Strategic Plan To-Do List: Maintain & Encourage Diversity
Decatur Metro | February 7, 2011On to Principle B of Decatur’s 2010 Strategic Plan draft: Encourage a diverse and engaged community.
What concrete steps will Decatur undertake to maintain and encourage a diverse population? Here they are!
Goal 5: Maintain and encourage diversity of race, ethnicity, income, culture, age, family type, and other kinds of diversity
Task 5A: Promote Decatur as a naturally occurring retirement community (NORC ) where people can stay in their homes and communities as they age.
Task 5B: Continue to encourage the participation of artists and performers that represent a broad range of cultures at festivals and special events.
Task 5C: Identify and support marketing and media outlets that target diverse cultures.
Task 5D: Track and report policies that encourage diversity and attendance at festivals.
Task 5E: Identify networking opportunities for minority groups and reach out to these groups to solicit them to live, work, and play in Decatur, as well as participate in community leadership roles.
Task 5F: Adopt universal design guidelines to allow new buildings and homes to be visitable by those with mobility impairments.
Even the most able-bodied members of society will one day reach periods in their life where their mobility is impaired. Creating housing that is accessible or visitable to a wide range of citizens would benefit both current and future residents, and make the city resilient in the face of demographic changes.
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Our Capoeira group is a big fan of these
It’d be wonderful to focus on the “Neighborhoods” part of the City’s logo this time around. After all, it’s human relationships, not special events, that matter most. Put the emphasis on connecting neighbors, then neighborhoods, and we’ll really have something special going on in Decatur.
This was the most disappointing part of the to-do lists for me because none of the identified tasks would do anything to encourage income diversity in Decatur even though that’s part of the stated goal.
I suggest that on each street one resident is appointed who will be responsible for going door-to-door and asking each neighbor for a copy of his tax return. That way the city can get a very accurate picture of current income diversity and can take affirmative action to rectify any concentrations of rich or poor.
My income falls under the Feast or Famine category, so my address should get credit for satisfying economic diversity on a year to year basis.
That’s great for income diversity, isn’t it? In your feast years, you add something different to the neighborhood than you do in the famine years, right? Just like a banker who was making $300,000 in 2007 did not add diversity to a wealthy neighborhood then, but when he was laid off in 2008, income diversity up the ying yang!
I resent the arrogant, affluent me, and all that I have, during the lean years but take umbrage with such superficial, income-based stereotypes when times are flush.
That is an appropriately conflicted view, Scott. I must confess that my income is relatively steady, and I have been unable to develop any moral guilt about it. We all have our character flaws, I suppose. I therefore find it very helpful to have some lower-middle class neighbors. I invite them over for dinner where I serve food and booze they can’t afford. It gives them a brief taste of the good life, while providing me the self-satisfaction of having treated them as social equals. And isn’t that what it is all about?
My interest in this goal comes from my personal experience. I’m a young, single professional working in the City of Decatur and making about the median income for the metro area, so I’m not even at the lower end of the income distribution, but there is very little housing in the city that’s within my price range. I’ve been renting an apartment in the city for the past three years originally because I wanted to be close to work, but also because I really enjoy living in the city. Instead of some sinister plot to enforce income diversity among the population, I’m simply in favor of promoting more affordable housing in the city. In many ways the growing affluence of the community is a good thing, but it has the negative side-effect of pricing many of the people that actually work in the community out living here.
I was just jokin’ around, Moose. We’re glad to have ya.
The real answer is that, because of some cross-over in themes, the affordability angle you’re looking for is covered under Goal 15, which is under the Lifelong Community principle that DM hasn’t gotten to yet.
I could tell at least some of it was in jest, but that line gets kinda blurry online sometimes. But thanks for posting about Goal 15. I’ll have to take a look at that since I just assumed the affordability aspect would be addressed here.
My mocking tone was also in jest and not directed at you, of course. Just expressing skepticism of the idea of income diversity in general.
So by income diversity you mean “I want a house I can afford in the place I most want to live.” Well, join the club.
I was in the market for a house several months ago (trading up from a long-held and suddenly too small first home). Wanted to buy in Decatur within walking distance of the square. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford that, but I am also too financially conservative to drop that kind of money on a home. So I bought a cheaper house in Avondale that is a 5 minute bike ride to downtown Decatur. Not my ideal location, but I compromised. Similar compromises are available to others.
In fact, you are still living in Decatur right now, but you’re renting. And what is wrong with that? Nothing. I really fail to see why your desire to buy a house, as opposed to rent, should be a matter that concerns anyone but you, much less support any sort of government action to support “income diversity.”
Add to that: you are a young professional. It takes time and a few pay raises before you are ready to buy a house in a desirable and expensive market. I rented when I first got here, too. Then I saved money and bought a house when I was ready. You’ll get there, but it takes some time and financial discipline.
I used my own experience only to illustrate my point. I have no problem renting for the time being, but there’s really not much rental housing in Decatur. A little over a year ago I was considering buying a house due to the market and the incentives that were available, and I wasn’t looking anywhere in Decatur because I knew that I couldn’t afford it.
But again, this isn’t really about me. My point is that a lot of the people that actually work in Decatur have a hard time affording a place to live here. You may disagree with the goal of promoting income diversity, and that’s fine, but if that’s a goal that we as a community do choose to support then the lack of affordable housing is a problem. I agree with Glockenspieler that increased density will be necessary to increase the supply of housing, particularly rental housing, that would make living in Decatur more affordable.
You might be surprised at what is available in the city of Decatur in your price range.
Mary Rigger of Karafotias helped me buy property in town that needed some work a few years ago, and was identifying lots of properties in the city under $200,000.
If you want to buy in Decatur, you ought to be actively looking right now. Prices in the city haven’t dropped as much as other places, but I doubt they’re getting any lower.
How does one achieve “incpme diversity” in a locale without options that are less expensive than pucrhasing a house?
I don’t see where there being an apartment you CAN afford does not foster “income diversty” for you in an area where the median price of a single family house is more expensive than you can afford.
Are you suggesting that there should be some sort of price control on houses so that you can by one on your income?
If so, how big a house should you be guaranteed to be able to purchase, how many bedrooms, what sort of construction? If, having lived there for some time (and having it and the rest of the neighbor hood appreciate in value), should you then be required to sell it for only the price that you purchased it for?
Sorry, I hadn’t checked this thread in a couple of days, but I think you were replying to my comment. I guess I wasn’t clear earlier, but I never meant to imply that renting an apartment wouldn’t contribute to the income diversity of the area. I rent an apartment now, and I’m happy to do so for the time being, but I think the supply of rental housing in Decatur is what is lacking. My other comment touched on this as well.
This is a very important goal to many people in Decatur and the proposed actions will not, in my opinion, do much to address a real concern. They seem to ignore the problem
Watch out … Decatur teacher Chris Billingsleyight call you a socialist!
Best way to get income diversity is to keep approving denser development. I’m not saying that this will solve anything but without increased density, economic diversity will be very difficult to achieve.
I look forward to the networking opportunities for minority groups. I’d like to meet some other conservatives around here.
Try Cobb County.
Now that’s what I call “Maintaining & Encouraging Diversity”! Well done.
Dude, that guy totally went all “don’t like it? move then” on you–haven’t heard that one in a week or so.
Well, before your order can be filled, sir, you’ll have to be more specific: fiscal, or social?
Oh, I do love the social-type–please tell me they’re not 86’ed.
“We’ve got both kinds of music – Country, AND Western”.
I’ve been mulling over why I like income diversity. Every answer I came up with seemed superficial or self-serving or elitist or envious. My best answer is that I like people diversity and people in a narrow income bracket tend to be similar.
My Mom grew up in a town so small it was really a hamlet and the nearest towns were really villages. So there needed to be one of every type of skill but there wasn’t room for much more. There was one woman doctor (with a really weird husband but hey, who are you going to attract to this location?). One person who sold real estate (plus had a working farm, not much real estate to sell). One grocer. One church and pastor (who probably farmed too). One school with three teachers and a janitor (who also farmed). Two mills with two owners, a few foremen, and about 20 mill workers total. One gas station owner who also did auto repairs and body work. One library and librarian. Etc. So if you needed your dryer repaired, there was probably one person in town who was good at it. Ditto for helping with taxes. Ditto for notarizing. Ditto for tutoring. Ditto for plowing and sanding the roads. My Mom has a bit of a Polyanna, Sound of Music view of the world, but I think there’s some validity in her description of a community in which people seemed to be interdependent enough that they truly needed and respected each others’ skills. If everyone had been a lawyer, doctor, and CEO….not so good. If everyone had been a mill worker without some professional know-how….not so good.
I think what you’re saying is all about how Decatur through its planning is trying to try to restore traditional American communities. Tight-knit communities that are friendly, walkable, with a mix of businesses and housing.
And traditional American communities, before the post WWII auto-centric suburban migration, used to have lots of income diversity (albeit less racial diversity in pre-civil rights days).
You would think that so called “conservatives” would appreciate that, instead of resorting to a lot of knee-jerk, right wing talk radio rhetoric, in an attempt to fight it.
Does that have any thing to do with the myth of Ronald Reagan v the reality of what he did?
Absolutely right–I mean, lots of people made crappy movies.
You are right, Decatur is conservative. It is a community based on traditional modes of living – small town, mixed use, walkable, etc. For thousands and thousands of years, humankind formed families, communities, societies, and cultures around these physical and political characteristics.
Then the automobile age came along. And the globalization of commerce. And the megasizing of municipalities, with the attendant bureaucracy and corruption and inefficiencies.
Decatur resists the progressive urge of this age.
Conservatism, like Decatur, is not retrograde. It is not anachronistic. It is respect for the inherited wisdom of generations of our predecessors. It is the understanding that tried and true is better than new and improved.
I appreciate that. I can’t speak for anyone else around here, but my guess is that many conservatives are not fighting it, just making fun of the diversity shibboleth. It has been so abused that it is no longer respected. When the diversity boosters start valuing CEOs, billionaires, Swedes, etc. as much as they do anyone else on the spectrum, it’ll be easier to take it seriously. As is, “diversity” is just an attempt at atonement.
We have to value Swedes? Ooooo, this diversity thing is going to be tough. (Just kidding, I’m going to try hard to befriend a billionaire and be more inclusive. Anyone know where the billionaires in Decatur hang out?)
We have a Ted’s. He’s my favorite billionaire.
I always thought “diversity” was the inclusive post-modern reaction to the exclusive “modern” way of life– or, colonialism gone stale.
I can’t help but think that a lot of this is completely arbitrary–as in, what happens really does just happen.
Also, the phrase, “income diversity” sounds like the familiar American mantra of “class distinction? what? No, no, EVERYONE has a shot at the American dream…”, and “we don’t want a class war here folks–look what happened to the French aristocracy. We need diversity.”
“People don’t make people rich, money does.”