Economic Recovery dollars without paradigm shift is wasted

The government is attempting to regenerate and recover the economy through the expenditure of billions of dollars on infrastructure and other community improvement projects. Typical of the need for a paradigm shift in the method and strategy by which such funds are expended is the recent proposed $21 million-interchange at Liberty Road/I-695 in the Randallstown area of Maryland. The current method is to focus on the building of the interchange as opposed to the economic empowerment to the community that could be embodied in the funds being spent.
It is commonly agreed that economic recovery and jobs depend very much upon the viability of small businesses at the community level. Yet there is a disconnect between this fundamental idea and the method by which government programs operate.

Specifically, through the screens and hurdles of qualifications, licensing, rules, regulations, guidelines for bonding, corporate capability, government delays and red tape, little of the money spent filters down to the small businesses that would multiply jobs and re-circulate capital in local communities.

Similarly, many years of government expenditure of perhaps trillions of dollars to recover blighted and impoverished inner city neighborhoods have yielded exactly the opposite outcomes: joblessness and economic despair continue in a downward spiral for the persons indigenous to the inner city.

These outcomes can no longer be funded and tolerated economically. Without more empowering results from government expenditures, we are doomed to intransigent and long-term deficits without the results of generating new economies.

In this context, the economic blight of local neighborhoods will spread even as government deficits rise allegedly to empower and support impoverished communities.

We can no longer afford this kind of result.

How does proposed I-695 interchange help Randallstown residents recover economically?

1. The Issue

Recently the Baltimore County Government has circulated a notice to residents of Randallstown areas regarding the disbursement of $21 million to construct the proposed Liberty Road/695 Beltway interchange. The notice alerts residents of the inconveniences that this proposed project will cause.

The purpose of this project is to inject much-needed energy into the local economy towards the broader national recovery effort. Specifically, it is supposed to be aimed at

- Empowering communities to recover from the economic crisis

- And, to facilitate transportation and commerce

2. The Scope

This proposed two-year project will affect the Randallstown (21133)-Windsor Mill (21244)-Gwynn Oak (21207) areas, populated primarily by African-Americans, and about evenly divided between singles and married couples. The median age here is 35.5. There are 49,482 men and 58,633 women (http://www.neighborhoodlink.com) many of whom are affected severely by the current economic crisis such as loss of employment, homelessness, foreclosures etc.

3. The injustice

I urge you to note that the notice sent is solely focused on the inconveniences that the proposed project will cause residents. Absent are the following:

- Any hope provided for the approximate 30,000 persons in these neighborhoods who have suffered from the economic downturn – no jobs, no business opportunities, no capital. This notice completely overlooks the possible benefits of this expenditure which could help the economic recovery of the residents

- There is no mention of any programs to train, apprentice or provide employment and career opportunities to 25,000 youth in this area

4. The call to action

This method of government expenditure will leave the local community in worse condition economically but with a new interchange. The continued waste of billions of dollars on building things but not communities and people will not only destroy possible economic benefits but it is also a deception to a public that needs true economic empowerment.

Once again, funds allegedly spent for economic recovery will be spent to build an interchange, but this will not produce economic recovery, because the very persons that need empowerment by these projects are locked out of the process.
If this infuriates you as it does the majority of us,

- Let us meet, organize, and make our voices heard

- Call your representatives with copies of this mailer and demand action

5. For more information
Go to www.gcbradford.com for more an alternative, inspired way to empower yourself and your family.