Mike Fratto asked that I introduce myself, inferring that without an introduction that includes proof that I can supply inside information, that my assertions on the list discussion may be without importance. I am hoping that Mike did not mean to convey that message as it would lend concern to what appears to be a place for healthy and equitable forum interactions. Mike you also stated that my comments may have been purely speculative.
I stated in my last post that my analysis of the District Council System and CIB processes stemmed from 15 years of community organizing in St. Paul. But if that is not sufficient substantiation of my credentials... allow me to elucidate. My full name is Caty Royce, I have been the Director of a grassroots organization called the Community Stabilization Project for fifteen years. CSP has been located on Selby Avenue since its inception in 1990. CSP's mission is to, "spark low income tenants, people with low incomes, people of color and new immigrants to preserve and increase the supply of affordable housing in the metro area." For its first seven years CSP's work was performed exclusively in St. Paul. In fifteen years we have preserved over 7,000 units of affordable housing by suing slumlords, saving state and federally subsidized mortgages from being pre-paid, and by challenging urban regentrifcation projects that use demolish and displacement strategies to uproot poor families and families of color to replace them with upper/upper middle class families. That work has been by far our most controversial, Concord Square, Lakewood, Selby Dayton, 7th Place Apartments and most recently last year's fight to stop a demolition referendum in Brooklyn Park are examples of that work.
Intergral to the organizing strategy used to challenge what CSP percieves as racist redevelopment/regentrification schemes has been to highlight the "way" and "processes" used to plan those redevelopments. Although the people most impacted by those projects were the people living in the complexes none of them had been invited to "community planning" processes and discussions generated to create the plans. In all the above sited examples, months long community plans, directed mostly by the affected District Councils, had proceeded with NO OUTREACH or authentic attempts of inclusion to the affected tenant population. Those experiences have informed my previous comments related to Councils and CIB.
CSP's bylaws require that a majority of its Board be people of color and I am the sole white person on staff. I say that to underscore the real experience imbedded in CSP's and my analysis of power, privilege and racism and the deadly interplay of those dynamics. Ms. Carroll stated these issues are the some of the most important of our times and I wholeheartedly agree. I hope that they and their interrelated issues of development, money and political influences can be explored by all through this forum. Of course with grace and respect.
To that end, caty royce. Living in South Minneapolis, working in St. Paul, at on office, located on Selby Avenue. Sorry, got a little snotty at the end.
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