fWmif In MotJOIt: The Master Plan contin...

The Master Plan continued  from the cover

Two separate articles on urban redlining (Sun, February 5 and july 15) cited urban renewal, labeled "negro removal" some 30 years ago, as a major culprit-among other methods used-in isolating black and poor minorities into decaying areas of this and other cities across the nation.

Many of our readers can remember the mass removal of citizens along Latayette Street to make way for the elegant townhouses and apartment buildings. The new constructions were to be in the low-cost bracket, and the uprooted people, many of whom owned their homes, were promised the opportunity to move back into the area.

But this did not occur, because the new living quarters were priced far above their ability to pay.

Each of the freeways that most motorists enjoy today was built at the cost of people removal from the affected areas. Entire neighborhoods were wiped out to provide a rapid means of transportation for the ever-growing number of suburbanites who work in Detroit.

But even though people were uprooted to make way for new and costly homes and for freeways, there still remain acres and acres of land possessed by absentee land-owners for no one seems to know how long. According to our sources, the City is finally getting ready to find out who and where those persons are.

These and other factors we've cited previously make it crystal clear that a Master Plan is underway-one specifically designed to squeeze out and/or lock in what are termed as undesirable and non-productive people: that is, the black and poor minorities.

However, a ray of light has begun to glimmer in this whole mass of confusion, starting with the battles Mayor Young and the City Council have fought with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Mayor Young has campaigned for much of his term in office, along with the Council, to get HUD to release the houses to owns to the city.

Last April, HUD finally agreed to Mayor Young's proposal to sell to the city-for $1 each-all the vacant lots it owns and expects to acquire through June 1977. The agreement, reportedly the first of its kind in the nation, will result in the city taking over more than 3,000 HUD-owned vacant lots.

The arrangement will save HUD the heavy cost of carrying each lot on its inventory, maintenance expenses, etc., and places the properties under the ownership of the city, where they properly belong. The city plans to sell some lots to adjacent property owners and allow some for its Farm-a-Lot program, which will save additional maintenance costs.

Mayor Young and the Council have also made considerable progress toward aiding the efforts of the city's numerous community councils, which-if it continues-should indicate quite a bit of upward motion for several projects which have been stalled for long periods of time.

 Virginia Park Community Investment Associates' development project, which began a decade ago, was stymied as a result of the 1967 riot. Bounded by Clairmount on the north, Lodge Freeway on the east, Grand Boulevard on the south and 14th Street on the west, the area, where the riot was mostly concentrated, seemed doomed to failure for years thereafter.

 Most of the eye-sores have now been razed, and the work that has begun looks quite promising. The associates are presently in the process of raising $300,000, or 10 per cent of the cost, for building its shopping center along Rosa Parks Blvd (formerly known as 12th St. ) scheduled to open in December 1977. The complex will cover 8-and-a-half acres with over 60,000 square feet of space.

Under the leadership of Christopher Alston, president of the Coordinating Council for Community Redevelopment and chairman of the Forest Park District Council, those group on the city's east side have also been able to withstand the many battle scars in their long struggle to keep their dream alive.

In July the City Council authorized HUD homes for the Forest Park organization's Self-Reliance Homeownership Program, which was founded by Alston. The Council resolution has authorized the City's Community & Economic Development Department to be a conduit (channel) between HUD and the Homeownership Program for the $1 PROP house.

Spokespersons pointed out in a news release that the Self-Reliance Homeownership Program "a new concept in urban homesteading," will renovate the $1 PROP homes it will buy from HUD, bring them up to a mortgage standard, and then seII them at the cost of rehabilitation-plus normal handling charges (from $10,000 to $12,000)-to people who agree to occupy pre-purchase and post-purchase counseling.

Purchasers must also agree to occupy the homes for five years, and take pride in their ownership.

In order to minimize every possible financial burden on the buyer," the group emphasizes "the plan is to operate on a minimal budget, using-to the fullest extent possible volunteer technical and consultive assistance and counseling: neighborhood groups, block clubs, citizens' district councils, church groups, etc, to assist in the home and customer selection process, and in homeownership counseling for the purchaser.

SRHP spokespersons say they have been afforded excellent understanding from HUD Area Director Elmer C. Binford and his staff, and have received full cooperation from the city in this matter.

Other areas now in the developing stage are listed as Leland-Orleans, Woodward Last, Richard, and Woodward-Woodbridge. Among the areas in the Study stage are NW-HUD, B2-B4, Harmonie Park, Greektown, Davison-Mound and Myrtle-Stimson.

A great deal of caution is being taken to prevent the mistakes made two or three years ago, when many welfare recipients became frustrated and disillusioned after being duped into putting their measly $200 or $300 down on a home, only to lose it. Shortly after they moved into their new homes, violations were found that were far too costly for them to pay for.

New Detroit, Inc., which was created as a result of the '67 riot to correct some of the problems that caused the upheaval, has concentrated primarily on four areas: social, political, economie and group programs and projects. The multiracial organization has, through its Housing Committee, provided some $4.5-milllon in funds for non-profit housing development in the war-torn inner city. One well-known example is the Elmwood area.

"Making Detroit a better place to live is our aim," says chairman F.C. Matthaei, Jr. He agrees with Richard C. Gerstenberg, New Detroit's 1975 chairman, that "New Detroit has learned that there are no quick solutions to problems that have developed over scores of years. Social change by itself s a slow process.

"But one important thing is that minority groups must have a significant voice in the decision-making process."

Those who are familiar with the situation and are sincere in their efforts to effect solutions to the problems that beset the people agree that black and other minority citizens must be included in all matters that involve their destiny. The trouble is, however, that it

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