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Front Porch Charlotte

Advocacy resources for educating our children

Affordable Housing or Workforce Housing?

Jan. 19, 2017

Is it affordable or workforce housing? Most of us really don’t care about the name. Just make sure that safe, decent and sanitary housing does not cost me more than 30% of my income. Otherwise, I’m balancing the cost of necessities such as food, medicine, children clothes, educational items each month.

The Charlotte local media has been full of articles and stories with calls for more affordable housing after the September riot. Calls from every corner of the community, from neighborhood groups, city council, the mayor, you name it. All calling for more affordable housing and 5,000 units in 5 years appear to be the goal. Wow!

Few remember the big brouhaha in the mid-’80s about a large southern tract of land in Mecklenburg County to be called Ballantyne. The developers needed City and State zoning and road and infrastructure approvals and vowed to provide affordable housing to support the varied levels of jobs, from secretaries, waitresses, hospital workers, teachers, managers and CEOs.

In the 1990s, at a joint luncheon meeting of the City, County and School Board, there was approval to take another serious look at providing affordable housing. Again, in 2000 after the Federal Courts declared CMS unitary. Now in 2017, here we go again.

Sitting on the Front Porch, I’m reminded of how long it took my grandfather to go from being a slave to citizen under the Constitution. As the saying goes, “you may give out, but don’t give up.”

It’s the right thing do and our moral imperative to keep trying until we get it right.

– Arthur Griffin

 

Pages below are from a 1994 report by the author addressed to Charlotte City Council, Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners and the CMS Board of Education. The last pages are from a developers’ report to public bodies, and includes an undertaking that Ballantyne “will include a variety of housing types for rent or sale which are priced to accommodate various income levels represented by  Ballantyne’s work force.”

Click for documents







FrontArt960

Filed Under: Change

Growing up, I learned life lessons on the front porch. Today’s front porch has moved to the Internet. I want this site to focus on children, public education and efforts to ensure that every child becomes a well-educated, mature, motivated adult.

– Arthur Griffin

The 3AM Blog

Observations that may or may not bear up under the light of day, as posted at any time of the day by those involved in this site.

Past, present, or…

1/30/17: Children represent 23% of the present U.S. population and 100% of our collective future.

How will we respond?

1-29-17: “We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact we haven’t so far.”

– Ronald Edmonds (May 24, 1935- July 15, 1983)

Opportunities abound

12-28-16: At its Oct. 25 meeting the CMS Board of Education approved a bunch of construction contracts, mostly for heating and air conditioning work. They are listed here in descending order of percentage participation by minority, women and small business enterprises.

  • 34.74% Providence High HVAC Controls
  • 1.5% Harding High chiller
  • 0% Cornelius Elementary chiller
  • 0% J.T. Williams HVAC controls
  • 0% Myers Park High chiller
  • 0% Pawtucket Elementary roof

Is there anything wrong with this picture?

Break the cycle

8-21-15: Who gets the leg up from pre-K programs? In 2013 about half of the children of adults with graduate or professional degrees were enrolled. But only about a quarter of the children of adults with less than a high school education were enrolled. Let’s break the cycle right there! Data from The Condition of Education 2015.

Thoughts?

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