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.