parkside villages

Waco's City Council will hear a plan this evening from the Pinnacle Group to redevelop the Parkside Village site at 9th and Colcord. The plan has some good elements but it relies upon a 90/10 housing ratio of low to moderate incomes/middle incomes. This is simply unacceptable given that this is what was essentially there before and whose failure led us to this point in the first place.

Below you can find a letter I wrote to the City Council as they consider this plan:

October 18, 2011

Dear Honorable Elected Officials of the City of Waco,

I write to express my dismay over the Parkside Village Redevelopment plan that the Pinnacle Group will present to you later this afternoon for your consideration this evening. While the plan does contain some laudable elements, including the of inclusion retail property and mixed use zoning as well as the replacement of the current physical structures, the development plan fails to remediate the problems the led the community and the City of Waco to this point in the first place.

Parkside Villages has historically served as a repository for low-income residents. This concentration of poverty contributed to both generational poverty and to a high crime rate within the community and larger neighborhood. This style of urban planning, very reminiscent of 60’s style segregated public housing, fails to promote advancement for residents and hampered the revitalization of the greater community. Furthermore, the social service and public safety costs outweighed any short-term financial benefits the City may have received. At this juncture, when there is an opportunity to reject the failed the development models of the past and to promote diverse, healthy mixed-income neighborhoods, why would the City return to prior mistakes?

To this point, your body has fought for a brighter future and dignity for residents of Parkside. You argued for HUD to expand its criteria to include mixed income and mixed use development. You insisted that any redevelopment include new physical structures. You spoke positively about the Downtown Redevelopment Plan’s inclusion of this area in its intentions for this area. I urge you to hold fast to this stance in accord with your previous comments and those of the community, voiced repeatedly during public comment opportunities about the Parkside site.

As a resident of this community and pastor of one of its churches, I cannot support a plan that calls for 90% low or moderate income housing. This community needs mixed income housing, in keeping with the fabric of the surrounding neighborhood. I urge you to affirm the Pinnacle Group where they got the plan right but also to send them back to the drawing board until they present a plan that is truly mixed-income and will benefit this community and Waco at large.

Sincerely,

James H. Coston

Senior Pastor