Choice Neighborhood

The April 4, 2014 letter to the editor “All hands in the pot”, suggests Swiss Bear should back away from the Choice Neighborhood Planning Initiative recently received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). To be successful, the $400,000 grant, designated for developing an action plan for the revitalization of the Greater Five Points area requires all hands/partners to be at the table, including Swiss Bear. Partnerships, achievable goals and objectives and long range plans…the formula that worked for the revitalization of downtown, is the same formula needed to affect positive change in the Greater Five Point area.

The challenges in the Greater Five Point area are great and require strong community partnerships. Building a thriving Greater Five Points area takes vision, opportunities, the community working together, and dogged perseverance. The Choice Neighborhood Initiative offers New Bern that opportunity, but only if we all work together to make it happen. What is inspiring is the fact New Bern is the smallest city of the nine chosen to participate in the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Choice Neighborhood Initiative, an indication that HUD is confident, we as a community have what it takes to be successful.

In the summer of 2013, Julian March, Executive Director of the New Bern Housing Authority asked Swiss Bear to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as a Principal Team Member which was included in the application for the HUD Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant.  Other MOU Principal Team Members are: Craven County government, Neuse River Community Development Corporation, Craven Community College and the Greater Duffyfield Residents Council.

The MOU identifies the roles and responsibilities of each entity as it relates the ultimate HUD Choice Neighborhoods implementation grant for the Greater Five Points area. This grant and the corresponding transformation plan identify the target area of Craven Terrace and Trent Court Public Housing properties and their surrounding neighborhood.

We all agreed, it is in our mutual interest and benefit for the goals to be accomplished and that we will work cooperatively in developing and executing a comprehensive transformation plan.

HUD recognizes significant planning and resources are necessary to complete the required transformation plan for this project. 

The initial phase of work focuses on a community planning process to develop a shared vision and a Transformation Plan that must be submitted to HUD in October 2015.

The second phase is the actual implementation of the Transformation Plan and if our planning effort meets the criteria and New Bern is selected as a recipient, $20-30 million of federal money will be made available for this initiative and take place in a series of phases over a multi year process.

In the 1970’s, our city was at a critical juncture. The deterioration of downtown and its waterfront threatened New Bern’s economic growth and development. Then, like today, community leaders and government officials recognized steps had to be taken to revitalize the Greater Five Points area.

Throughout the past 30 years, the city worked to improve the Five Point area by investing in construction of the new fire house, police station and acquisition of the First Citizens Bank for public utilities service. M ore recently, in partnership with NCDOT, major streetscape improvements to the Broad Street corridor. They  established the Five Points Revitalization Committee under the Planning Department with representatives from Swiss Bear, Craven Community College, Chamber of Commerce, the Uptown Business & Professional Association.

Swiss Bear, in partnership with the city, sponsored numerous initiatives to promote the revitalization of the Five Points area including the 1990 and 2000 Urban Design Plans, a Million Dollar Loan Pool and supported the establishment of the Uptown Business and Professional Associations’ small learning and business center.  Grant applications to establish a small incubator business center and business recruitment efforts were unsuccessful.

The well intended projects/efforts only brought modest change. The underutilized sites on Broad compromised the corridors’ image. The vacant Days Hotel, evidence of disinvestment, stigmatized the neighborhood. Additionally, Craven Terrace and Trent Court, obsolete public housing, though well-maintained, concentrate poverty which effects investment, residential and commercial.

With the current administration’s commitment to implementing the City’s Gateway Renaissance Plan, the Choice Neighborhood Initiative coupled with multiple community partnerships is the opportunity of a lifetime for New Bern. Our city’s proven track record with downtown’s revitalization effort, an effort based on community partnerships, has made New Bern a national example. Downtown is, once again, an economic engine driving growth and development in New Bern and Craven County.

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is an exciting economic development tool that we as a community need to take advantage of. This is the time for active participation, a time to put down differences, listen  to each other, actively address the real issues and develop a plan that will make it possible.

Susan Moffat Thomas. Executive Director

Swiss Bear Downtown Development Corp.