a shortage of social services an d adequateapartments. In September, gridlock set in ,because the cityhad run out of rooms. "As the number of AIDS casesincreases, the number of hotel rooms as a resource hasstayed constant," Fisher explains. "We've not beensuccessful in identifying new hotels."Hundreds of single room occupancy hotels (SRO) an d14/FEBRUARY 1993/CITY UMITS

1212St92 1N93

between $28 and $35a day to house peoplewith AIDS, while many long-time resident s pay as little asseven dollars a day."Imagine the pressures, the fright of people who areuninformed," says Larry Wood of the West Side SROHousing Law Project, which works with hotel tenants inan effort to preserve the remaining hotel rooms an d maintain rent regulation. "It's a tactic that landlords can use toempty a building.""We have to be mindful no t to push out permanenttenants," agrees Alpert from the mayor's office. AnneTeicher, deputy direc tor for SRO housing in the mayor'soffice, says it's a painful policy choice. "We don't want to


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.create a revolving door,pushing one population in an d pushinganother out. We don'twant to create anotherclass of homeless."

There is at least aglimmer of change inthe distance. This year,for the first time, thefederal governmenthasallocated more than$10 million to the cityfor development ofsupported housing forpeople with AIDS. Thecity will use half themoney to help doublethe number of apartments in the scattered-

""co:: ....... site program, and halfQ for a congregate facilit y that will houseabout 50 people withAIDS. The city also

Besides, she says,her office has re searched the entire listof single room occupancy hotels and guesthouses citywide andhas found few placeswhere the rising tide ofhomeless people withAIDS can be placed,either because the landlords have histories oftenant harassment orwarehousing, or because th e buildingsdon't conform withcer

GIve Me Shelter: When Elise Henry was homeless with AIDS, she spent two nightsin a crowded welfare office. The third night she slept in a park. plans to open up threeor four similar projectseach year for the nexttain basic standards. "The demand is very pressing," shesays. "But a lot of hotels are gone, a lot are being used, a lotare no t adequate."Shapiro disagrees. "I don't buy the SRO problem," shesays. "The St. George Hotel has 200 vacant apartments. Idon't think there's [competition] for places." Theapartments are vacant in part because Brooklyn Heightsneighborhood groups say they are alarmed that so manyhomeless people with AIDS are living in the hotel withfew social services."I think its AIDS phobia" that's keeping rooms empty,adds Virginia Shubert of Housing Works. "They have toopen up more hotel rooms quickly."

GridlockThe city originally intended that the hotels would bereserved only for emergency, short-term stays while peoplewith AIDS waited for apartments with support serviceslike drug treatment, psychiatric care and, i f necessary,home living assistance.But the shortage of supported housing is becomingmore an d more desperate. "When [the Dinkins adminis tration] star ted in 1990 we were already far behind," saysAlpert. "It's increasingly hard to catch up."As of January 1, there were 507 formerly homelesspeople with AIDS living in scattered, privately-ownedapartments leased by nonprofit groups, who also arrangefor home care an d other services. About 330 live inapartments managed by the city's housing department, 60in public housing projects, 77 in supported hotels managedby nonprofits, an d 53 in supported, congregate housing.About two thousand more live in private apartmentsthey've located on their own or with the help of DAS.New housing has been in the works for years, but,Alpert concedes, "The development process has takenmuch too long." She says one project for 70 people withAIDS in the Bronx has been in the works since MayorDinkins took office, and still has not opened because thereis "no clear funding stream. It's a patchwork of fundingsources.""We're new at this," she adds. "It takes longer to get thefirst few programs up. Once that happens, things willmove faster."

few years, Alpert says. Another $2 0 million in federalfunds is already appropriated an d could be available asearly as next summer .In addition, Mayor Dinkins.recently announced plansto reallocate $8 0 million dollars from a fund targeted forthe development of small shelters to nonprofitgroups thatwill convert hotels an d rooming houses into permanenthousing with social services for single men and womensome of them with AIDS.Agency RoadblocksYet many critics of the city say that the biggest roadblock to moving people with AIDS out of the hotels andinto permanent housing is the Human Resources Administrat ion itself, the social services department that includesDAS. "There are any number of day treatment services,mental health services, drug treatment services," saysMarie Edesess, a former DAS caseworker who no w worksat the HIV Law Project in Brooklyn. Yet with all theseservices at their fingertips, she says, the city's socialworkers fail to coordinate resources so that people withAIDS can move quickly into private apartments and remainthere as long as they are able.Most critics of DAS agree that the agency's worstdifficulties are rooted in budgetary constraints an d excessive paperwork. But in many cases tllat slow paperworkhas lost apartments for a number of men and women withAIDS who are trying to get out of hotels.

It took nearly three months for the city to issue a rentcheck to Elise Henry, enabling her to move into her newapartment beside a community garden in lower Manhattan. She was lucky-the landlord didn't rent the apartmentto anyone else in the meantime.Last August, a former drug addict named RandolphJohnson found a small apartment in Park Slope with thehelp of DAS. He couldn't move in until he came up with$1,250 for one month's rent an d the security deposit.People with AIDS can receive $480 per month for rentalassistance from the city, or more if an exception is approved by Human Resources Administration officials-acommon request, since cheaper apartments are hard tocome by. But bureaucratic complications held up thecheck for three months, despite constant efforts by a legalern UMITS/FEBRUARY 1993/15


16/28

services staffer to expedite the process.When Johnson went toPark Slope to pay thelandlord in mid-November, someone elsehad moved into th eapartment.

Support, adding a bureaucratic knot to analready burdensomesystem. "I've told Income Support that i t isan issue," says Fisherof DAS. "They'veagreed to look at it as aproblem that has to becorrected."Alpert at the mayor'soffice agrees. "The Income Support issue isa mega-issue. I hear itill from all sides. We

" I t took them solong, I blew the apartment," says Johnson. "Icould have torn thatoffice apart." Threemonths later, anotherapartment has fallenthrough, and he is stillliving in a residentialdrug treatment centerin Greenpoint, takingnmTJP "POO people with AIDS have been living in the St. know we have to dealwith it immediately."eorge Hotel, some of them for years, because the city is having a tough timefinding permanent housing. There's also a more

up a space that could be used by a drug addicted homelessperson with AIDS, despite the fact that he has been offdrugs more than a year."For the clients I work with there is a one and a halfmonth average wait for rent checks" to be issued for anewly-found apartment, says Cynthia Reed of the HIVLaw Project at the AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan. "And that's with an advocate active in their interest.Many people wait three or four months before they evencome to me."The delays have become common knowledge amongpeople with AIDS who deal with DAS, so that those withextra savvy have learned how to bypass the system. WhenBill Thompson of Harlem found himself homeless, heskipped going to DAS and went straight to the MinorityTask Force on AIDS. They had a vacant apartment available and gave him a place right away. "You have to betenacious," Thompson says.Part of the problem is that DAS cannot issue checks onits own. Rent and benefit checks are issued by a separateunit of the social services department known as Income

insidious side to someof the delays. Some caseworkers with access to checks forhomeless people with AIDS have been accused of theft.One of them, Junior Ricketts, a former DAS caseworker,recently pled guilty in federal court to stealing about$110,000 in rent an d support payments for clients, someof them homeless. He managed to forge signatures anddeposit the checks in his own bapk account.BreakdownButwhat will happen now that the number of new AIDScases is mounting faster than ever before, and the systemhas broken down?"It's something that scares me," says Fisher."Demand is going to increase substantially," Teicheradds. "The resources are taxed now .. ""The city is scrambling .. " says Alpert."There are homeless people with AIDS on the streetsan d there is nowhere for them to go," says Shapiro. "DASwas set up to give them a place. It's no t accomplishing itsmission. People will sleep in abandoned buildings, getting sicker. They won't want to go to DAS." 0r--------------------------------------,GUTSY. Il\TCISIVE. PROVOCA'rtlVE.

Life inside a city-owned crack den ..public agencies cutting deals for private developers . . andlordswho collect the rent an d le t their buildings rot.Each month, CITY LIIII'l'S probes th e misguidedpublic policies and inefficient bureaucracies besetting New York. But we don't think it's goodenough just to highlight the muck. CITY LIIII'l'Slooks for answers. We uncover the stories ofactiviSts and local organizers fighting to savetheir neighborhoods. That's why CITY LIIII'l'Shas won sevenjournalism awards in recent years.Isn't it time you subscribed?

YES 1Start my subscription to CITY LIMITS.o $20/one year 0 0 issues) 0 $30/two yearsBusiness/Government/Librarieso $35/one year 0 $50/two yearso Payment enclosed. Add one issueto my subscription-freeName ________________________________ __Address ______________________________ ___City_______ State ____ Zip _ _ __

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18/28

...... TIIIII: The committee to create more afterschool programs includes (from left): CindyColter, Wanda Hardy, Beth Mara, Margie Arce,Adrienne Merced and Joyce Thomas.

Inonnee Ions

A new foundation-backed experiment gives six well-established SouthBronx groups a chance to dream, plan, network, and do communityorganizing. But some critics question their grassroots credentials.BY LISA GLAZERO a bitterly cold morning, Cindy Colter rushesthrough the heavy front doors of CommunityElementary School 70 in the SouthBronx,boundsup the stairs, and plunks herself down on achild-sized chair in a classroom where sevenwomen are hovering around coffee and doughnuts. It's9:15 a.m. and they're ready and waiting for an earlymorning planning session.The women originally got together at a neighborhoodmeeting organized by Promesa, a nearby drug rehabilitation agency where Colter is employed. A number ofparents expressed concerns about the lack of activities fortheir children after school stops at 3:15-so now thisgroup is doing something to solve the problem.

Colter is here because her employer, Promesa, is part of18/FEBRUARY 1993/CITY UMITS

the Comprehensive Community Revitalization Program(CCRP). "It's about making strong links between Promesaand the community," Colter explains. "And it's aboutbringing services here that other communities have-andwe need and deserve right here." With that, they get downto work."We have 1,800 kids at this school. My concern isthere's not enough for the kids," says Maria Varona,whose four sons attended the school. Next to Varona isRaydell Robinson, a parentassociation president, wearinga bright purple sweatshirt, her hair plaited in tight cornrows. Beside her are two other mothers, plus two womenfrom Goodwill Industries who oversee a successful afterschool program nearby.The meeting is small but productive, with extensiveback and forth discussion and lots of input from theparents. After a brisk, energetic hour in which numerous


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decisions are made, the commit tee forms a plan to presentto the principal the following week. They want to start anafter-school program that pays teenagers from Junior HighSchool 147 to become tutors at the elementary school,using start-up funding from CCRP-which they hope willhelp them win more substantial backing from the city'sCommunity Development Agency.One month later, th e after-school program is approved.

The planning session an d its en d results are just onesmall example of what the Com rehensive Community Revitalization Program is achieving in the SouthBronx. Backed by several foundations, CCRP is a $5.6million collaboration between six neighborhood-basedhousing an d social service groups, and each organizationnow has one or two new employees who have been hiredto think, plan, dream and do community organizing.The scope ofactivity is mind-stretching. CCRP is behinda talent show, the purchase of a ne w Macintosh computerand laser printer for Promesa' s development office, plansfor a new Bronx supermarket, offices for primary caredoctors, the groundwork for a family day care resourcecenter, immunization programs, planning for start-upbusinesses in catering, security, home health care andbuilding maintenance, new job-training programs andmore."I've been in this business a long time and there isnothing that has excitedme quite as much as this program,"says Anita Miller, who oversees CCRP from the offices ofthe Surdna Foundation in midtown Manhattan.Indeed, there is much to be excited about. CCRPrepresents an important new trend inthe way private foundations help poorcommunities. While they've tradition-

substantial government investment, entire blocks of abandoned buildings have been renovated into new housingfor people from a range of backgrounds. But schools arestill overcrowded, streets unswept , emergency rooms overwhelmed, jobs scarce and drugs all-too readily available.Meanwhile, community groups that star ted off as a ragtagassortment of activists now have scores of staff membersan d large government contracts. There's an enormousneed to connect the new housing with other resourcesan d to reconnect residents with the neighborhood groups.Underlying the strategy sessions and organizingcampaigns are important questions that elude easy answers. How can local groups nurture a sense of community in a place where many people stay home becausethey're afraid to venture outside? How can neighborhoodresidents be asked to participate in civic life when thepolice, the courts an d the education system have all beenunresponsive-and rife with corruption? It all boils downto this: How can the South Bronx become a stable homeinstead of a place people tr y to escape?

RUth Poindexter, a 50-year-old tenant in a bricktenement at 1687 Vyse Avenue, is trying to answerthose questions, along with her neighbors participating in CCRP. She'd like to see a clean, safe communitywith jobs, first-rate schools and affordable doctors. "Ifyouget the community behind you, things can change," shesays.This summer, she was one of more than 200 residentsthat attendedan open-air picnic organizedby MBD. Beforeenjoying barbecued ribs, green salad and corn on the cob,ally funded specific projects, like parksor housing developments, CCRP triesinstead to integrate funding for the vastarray of elements that worK together toimprove th e quality of neighborhoodlife.

Poindexter contributed ideas aboutcreating an ideal future communityand a timetable forpushing the dreamstoward reality.A new trend in the Since then, she's joined committees for economic development, community outreach, crime preventionand youth training. Still, most of thegoals listed at the picnic seem extremely far off, an d Poindexter worries that without tangible results, interest in CCRP could easily diminish.What's more, much of the decisionmaking about how and where the $5.6million will be spent is coming fromthe neighborhood groups themselves,which have been encouraging commu-

way foundationshelp poor

communities.nity participation by reviving tenantassociations, forming neighborhoodcouncils, setting up focus groups and holding communitypicnics since last summer. "A big part of the strategy is torely solely on the wisdom of the residents," says CharlesBoyd, a CCRP program manager for the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes (MBD), a major developer an d manager of lowincome housing.Still, the program is not without its critics. Some arguethat the effort's grassroots potential is compromised byrelying on large, well-established neighborhood groups,some with million dollar budgets. Others question theimplications of a self-esteem training program for staffmembers an d community residents that is a central part ofCCRP, so important that Miller describes it as "the invisible foundation" of the entire program.Nonetheless, there's little argument that CCRP comes tothe South Bronx at an opportune time. After five years of

"Getting people involved-that'slike pulling a tooth," she says, theslightest hint of aJlger in her voice.Then she sighs. "A lot of people areafraid. They don't want to come out and get involved.They think people will see them an d something willhappen to them and their kids ...The heavy drug dealersare the problem. They figure you're messing with theirclientele, and they see you as a threat."This tough deterrent to community organizing is something each of the organizations within CCRP has to reckonwith. The groups include three community-based housing groups-the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes, the Banana KellyCommunity Improvement Association and the MountHope Housing Company-as well as the Phipps Community Development Corporation, a city-wide group that hasa base in the Bronx; the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council, which provides housing, home care and meals-onwheels for seniors; and Promesa, a residential drug treatment center.

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Each organization is adapting CCRP to its own distinctbackground. Promesa and MBD, both of them born in thecommunity, are encouraging greater community participation in decision-making through neighborhood councilsand committees. But Phipps is taking a different approach."Phipps did not originate from the grassroots, it does nothave a reputation as a community organizing body. Italmost seems more polite to start slowly," expla ins LisaGrist, who is overseeing CCRP for Phipps by starting offreviving tenant associations in buildings the groupmanages.Some projects are being worked out cooperatively: thegroups share the services of a planner who is assessing theSouth Bronx landscape, pinpointing the location of emptylots and vacant buildings. And four of the groups recentlycollaborated on a proposal for a grant to the federalhousing department, which they won. Now they have$320,800 to help establish low income co-ops in 12 cityowned buildings. There are also efforts to create a SouthBronx family day care resource center, coordinateemployment programs and bring doctors into thecommunity, with major financial backing coming fromCCRP, the United Hospital Fund and area hospitals.The process behind CCRP is straightforward. Eachgroup has created a way to encourage neighborhood residents to help decide what projects to focus on. When theyhave a committee and a plan, they can apply for CCRPfunding.CCRP "gives us the opportunity to see what services are[already] available in the community, and how we canmake a better plan for the future. It also allows us toorganize people, which we did not have the staff to dobefore," says Zenon Arribalzaga from the Mid-Bronx SeniorCitizens Council."CCRP is unique," adds Madeline Marquez from BananaKelly. "It facilitates the planning process organizationsnever can do because of he fragmentation of their fundingand lack of time. It mandates that we have to sit down an ddo it. It's very exciting-and very, very challenging."

But CCRP challenges more than its participants. Theprogram's backers tout it as an important nationaldemonstration project-butcritics question i f his isan ideal model for lasting change.The choice of groups involved is one target. "They saythey're doing an experiment, but they aren't taking anyrisks," says Matthew Lee, a leader of the Community onthe Move homesteaders in the South Bronx. "They'retaking the existing, big, sell-out groups .. and giving themmoney to put a friendly smile on what they're doing."Lee's commentrefiectssome of the antagonism that hasaccompanied the rapid growth of groups known as community development corporations. A number of themhave become major landlords through their housingdevelopment work-creating an inevitable tensionbetween them and some neighborhood residents. Andthey've also won big government contracts, which canreduce their desire and ability to challenge the citygovernment.The questioning about CCRP also extends beyond theneighborhood groups-to the foundations and corporations behind the project. "I don't trust the concept ofCCRP," says Jay Small, the executive director of the20/FEBRUARY 1993/CITY UMITS

Association for Neighborhood Housing and Development,a coalition of community groups that includes some of theproject's participants. "It's coming from the foundations .You have to ask, whose agenda ultimately reigns?"Miller responds emphatically that the foundations aren'tcharting the course for CCRP. "I have never seen anythingas ground-up an d as truly participatory as this," she says.But Small exclaims, "There's a difference betweenparticipation and control!"Indeed, ultimate control for th e program does rest withMiller, who along with Edward Skloot, the head of theSurdna Foundation, makes the final funding decisions forCCRP. There's also an advisory committee that includesrepresentatives from all of the funding organizations.Their names read like a Who's Who from the banking andfoundation worlds: Bankers Trust, Citibank, the RockefellerFoundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the EngelbergFoundation, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, theClark Foundation, the Uris Brothers Foundation, the NewYork Community Trust, and the Surdna Foundation.Of course, foundations and corporations can spendtheir money however they wish-but examining howdecisions are made can be a test of whether they practicewhat they preach about community involvement. Somefoundations, like the North Star Fund, which is not a partof CCRP and distributes grants ofless than $10,000, havecommunity-based funding boards.Miller says this approach isn't practical for CCRP. "Wedid not design the program for the groups to vote on eachother' s grants. Itwould just create an unnecessary tension,"she says firmly. "If someone wants to design somethingwhere they raise $6 million and give it to communitygroups to decide where it goes, well, I wish them luck."

The other controversial aspect of CCRP is th e selfesteem training program ru n by a Floridian, RogerMills, that all six community groups are participating in. The notion that poor p e o p ~ e need self-esteemtraining ca n raise hackles. "People say 'Self-esteemworkshop? I don't need self-esteem and I don't want to attendanother workshop!' " jokes Charles Boyd fromMBD, addingthat many skeptics have eventually found the programuseful.But critics say the proliferation of such programs is aserious concern because they emphasize the notion thatpoor people have a distinct pathology and are moreemotionally troubled than the rest of society-whichdiverts attention from the power structures that reinforcepoverty.Roger Mills, who's leading the training program, dismisses these points, explaining that he and others havedeveloped a theory calledPsychology of Mind (PaM) thatis used by rich and poor alike, and can be seen as a startingpoint for gaining the necessary confidence to stand up toauthority.In literature describing the theory, Mills compares thebrain to a computer and people's method of thinking tosoftware. The key to greater success and happiness, hewrites, is changing the software by helping people realizethe inherent goodness an d competence within them."Everyone has access to common sense and that's at thecore of everyone's psychological make-up," he says. "I tcan't be destroyed by being an abused child or growing up


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in a dysfunctionalcommunity . .it's such anatural thing it alwayscomes back."Mills received a government grant in 1987to try Psychology ofMind training at theModello housingproject, a run-down,120-family development in Dade County,Florida. In 1988, he expanded to anothernearby housing project,Homestead Gardens.

'Hey! Wait a minute! Inever sent out flyers inSpanish! "

The community wascynical at first. "Peoplehere have been chokedwith promises," says JimSettInc up Shop: Charles Boyd of the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes in front ofa lotthat may someday be a supermarket.

Beth Rosenthal, acommunity organizingconsultantto CCRP, saysshe was required to attend one of he trainings."It's almost a spiritualapproach to help peoplehave confidence theyca n make change." Sheadds, "There's a lot offragile people in thesecommunities who havelived through a lot, an dthe neighborhoods ca nbe like a war zone.There's also a lot of newpeople coming in, manyChandler, the principal of the Homestead Middle School.But the Mills approach delivered, he says. "It touched allages and gave people a sense of belonging and comfortabout meeting in public forums and helping people feelthey have a voice."Mills held confidence-bu ilding sessions with residents,trained them to train their neighbors, and on their ownthey decided to form a Parent-Teachers Association toimprove the local school an d reduce truancy. Within sixmonths they also started meeting with the police and othercounty officials to try and improve security at th e projects.Thanks to these meetings, Dade County introduced acommunity policing program in the project. The PTAmembers encouraged their neighbors to develop a working relationship with the police, which eventually led to

greater trust, cooperation-and an estimated 65 percentreduction in drug trafficking, according to informationMills compiled from the police an d residents.Mills also notes that dslinquency at the projects wentdown 75 percent and the majority of parents involvedended up going back to school, getting job training orlanding jobs.Still, while many residents, newspapers an d eventelevision shows have lauded Mills' achievements inFlorida, there have been rumblings of discontent aboutPsychology of Mind. Last June, a reporter from TheWashington Post interviewed a number of formerPsychology of Mind therapists an d clients who found theapproach overly simplistic and felt they were pressured toalways "think positive." One therapist, Enrique Suarez,who helped Mills write the first book about Psychology ofMind, even described it as a cult.Requests to attend a Psychology ofMind training sessionin the Bronx were refused, bu t many of those who haveattended say that it's nothing like a cult. They are also veryopen about their initial wariness."It's reall y hard to get sold on this right away," says JayeFox, the CCRP director from the Mt. Hope group. "Youlook at it, and you think he's out of his mind. But it's moreuseful than some give it credit for." Boyd from MBD citesan example from his organization, which is primarilyAfrican American. At meetings, a common complaint wasthat Latino residents never attended meetings. With theMills training, Boyd says, "They ca n get unstuck an d say

of them formerly homeless, and some of them need anapproach that's fairly personal. They've been left out of alot of stuff an d you want to bring people in."

The original idea for CCRP came from Surdna Foundation director Ed Skloot-but the idea of comprehensive funding for poor communities has beenaround for decades, and is finally being implemented inscores of demonstration projects in New York and acrossthe country."It's perfectly clear that single-focus, single-factoractivities in lower income areas will ultimately fail," saysSkloot, explaining his interest in a more comprehensiveapproach. "A few individuals or families will benefit, butit will not cumulate."Andrew Mott from the Center for Community Changesays CCRP fits into a larger shift in funding patterns."There's sort of a new wave of interest in comprehensive,integrated funding for neighborhoods," he says.Interestingly, the local trend toward comprehensivefunding resembles a move by international developmentorganizations. The General Assembly of he United Nationsvoted in 1989 to stop funding isolated projects an d toadopt a broader model, where governments are consultedabout their needs and an interconnecteg. range of projectsreceive funding, according to Paul Matthews, the policydirector for the United Nations Development Program.Matthews cautions that the new model presents toughchallenges. "We're putting the recipients much more inthe center of the process an d saying, 'Let's see if they cando it better.' We think they can-but it remains to be seen."The same could be said for CCRP in the South Bronx.But for the people involved, it's a good start. "I'm afighter," says Ruth Poindexter, refusing to let her neighborhood disintegrate around her. "As long as we getpeople involved, this ca n definitely make a difference." 0Editor's Note: Readers should be aware that City Limitsreceives funding from a number of the foundationsmentioned in this article, and that the Association forNeighborhood Housing and Development is a sponsor ofthe magazine.

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By Steven Wishnia

AReconstruction AgendaI f President Clinton follows through on his promise toreinvest in infrastructure, where should the moneygo? Urban advocates have some ideas.Wat would you do with $20billion? Most of us wouldprobably opt to buy FifthAvenue and move in withall our friends. But if you're inclinedtoward a grander visionof he public good, whynot build recyclingplants, high-speedtrains or a freight-railtunnel to New Jersey?What about refurbishing the city's subwaystations?These are some ofthe things local urbanpolicy junkies an d cityofficials would like todo i f they could gettheir hands on part ofthe $20 billion annually that President BillClinton is consideringinvesting in infrastructure.

billion trust fund for replacing leadwater pipes and reducing lead paint;an additional $2 billion for low incomehousing block-grantsnationwide; andwhatever money it takes to help the

she adds, how the money is spent is asimportant as what it buys: theseprojects should hire an d train peoplefrom the neighborhoods in order to"build the economy within the community an d get more than just a building."Although the city and state arepushing for immediate funding ofprograms, others counsel patience inorder to spend money on projects thatsolve problems instead of contributing to them.Marcy Benstock of the Clean AirCampaign would rather see thegovernment spendnothing on the infrastructure than fund"wasteful, environmentally destructivepublic works" justbecause they're readyto be built. With limited money available,she says, it would bebetter off "investing inpeople to do jobs thatneed to be done" byfuil y funding pro* ramslikeHeadStartat a cost of $10 billion.5:()

::J Smooth Transit

Of course, whetherthat plan will ever beimplemented is stillEJeyating Urban Priorities: The subway system is a top choice for new federalmoney-i f t's forthCOming.

. The number onepriority for many ure


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leaving the MTA $1 billion short. Thatgap could be filled in part with alreadyexisting federal funds ,but Cuomo sayshe'd ratherspend them on highwaysso new infrastructure money may bethe only alternative. In fact , th egovernor an d legislature delayed thetransit budget debate from the en d of1992 to this spring partly becausestate officials wanted to see whetherClinton would follow through on hiscampaign promises an d offer up additional infrastructure money.Freight TrainsCongressman Jerrold Nadler ishoping to get new attention for hisfavorite infrastructure plan-makingNew York City accessible to freight.rail after more than 150 years ofisolation from the West. Nadler saysrejuvenating the city's transportsystem is a key way to create bluecollar jobs in shipping an d manufacturing.He proposes building a tunnel fromthe waterfront in Brooklyn 's Bay Ridgeto either Staten Island or Bayonne,New Jersey; raising clearances to 21feet 6 inches on tunnels between theBronx an d Bay Ridge to allow doublestacked trains through ; repairing theBrookl yn Arm y Terminal port;expanding the proposed Oak Pointterminal in the South Bronx, andbuilding a new terminal in the PennCentral yards on the Upper WestSide-the site slated for DonaldTrump 's recently-approved RiversideSouth development. He contends thiscould all be done for less than $2billion, citing a 1980 Port Authoritystudy that estimated a Bay RidgeBayonne tunnel would cost $430million.Nadler points out that New York isthe only major city in North Americawith no link to the mainland 's railfreight network ; without one, he seesthe region's economy suffocating inthe truck exhaust an d congestion atthe Holland Tunnel entrance .He and others also suggest improving trains in the Boston-Washingtoncorridor, taking some of the shuttleflight load off airports.Some of Nadler's ideas, likeimproving passenger train service,mesh with those pu t forward by theNatural Resources Defense Council.The NRDC calls for $7 billion for aidto urban transit, inter-city rail, an drepairs to roads and bridges; $1.2billion fo r making low-incomehousing more ener