Not thrilled

I am not as thrilled as I thought I might be writing this piece to be honest. I am sure that many drafts do not measure up to the final product so I hope to spend more time organizing my thoughts in a more logical pattern - there is a certain amount of fear and uncertainty involved when you take on a more social history. It is a good feeling actually but I am wondering if I am doing the topic justice?

A Town in Transition

An interesting story has evolved from the look into the grants from 1977 to about 1983. I am finding that there was a serious disconnect between elected officials and an emerging black population. During the Carter Administration's HUD part of the grant process was to set up a community public policy whereby citizens had a say. Accounts of the time suggest that Irvington would not consider the plans of several groups including the Citizen Improvement League. The League wanted more say in the public safety plan and improvements to the East and South Wards; Mayor Miller and Community Development Director Henry Blank filed applications with their own plans. The very idea of the grant was to put the decision making process back into local government - an ideal of New Federalism - to lessen federal involvement. What seemed to transpire is that the goals to keep people from leaving Irvington may have had unintended consequences. There is no indication that when, in the mid to late 80's, that the grant was better utilized when black officials administered grant funds either - there consistently lacked clear goals until Mayor Wayne Smith came along in 2002.

Interviews

I was really interested in tracking down some of the people involved in the grants I am researching to get a better feel for the decisions involved for who was to receive benefits and who did not. The goal of the Community Development grants (even to date) was to put the money in local hands under federal guidelines. Well, unfortunately the people who were in charge of administering the grant have either died or moved south but I was able to track down a vocal citizen quoted in many local accounts of the time (roughly from 1977-1980). Raymond Burgess was a housing association leader in the East Ward who was quoted as saying, "the town has failed to allow meaningful input through citizen participation...The racial and ethnic polarization of this town and the reflective attitudes of the administration have adversely and negatively effected the application (of the grants)." Burgess and his Citizen's Improvement League challenged the town's 1977 application to HUD on the grounds they did not involve community input as required or the use of minority contractors as required. Burgess is now a man in his 80's and living in a neighboring town but I look forward to speaking with him - it took a lot to convince him I was legit and was not going to rob him.