City Services & Neighborhood Restoration

Problem:   Where our neighborhoods have not simply been neglected, they have been under direct assault.   The greatest offender is a musical chairs process caused by subsidized real estate speculation (in filling each new subsidized space, an existing taxpaying property ends up empty).   The resulting decline has driven long time residents away and brought our city to its knees.

Solution:   We've had enough sports stadiums, convention centers, and you name it -- they've been more part of the problem than not.   We first need to stop subsidizing real estate speculation.   We then need to channel our resources into city services for the people who live here and into the restoration of our traditional neighborhoods, including those that are most distressed.

Strategy:   To assure this happens most effectively, David Tessitor will restructure our City government to eliminate those areas that support real estate speculation and move others into a new Department of Neighborhoods, with two basic areas of responsibility:

• the coordination of city services at the neighborhood level -- relies upon Neighborhood Integrated Services Committees; these consist of every person responsible for directly providing their city service (e.g. the local police, fire, refuse, rec, etc.) in a neighborhood and meet every other week to address that neighborhoods problems without passing the buck.
• the restoration of our traditional neighborhoods -- under the direction of a restoration architect would assist residents; coordinate numerous small projects (which provide work for local residents rather than large projects with out-of-state contractors); and administer special City programs that will make it easier for city residents to acquire and restore city properties.

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