CCNAACP President joins Economic Development panel discussion in Mt. Vernon, IL
City of Mt. Vernon, Illinois: Include the NAACP!
We Want Mixed Use Southside Development!
The NAACP Jefferson County Branch spearheaded a Town Hall meeting Jan. 28, 2016, for the purpose of hearing from the citizens of Mount Vernon on their concerns about the blighted Southside community. Additionally the Town Hall served as an opportunity to share with the community the possibility for new opportunities to affect change by implementing Mixed Use Development for Mt. Vernon, Illinois’s blighted Southside community.
Mixed Use Development specific components: Permanent Jobs that pay a living wage; Retail stores; Low and Middle income Housing; Business Incubator; Solar Park; Green Space; Produce Market Co-op; Multipurpose Community Center; edestrian and bicycle-friendly environments.
There has not been ongoing discussion on jobs or housing for minorities. Sadly, Minority issues are being completely over-looked. Of the $6.9 million spent in 2014, city records reveal that the only noticeable Southside improvement was minor improvements at Dawson Park.
The NAACP highlighted the need to become part of the conversation on how dollars are spent city-wide. City improvements including economic development, infrastructure, quality of life, financial investment, partnership/teamwork, do not include minority representatives of Southside residents.
Mixed-use development is a combination of residential low and moderate housing, retail stores, cultural, institutional, light industry uses, where those functions are physically and functionally integrated, which all provides pedestrian connections.
Certainly, it is our God given responsibility to embrace unity and equality for all residents in the city of Mount Vernon.
“The time is always right to do what is right”; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.
Rev. Erie Patton, President, Jefferson County Branch NAACP