MAYOR THOMAS CONTINUES HIS INNOVATION AGENDA AT HARVARD RETREAT
HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL REPORT outlining Mount Vernon’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to help Mount Vernon respond to community needs and achieve its goals of RISING!
Mayor Richard Thomas traveled to Cambridge Sunday to attend the John F. Kennedy School of Government Ash Center’s Cities RISE Initiative retreat.
Mayor Thomas is attending the three-day Cities Rise retreat to develop, test, and implement innovations that reduce the number of distressed “zombie” properties and increase the quality of life for residents in your city.
The retreat is a follow up to a February visit by representatives of the Ash Center to Mount Vernon to develop code enforcement solutions to Mount Vernon’s housing issues.
“The role of a mayor is to convene people to make a difference and give a clear picture of the reality while providing hope and putting the faith in action,” Mayor Thomas said. “That’s what I did by inviting World Economic Forum and Mercy College to help us. I’m grateful to the Kennedy School for hosting us and lending their wisdom to resolve some of Mount Vernon’s problems.”
The visit to the Ash Center follows a recent draft study of Mount Vernon by the Ash Center; Hester St., an urban planning consultant; and Tolemi, the maker of the new BuildingBlocks software that the DPW, Buildings, Planning, Police, and Fire Departments use to focus on problem properties.
Among the issues the study’s authors observed were:
- The code enforcement process is entirely reactive, with limited capacity for proactive sweeps and enforcement. Further, city officials made reference to corruption and threats their staff receive during routine inspections. This sense of mistrust and suspicion greatly limits their effectiveness.
- Federal HOME funds are currently being used to rehab structures and provide affordable housing opportunities. Under past administrations the HOME funds were used improperly, leading the federal government to demand repayment of misused funds.
- The foreclosure of a tax delinquent property goes to Comptroller Reynolds, who has not been willing to collaborate with the City on addressing the physical condition of these properties — as a result, substandard properties languish.
Launched in April 2017, Cities RISE advances the Office of the Attorney General’s comprehensive strategy for helping New York families and communities continue to rebuild from the housing crisis. In September the Attorney General announced that Mount Vernon was a winner of a phase-two grant for Cities Rise.
Mayor Thomas speaks to Harvard Ash Center for Excellence & Innovation in Governance & Public Policy
During the course of the Cities RISE program, Mount Vernon will use knowledge gained from the data analysis, information gained from a community engagement process, and technical support from the Ash Center to develop new and creative code enforcement strategies. In the summer of 2019, Mount Vernon will be eligible for innovation grants of up to $1 million to implement these strategic and equitable code enforcement practices.
Mayor Thomas traveled to the Ash Center in Cambridge to continue efforts to find innovative solutions that can move Mount Vernon forward from new affordable housing and fixing an aging housing stock, to senior housing and overall neighborhood conditions. The Mayor was accompanied by Councilwoman Lisa Copeland, planning Commissioner Chantelle Okarter and Buildings Commissioner Dan Jones, along with 50 other municipal leaders from across the state of New York.
On May 2, Mayor Richard Thomas launched the Mount Vernon RISE initiative, a process developed for residents to report code enforcement issues in their home, building and neighborhood by completing a survey on cmvny.com/citiesrise/. The City then inspects the problem and may issue a violation requiring the landlord to fix the problem.
The visit to Cambridge is the latest step in the Mayor’s attempt to bring order to the chaos caused by years of mismanagement and neglect by past administrations, such as the polluting sewers, collapsing streets and shuttered bridges.
Mayor Thomas has invited think tanks, Fortune 500 companies and universities to study Mount Vernon’s needs, including the World Economic Forum, Google, Microsoft, Mercy College and, most recently, the Ash Center.
So far this outreach has produced reports by the World Economic Forum and Mercy College. Mayor Thomas has also commissioned studies on the South Fourth Avenue Corridor and the Arts and Culture Master Plan.
In 2018, the Cities RISE Phase I grant allowed Mount Vernon to purchase BuildingBlocks, a software platform which is currently used on the ground level with DPW, Buildings, Planning, Police, and Fire Departments to focus on problem properties and their effects on the City.
