Urban Land Institute Study

"Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni." Now even though Yankee Doodle called the feather macaroni in this patriotic song he did not make the people call it macaroni nor did the feather become macaroni.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) rode into town on a big white horse, figuratively speaking, to bring the city of San Bernardino the good news of urban renewal. The ULI is a team of experts gathered from around the country that has proven to give new life to old urban cities. The ULI stayed in San Bernardino for one week, walked around, rode around, talked to some people, and gave a report that said in essence you should work together and rebuild downtown first and connect the West side  to the old train station depot. If you combine retail business and offices with new upscale housing that is within walking distance, people will come. Now to make sure certain people cannot live there keep the price of this new real estate very high and add a good strong police force to protect them, you should be good for another 30 years. In watching one of my favorite western movies, I noticed this same logic used when they built the fort to keep out the Indians. They built the fort, moved everyone else in, placed the guards, set up the store house, had the dance hall, established the canteen, set up the school, and established regular intervals to bring in necessary supplies. Victor Mature, who played the lead in the movie, was against this type of society because most of his friends were Indians. They lost out in the short term because they soon learned they needed the Indians when things got hard during the winter so they called on Mature to help save them. Now I am being brief in my observation of what I am sure they said, but after watching their presentation, this is what I came away with. This panel did not reflect the diversity of the city which is 63.8% Black and Latino. I have been trying to find out what citizens they spoke to so I can determine if we were included in this new plan of action. One might ask why should I be so concerned? I am concerned because the concept for this new urban city is relocating people based on income, race and status without correcting the real problem. We should focus on better education, career skills training, better business practices, better planning of community needs, environmental needs, transportation issues, better health care, and meeting the needs of our youth and senior citizens that will go far beyond 20 to 30 years.

It was just about thirty years ago that the San Bernardino Redevelopment Agency's Warner Hodgdon, told us that in order to get San Bernardino going we need to start downtown then build outward to save the city. As a matter of fact he used the analogy of building a wheel to illustrate his point. If we re-built the core he said, by closing 3rd Street enclosing the merchants, providing air conditioning for their comfort while shopping, people will come. This upscale enclosed mall soon became a thriving five and dime shopping mall because it became the only place for our underserved population to shop and hang out. Kids of all races and ethnic groups came to hang out during the hot summer and Christmas holidays. This same thing is happening now to Ontario Mills Mall, Victoria Gardens Mall and other upscale ventures across the country. It demonstrates that if you only plan for upscale it becomes a downscale too quickly in my opinion.

After the downtown build up we skipped to Hospitality Lane while the then thriving business district of Baseline and Highland Avenue dried up. Gas was cheap so Whites and others who could afford to moved further out created new communities and now their children want to move back home. For me this is good for any community if we create the economy to support business and high paying jobs. If we want to get it right we must be inclusive with all of its citizens. We must train a workforce and then pay them prevailing wages with other incentives to raise a family. We must create an atmosphere that demonstrates every segment of the community has value. For example during the interviewing process did the ULI speak with Carl Clemons, Cheryl Brown, former Planning commissioners of the city and in Cheryl Brown's case an Urban Planner by education and experience. Did they speak with Norris Gregory, Dan Frazier, Valerie Polk or Betty Anderson all former city council members? I asked Rikke Van Johnson if he knew who was interviewed and he responded he did not know and has requested the information.  Now I am not saying they should have interviewed them but their experience and commitment to this community is solid and they are not going to up and move.

Now what I heard was good but like the Yankee Doodle feather in the hat trick called macaroni, it was still a feather. And what the ULI called upscale Urban Renewal is still called relocating the underserved for the upscale of society only to repeat the process a few years from now. Those who have, will still get, while those who don't have, will help pay for yet another half planned idea to upgrade a city.

Ivory Webb Case Let The People Decide

The jury found Ivory Webb not guilty of a crime just as I thought they would and I feel better because everyday citizens rendered a verdict on the shooting. This is what our community has been advocating for all of the past law enforcement shooting that have involved white officers shooting Black citizens. Another thing I noticed is they were able to find Blacks to serve on the jury and act as spokespersons after the trial. The District Attorney did not ask for the trial to take place in Barstow to get an all white or Mexican jury. It is my hope that the sheriff or police chiefs and district attorney will eagerly put other officers on trial and let citizens decide on officer's guilt or innocence. This in my humble opinion will help restore some trust in our legal system especially from the Black community. I am certain that in most cases the officers will be given the benefit of the shooting verses the district attorney saying we find the shooting justified.

Now it is reported that Sheriff Gary Penrod is denying Webb employment with the sheriff department. Is this the same Sheriff Penrod that hired Paul Bugar a White police officer who shot and killed Tyisha Miller, a Black teenager locked inside a car needing medical assistance in Riverside? Is this the same Sheriff Penrod who caused over 700 angry citizens led by local clergy on a cold rainy day to protest that decision? Is this the same Sheriff Penrod who told the Black community that Bugar needed to make a living just like every one else? Penrod went so far as to say Bugar would only be working in areas where wearing a firearm is not required.

Sheriff Penrod doesn't Webb need to make a living and he did not kill anyone? Just like in the Tyisha Miller case I think the family should seek a review of the shooting by the United States Justice Department because any citizen having to look down the barrel of a firearm deserve as many reviews as possible.