Why do we Redevelop Communities?

Simon Sinek, in his book, Start with Why, explains how great leaders, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers, inspired others to invest themselves in that leader's dream, product, or idea by committing to the "why" behind it.

Most organizational leaders, including those in local government, focus on the "how" or the "what" of their actions. In 1999, as a newly elected 22-year-old Palmetto city councilman, my "why" was "improving the citizens quality of life." Over those next four years, my "why" drifted into a lot of "whats," like a wastewater treatment plant and economic growth, and "hows," like privatization and incentives to save tax dollars or increase tax base and reduce the city's risk exposure. The "hows" and "whats" are essential and ultimately support the "why," but they do not engender the long-term commitment, consistency, and focus of the "why" and will likely evolve into leadership "mission drift," which the organization will follow away from its "why." Today, as a professional Florida community redeveloper, I ask myself, "why do we redevelop communities?"

Our answer begins in Florida Statute 163.335 paragraph 1 entitled Findings and declarations of necessity, where the legislature first identifies community redevelopment's targeted "what" with a declaration that slums and blighted areas exist in the state and both are growing and menacing.? We'll dig deeper into these two area types later, especially their ingredients, differences, and outcomes. But for now, let's note that these areas are growing and examine the word "Menace."? Dictionary.com defines “menace as "something that threatens to cause evil, harm, injury, etc.; a threat."? Who do these areas threaten?

According to the statute, these areas threaten to "injure the state resident's health, safety, morals, and welfare."?The same dictionary defines "injure" as "to do or cause harm of any kind, to damage, hurt or impair."?Notice that the law does not identify the slum or blighted area or local government residents but "residents of the state." Slum" and "blighted" areas affect their residents and everyone outside that area in the rest of the state. These slums and blighted areas' community costs outweigh the cost of diverting increment revenue from the overall local government's benefit. How does this happen?

The law goes on to describe two actions that generally tell us how growing slums and blighted areas negatively affect Florida's population.?First, these areas spread disease and crime, and second, they constitute social and economic liabilities that impose onerous burdens. "Disease" comes from older federal housing and urban renewal laws. The first United States urban housing redevelopment occurred in Brooklynn New York's Knickerbocker Square. The community was defined locally as the "lung block" because more tuberculosis cases were diagnosed there than elsewhere in the city. This type of information may be why the Florida legislature tags these areas as "focal centers of disease."?

Crime is a slum's outcome, an area devoid of law and order. Slum and blight also indebt the community economically and socially, meaning the obligations or responsibilities, especially financial and legal ones, of positive community growth outweigh its advantages. Legislatively, what are the end results of these areas?

The area tax base decreases because real estate sales, rents, and leases plummet, and their values decrease, creating empty derelict buildings. Ask your county property appraiser how that affects their appraisals of the area. These appraisals, in turn, reduce tax revenues for the local government. This property devaluation and public service cost increase is called blight, which you drive through on your way to slums. Property and business owners suffer and eventually depart the area if they can. Housing ownership and density shift to higher occupant rentals, even violating codes. The landlords become "slumlords." Transportation, as well as other types of infrastructure, degrades, and criminal activity, especially juvenile delinquency, increases. Do these financial negatives only affect the residents of the area?

According to the Florida Legislature, these areas affect the residents but negatively impact the rest of the jurisdiction. The state notes that these areas "consume an excessive portion of [the local government's] revenues because of the extra services required for police, fire, accident, hospitalization, and other forms of public protection, services, and facilities." So why do we redevelop communities?

According to the creators and supporters of the 1969 redevelopment act, there seem to be two complimentary "whys" for community redevelopment. The first "why" addresses, not gentrifies, the quality of life of the residents of Florida's slums and blighted areas. This concept would find support on the "left side" of the legislative aisle, as most of these areas would be lower-income, minority communities. The second "why" is to decrease the financial support of the rest of the local government revenues for the slum and blighted area's "excessive consumption." This concept would find support on the "right side" of the aisle, as it would decrease the local taxpayers’ financial burden. Both are valid "Whys" and are not mutually exclusive as long as the area's economy, environment, and society (culture) are respected and protected. If you are a locally elected leaders, please take a moment to ask yourself, "why do I redevelop a community?" and remember to thank and support your community redevelopment professionals for doing a great job.?