Megan points out a lot of the problems Greensboro faces:
"In February 2009, Forbes.com listed Greensboro/High Point as fourth in a list of America’s emptiest cities, based on Census vacancy data (Greenburg, 2009). This ranking was repeated in the national media, debated by local newspapers, and contested by elected officials. Is Greensboro as abandoned as these reports claim? Census data indicate that, while housing vacancy is not as widespread as the Forbes report claimed, certain sections of downtown Greensboro have very high housing vacancy rates, and based on what data are available, Greensboro appears to have a higher number of brownfield sites than many other North Carolina cities."
But what struck me was this chart that shows my Northeast Greensboro neighborhood, the area containing the little green circle as having 11.11 to 17.63% housing vacancies as of the year 2000-- 7-8 years before the housing crisis began. So what's the vacancy rate for my neighborhood now? Higher. How much I can't say but most definitely higher. Click on the chart to enlarge.
So why is this a problem for downtown and the rest of Greensboro? Ms Culler continues:
"Encouraging the redevelopment of brownfields and other vacant or underutilized sites is important if Greensboro wants to meet its goals of compact development and revitalizing its downtown. Identifying and remediating brownfield sites, as well as other vacant or unused sites, for redevelopment and infill takes pressure off of greenfield sites at the city’s fringe. By funneling more redevelopment to the city’s downtown rather than its fringes, the city has the opportunity to reduce its infrastructure costs while preserving open space and farmland.
Brownfields and vacant sites can also play a role in troubled urban neighborhoods. In their current state, they pose health and safety risks to residents. They might also have negative effects on property values, and discourage nearby development. Greensboro’s comprehensive plan asserts that brownfields and vacant properties are disproportionately located in low income and minority neighborhoods. An analysis of census data confirms this claim; the census tracts with the highest housing vacancy rates also tend to be African-American neighborhoods. Brownfields and inactive hazardous sites are more dispersed, but are somewhat more common in neighborhoods with larger African-American populations. For example, the South Elm Street neighborhood, home to a large planned brownfields remediation and redevelopment project, is 76 percent minority and has a 31% poverty rate (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010). The city should monitor the condition of the surrounding neighborhood throughout the redevelopment of this site to learn what effects this site has on the neighborhood and to provide insight into the effects of potential future brownfield redevelopment projects.
The location of brownfields or vacant properties in low-income and minority neighborhoods is significant for two reasons. First, it can have a negative impact on these neighborhoods, putting residents’ health at disproportionate risk and having a blighting effect on the neighborhood. Abandoned buildings can also result in increased crime rates in surrounding neighborhoods (Spelman, 1993). This raises serious equity concerns. At the same time, these neighborhoods are generally seen as riskier by developers and investors, creating additional disincentives for their redevelopment on top of inherent risks associated with contaminated sites. The equity issues associated with the location of brownfields and vacant properties in disadvantaged neighborhoods, coupled with the general difficulty of spurring development in these neighborhoods, provides an ethical impetus for government intervention.
Another reason brownfield and vacant sites are important is the historic character of many of these sites. Abandoned or unused sites are at high risk for deterioration and vandalism. Sites that add to community character or have significant historical or aesthetic value could be lost if barriers to rehabilitation and redevelopment cause them to continue to site idle."
In other words, my neighborhood's problems are at risk of spilling over, putting downtown Greensboro at risk and are creating problems that downtown Greensboro will someday be forced to pay for. So my question is this: Do you want to pay now or add interest to an account you'll have to pay later?
