Jordan writes,
"We need more sustainable models of economic development that spread the fruits of growth more equally."
What would spread the fruits of growth more equally than by locating the City's gems throughout all of Greensboro rather than just downtown?
Jordan continues.
"Debbage buries the most important information — that “one in every five residents lives in very poor economic conditions” — amidst riotous language about “blazing yellow daffodils” beginning to “bloom,” “green shoots” and an “improved growing season.” Referencing a quality that is absent rather than directly describing a phenomenon, Debbage concludes, as he has for years, that the state of the city “remains less than robust.”
That’s not accurate, as it implies a lack of change. In fact, as a quick glance at the Census confirms, the share of people in poverty in Greensboro has nearly doubled from 12.3 percent in 2000 to 20.1 percent in 2010. So, in fact, the state of the city has deteriorated significantly over the past decade."
Hey Jordan, Debbage isn't the only one hiding things.
Jordan espouses,
"This framing implies that corporate downsizing and layoffs — a brutal process that translates into foreclosures, divorces and increased family violence — is a natural and inevitable phenomenon, and that, indeed, it is necessary for growth.
An old-growth forest whose protection from clear-cutting and despoliation allows it to maintain stability and support a growing web of biodiversity — different types of economic participants, including small businesses, workers, cooperatives, large employers, nonprofits, volunteer mobilizations — would be a more appropriate plant biology metaphor as an economic development ideal. In this framing, plants also go through a life cycle and the death of a tree nourishes the next cycle of growth, but the process sustains a more delicate balance of life forms."
East Greensboro has been victim to economic clear cutting and the farming of poverty for over 50 years, how about some sustainability for the rest of us and not just for a few downtown developers who happen to be friends of Mayor Martinet aka, Robbie Perkins.
Jordan goes on,
"This Polyannish perspective omits a reality that the Business Journal spelled out clearly in a Feb. 3 article that forecasts “the Triad’s grocery wars.” As economist Don Jud tells the reporter Katie Arcieri, “There will probably be winners and losers. There could eventually be a shakeout. We’ve seen grocery stores come and go….”
To spell out the implications, as grocery stores concentrate in the coveted, high-income market on Friendly Avenue, they will inevitably close in less wealthy areas, making empty shopping centers vulnerable to aesthetic deterioration and crime, with a domino effect on the small retailers that depend on anchor stores to attract customers."
As far back as 2004, Goldie Wells told us there wasn't going to be a grocery store in the Bessemer Shopping Center. Want businesses to come to East Greensboro? Give them a reason to come here-- give them a gem as an anchor, not a turd. Over time, turds simply float away but we guard our gems.
Jordan closes,
"We need more sustainable models of economic development that spread the fruits of growth more equally. Unfortunately, I don’t have all or even most of the answers to substitute for the economic development framing that I so strenuously reject. I don’t think any one of us does. But all of us together have a better chance of surmounting our economic challenges than one person. Dialogue produces more lasting results than proclamation.
Consider this a challenge, Greensboro Partnership, Action Greensboro, city of Greensboro and Guilford County government. It would be truly impressive if you took the initiative to engage a wide range of citizens who are thinking deeply about how to bring about positive growth in a strategic planning effort to create shared prosperity."
Well it just so happens that I have the answers (40 to date) and they can all be found in the Table of Contents. Remember, build it and they will stay-- vested.
Jordan, you may not realize it but you and your's are coming around to my way of thinking quicker than you know. Tell the downtown proponents that not one more dime of taxpayers' money should be spent downtown until the rest of Greensboro has had its fair share.
PS. I'll be e-mailing Jordan this link in hopes of a response.
Continue to article #41 What's Wrong With This Picture?
