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.
