"Engaged Residents Key to Neighborhood Improvement"

Recent Housing News from the Oshkosh Northwestern

Engaged residents key to neighborhood improvement
By Jeff Bollier • of the Northwestern • November 12, 2010
(920) 426-6688 or jbollier@thenorthwestern.com.

On the corner of East Tennessee Avenue and Grand Street, there's a house with a "rent to own" sign in the front yard that sorely needs a paint job

David Boehlke, a consultant and neighborhood revitalization specialist, told the community leaders surrounding him Thursday that he'd rather not spend neighborhood revitalization dollars to paint that house. He'd rather find the right owner to buy the house: Someone who would live there and paint it because it's their home.

It's a small tweak in how Oshkosh approaches neighborhood revitalization, but one he suggested the community get used to if it wants to partner with Racine's NeighborWorks chapter to build strong, clean neighborhoods. Boehlke and representatives from Racine's NeighborWorks chapter met with community leaders Thursday to tour Oshkosh neighbors and provide insight into how the group would approach revitalization efforts as the partnership edges closer to a reality.
"This effort is not about the number of properties the city can repair or the number of units it can sell," Boehlke said. "It will be about changing how people look at and invest in their neighborhoods. You can't fix a neighborhood by doing the things that haven't been working."
Boelhke, who has helped turn around neighborhoods in Baltimore, Battle Creek, Mich., and New Orleans, said a NeighborWorks partnership would require the community to focus on the positives a neighborhood can offer and give them identities. It also would require engaged residents who take ownership in their properties and responsibility for making their neighborhood better.

"A lot of communities start out thinking they will do this or that to change neighborhoods, but this is about giving neighbors a choice," Boehlke said. "If people do not have the skills to do repairs or the resources, it's NeighborWorks' job to compensate for that. But many of the things you need to accomplish have nothing to do with city programs."

-->During a tour of Oshkosh neighborhoods Thursday, Boehlke laid out four items to accomplish to begin changing perceptions about neighborhoods:

—Name neighborhoods and give them a sense of identity residents can build on.

—Build property values and equity investments in neighborhood homes to raise property values and push out property investors who buy cheap properties and do little to improve them.

—Set high design standards at the municipal level so neighborhoods and older homes within them are preserved.

—Engage neighbors on a block-by-block basis so they know who each other are and can work together to improve conditions in their area.

Oshkosh Common Councilor Steve Herman said the change in approach could be what the city needs as it prepares to take a second crack at revitalization efforts. A city-led program of code enforcement, beautification and renovation assistance in the Near East Neighborhood fizzled out a little over a year after it began just as residents felt it was starting to make progress.

"The old approach didn't work and people got upset," Herman said. "Our issue for a long time has been an image problem. I think citizens have wanted this kind of change in approach for a long time."

Ron Hansche, who lives on the east side near Stevens Park, said he believes the new approach can work, provided residents, community organizations, the city and NeighborWorks can get people involved in the effort.

"In our neighborhood, it's tough to get enough people to step forward and lead these kinds of efforts," Hansche said. "We need some help developing neighborhood organizations. And hopefully, NeighborWorks will do that."

Councilors are expected to consider an agreement between the city and NeighborWorks-Racine at their Nov. 23 meeting. Should the project go forward, NeighborWorks staff would begin developing a program of work vetted by a local steering committee that east side resident Bill Wyman has volunteered to lead.

Oshkosh resident Mike Taylor said he has approached revitalization efforts by thinking of what groups might be able to come in and plant trees to spruce up a neighborhood or where money could be find to fix up dilapidated homes. After Thursday's discussion, he said he had been looking at it wrong.

"You can't think about who will come in and help make these improvements. Instead, you have to instill ownership and responsibility in the residents," Taylor said. "It's really a paradigm shift, kind of offering a hand up instead of a handout." — Jeff Bollier

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