When Urban Redevelopment Doesn’t Work
Urban Redevelopment is supposed to lift up the community and bring more business traffic to increase profitability within a specific urban area. That’s the purpose of creating an Urban Redevelopment Plan. But what happens when that plan has a different underlying cause and effect?
In the case of many Urban Redevelopment Projects, the opposition had no real say in the development of businesses within a specific district, because those renovating the property owned the property. That benefits a different turn of cause. The owner choosing to upgrade the property makes a complete different situation than a City Administrator or other Community Leader forcing change on the property owner. One constitutes inspiration, motivation and success, the other imposes judgment, financial hardship and limitations.
When the community sparks and inspired motivation for change within the business district, there’s change for all the right reasons, and it happens because the people want change and improvement. But when the change is forced on the people, it falls short of success because people resent being told what to do. They resent being handed cash and being told what to do with it.
Urban Redevelopment is not always the only answer for bringing a community greater profits and better business opportunities. The most significant manner of inviting change to a community is the motivation of the leaders. If business owners in the community aren’t interested in change, the best thing you can do is bring in new businesses. By inviting new business into the area, you’ll be growing a new market, and change brings positive change. As community leaders, bringing in new business is often a matter of good planning and strong leadership, “Because I want them to come here,” is NOT a good enough reason for most businesses to relocate.
Bad leadership will keep away new business.
If you live in a community and new businesses look, but back away from coming to your fair community, look at your leadership. Consider for a moment, you’ve worked hard to become a business. You’ve earned your way past the nickel and dime stage and you actually have the ability to move your business where you want to live. So where would you want to move your business?
Would you move your business to a place where you are compelled by a city administrator/leader/controller to comply with ambiguous design strategies applied randomly to businesses in the city, or to a community where business leaders are encouraged and motivated to participate independently in urban growth programs?
Urban Redevelopment doesn’t work in communities where the independent will of the business owner isn’t considered in the developmental plan of business growth of the community. The difference is capitalism known and recognized by many as free enterprise business.
Jan Verhoeff promotes the development and natural motivated growth of community business centers where independent business owners are the decision makers of their own business. Her community promotional website at http://lamarco.us shares more information about how businesses develop natural motivation and inspiration within a community.
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