For Release Friday, October 16, 2009
Citiwire.net
Sandra Young, like so many public housing residents, long felt anonymous and warehoused. Yet last month, with tangible pride, she had the opportunity to show off Oakwood Shores, her new mixed income community, to high-ranking White House officials–Office of Urban Affairs Director Adolfo Carrion and Derek Douglas, special assistant to the President for Urban Affairs.
But Ms. Young, having learned a thing or two about community organizing, didn’t let the visit of the luminaries pass with mere pleasantries. She directed their eyes to the commuter rail tracks that pass by her attractive new home–but don’t stop anywhere near. She spoke passionately about her neighbors’ vision of a vibrant retail corridor, complete with a streetcar or trolley, along nearby Cottage Grove Avenue. Their vision is incorporated in a blueprint created by Reconnecting Neighborhoods, a community-led plan with a focus on connections between new homes, transportation, shopping, and jobs–a key point in federal officials’ discussions of their new urban approaches. Read More