The article below was written by Michael Greenberg of Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University.

Politicians are or should be motivated to endorse brownfields redevelopment programs because public support is strong and it’s an acceptable way to stimulate private enterprise and local governments into economic, housing and community development. Brownfield projects have a definite beginning and end and aren’t likely to turn into a social assistance program that builds dependency and has no end.

Comment: Article mentions a few states in the NE that have a friendly competition for most successful brownfields programs. Great! We need to find a way to expand that competition nationwide.

Comment: I also like that the article links brownfields development with “smart growth”, reduction of urban sprawl, etc. Smart growth and brownfield development are on parallel paths toward a better future for our communities; they’re not always thought of as linked together but they can be.

Comment: The closing statement mentions a survey of report/s/ers concluding that brownfields programs are a major improvement over the Superfund program, which they portray as having scared investors away from urban redevelopment.

Reversing urban decay: brownfield redevelopment and environmental health - Guest Editorial

Michael R. Greenberg
While the United States government concentrates more of its political and financial resources on fighting terrorism, the continuing decay of older cities and industrial suburbs has fallen far down on the national political priority agenda. An exception is the redevelopment of so-called brownfields, which are abandoned, idled, or underutilized factories, railroad yards, bus stations, garages, electricity-generating stations, and other commercial facilities. A modest national government program to identify, clean up, and redevelop brownfields into job fields began during the administration of Bill Clinton and has continued into the George W. Bush administration (Powers et al. 2000; Simons 1998; Van Horn et al. 1999). The political reasons are apparent: Developing brownfields is a politically acceptable method of stimulating private enterprise, local government, and community groups into building new businesses, housing, and community facilities. Also, brownfields projects have a beginning and an end; the national government does not have an indefinite responsibility. In contrast, social assistance programs that grew during the 1960s and proliferated for more than three decades have been politically portrayed by some as give-away programs that build dependency with no ending. Whether this characterization of social programs is morally or empirically justified, the reality is that in today’s political environment brownfields redevelopment is a politically acceptable way of helping distressed urban areas.

The national brownfields program has spawned state progeny. States such as Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania engage in friendly competition for the bragging rights to the most successful brownfields programs. Likewise, within each state, cities that were formerly known for drug-related homicides, car jackings, and burned-down buildings vie for attention as creators of taxable properties on former brownfields. In 1998, the U.S. Conference of Mayors declared brownfield redevelopment to be their highest priority for federal government support (U.S. Conference of Mayors 2000).

Public support appears to be strong because the U.S. public views brownfields redevelopment as a way to rebuild cities and reduce sprawl. For example, a November 2000 survey of 779 New Jersey residents found that 44% considered sprawl a “big” problem, and another 26% considered it a problem. More than one-half of these respondents believed that brownfields redevelopment is a viable solution for urban redevelopment and as a device to control sprawl. Furthermore, 14% of these respondents said that they were planning to move during the next 5 years and would be willing to live on a cleaned up brownfield site. Notably, most of these people were looking for small houses and bigger apartments, and without brown fields redevelopment they will move to suburbs to find them, which will further sprawl (Greenberg et al. 2001).

Even the normally skeptical mass media have supported brownfields redevelopment. A review of 160 newspaper articles in cities from Boston, Massachusetts, to San Francisco, California, and from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to New Orleans, Louisiana, showed that reporters consider brownfields programs a major improvement over the Superfund program, which they portray as having scared investors away from urban redevelopment (Greenberg and Lowrie 1999).

please click on the following link to read the remainder of this article http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYP/is_2_111/ai_99185856

Michael R. Greenberg
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy,
National Center for Neighborhood
and Brownfields Redevelopment
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey
E-mail: mrg@rci.rutgers.edu
Michael Greenberg is Professor and Associate Dean of the Faculty of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University, and he directs the National Center for Neighborhood and Brownfields Redevelopment. His research focuses on environmental health policy, especially those policies that bear upon urban redevelopment.

REFERENCES

Greenberg M, Craighill P, Mayer H, Zukin C, Wells J. 2001. Brownfield redevelopment and affordable housing: a case study of New Jersey. Housing Policy Debate 12(3):515-540.

Greenberg M, Lowrie K. 1999. Brownfields and the mass media. Urban Land 58:10-11.

Powers C, Hoffman F, Brown D, Conner C. 2000. Great Experiment: Brownfields Pilots Catalyze Revitalization. New Brunswick, NJ:Institute for Responsible Management.

Simons R. 1998. Turning Brownfields into Greenbacks: Redeveloping and Financing Contaminated Urban Real Estate. Washington, DC:Urban Land Institute.

U.S. Conference of Mayors. 2000. Recycling America’s Land. Washington, DC:U.S. Conference of Mayors. Available: http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/brownfields/ full_report_rev3.pdf [accessed 2 January 2002].

Van Horn C, Dixon K, Lawlor G. 1999. Turning Brownfields into Jobfields. New Brunswick, NJ:J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development.

COPYRIGHT 2003 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

This entry was posted on Monday, August 13th, 2007 at 8:55 pm and is filed under ●Brownfields 101.

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