Planned housing project would be a ghetto

Volunteers of America, a tax-exempt national not-for-profit corporation in cooperation with Valley Residential Services, a local not-for-profit housing organization, is proposing to build an 88-unit rental housing complex in southeast Palmer for moderate income families. Neighbors of the proposed development did not become aware of the proposal until the plan approval was well advanced with the City of Palmer.

The 9-acre property is bounded by four other lots. Its eastern neighbor is Job Corps. To the north, the neighbor is TerraSond, a surveying outfit. To the west, the neighbor is the city of Palmer-owned MTA Events Center and soccer fields. The south neighbor is Mountain Rose Senior Housing Estates. At present, there is no road access to the development site.

I am not a resident of Mountain Rose and have no connection with the Mountain Rose development. I am a retired minister and have lived in the Palmer area for 28 years and have been very active in housing and providing needed services to a broad range of people with special needs. I have no special interest in the 88-unit development other than the well-being of the people who will live there for the next 100 years. I have special concern for the children for whom it will be home.

When I first heard of the proposed development, I took a quick look and did not like what I saw. At first, I hesitated to call it a ghetto. But if a person takes the time to examine the word and look at the proposal, the project will be, in fact, a ghetto and carries very justified concerns to thoughtful people.

It is a high-density development with no residential neighbors of same or similar profile. Residency is tightly controlled by income level. Poor people cannot live there. Neither can people with professional income levels. It will be a ghetto.

For road access, Commercial Drive will be extended 600 feet east from Chugach Street and will dead-end into the housing complex. The developers estimate that about 170 children will live in the area. There is no elementary school in the area. All elementary and all high school students must be bused.

However, it is my understanding that school buses will not go to the project. No place for a bus turnaround is in the site plan. Buses will pick up children on Chugach Street. Children will walk 600 to 1,000 feet to get from their home to the bus pickup point. When children return from school they will be locked up in their 9-acre ghetto.

Evidently people being a part of a walkable community were never a concern for the project’s architect, planners or developers.

When a complex such as this is built, it is a long-term deal. Kids will be living in this locked up, fenced area for the next 100 years.

When in graduate school, I took a course in urban church sociology. In that course, I learned about the power of context. I became sensitized to the power of properly housing people. Today, many hundreds of people live in proper housing because of my efforts. I have come to know the difference between good housing and housing that is not so good.

I have recently read “Our Children,” by Harvard Professor Robert Putnam. He paints a disturbing picture of the plight of American children. The ugly head of segregation has swept the country. The segregation that is most alarming is not racial segregation but economic segregation. The housing proposal for southeast Palmer fits the pattern.

The design of the development is badly flawed. But my first and primary concern is the well-being of the children who will live in the development for many years in the future.

Other comments need to be made. I do not feel good about the arrival of Volunteers of America in Palmer. The housing complex is being financed by tax credits. Tax credits are a tax-avoidance scheme for the super rich.

In the scheme, not-for-profit organizations are given tax credits by the federal government. Not-for-profits then sell the tax credits to the highest bidder. The wealthy successful bidder then uses the tax credits to avoid paying federal taxes.

Volunteers of America are experts in the acquiring and sale of tax credits. Unfortunately, Valley Residential Services has decided to partner with Volunteers of America.

I also believe the finger-pointing at the residents of Mountain Rose is unjustified. They know they are going to have neighbors. However, they do not want a neighbor that comes with loads of problems.

In some circumstances, “not in my backyard “ is not a sign of bigotry but a sign of wisdom. I know a few people who live in Mountain Rose. They are justifiably upset at being called bad names.

When this project came to the Palmer Planning Commission, the hearing was very inadequate. Public comments were limited to three minutes. There was no time for well-reasoned statements to be made.

Many people showed up, but they were given only enough time to say “I am against it.” No government agency should operate in the manner that was shown by the Planning Commission.

If this unfortunate complex is built, there will be a list of losers. At the top of the list are the children who will live there. Next will be the city of Palmer, a great town that prides itself in quality of life.

Finally, Valley Residential Services will not be trusted again. They have been a good public citizen and own other housing complexes in Palmer. They are failing the very community that needs them.

Howard Bess is a retired minister who lives in Palmer.