On October 6th, 2021 PACDC submitted written testimony in support of a City Council Resolution # 210681 regarding the Neighborhood Preservation Initiative Program statement and Year 1 budget.
PACDC applauds City Council and President Clarke on this bold initiative to bring more resources sooner to communities suffering from inequity, violence, lack of economic opportunities, substandard and unaffordable housing, struggling neighborhood commercial corridors, and deteriorating neighborhood infrastructure. We see this as an important effort to positively impact all of these issues now, while understanding that this is an ongoing effort.
However, we do have concerns about the lack of clear targeting for most of these resources to ensure that disadvantaged residents and communities with the greatest needs will benefit from these investments. While we understand there is an interest in having flexibility to carry out this work, we think that a core principle of an investment of public resources at this scale should be to address barriers faced by communities of color and neighborhoods that have experienced a lack of new investment for too long.