By Harold DeRienzo
At the recent Conference sponsored by the Association of Housing and Neighborhood Development, I spoke on a panel with other housing professionals and government officials. My prepared remarks are below. I approach this topic from the perspective of a Community Development Corporation, or CDC. … Read more...
By Harold DeRienzo
Poverty and inequality are back on the national radar screen. That is a good thing, but what is even better is that this nascent debate is gaining resonance with the general public and seems to have gotten beyond pejorative characterizations of the poor as “welfare queens,” trading in their food stamps for vodka, as so expediently expressed by Ronald Reagan over three decades ago. … Read more...
By Brian Sahd
I think we can all agree that on one level the War on Poverty has been lost, no need to sugar coat this assessment. According to official government data, today, in 2014, 15% to 16% of the American population lives in poverty – that is the same percentage as when the War on Poverty was declared in the 1960’s.… Read more...
By Harry DeRienzo
January 8, 2014 marks the 50th Anniversary of the “War on Poverty.” This milestone provides an opportunity to review and assess our accomplishments as well as our failures. As declared by the President later that year (1964), this war was designed to lead to a Great Society, a society the foundation for which “rests on abundance and liberty.” … Read more...
By Harold DeRienzo
Gentrification is not a term that is seen as being value neutral. It is a term that has negative connotations – a formerly undesirable area becomes desirable, people with financial means move in, and poor people are forced out. … Read more...
1st Annual Bronx Gentrification Conference
Saturday December 7, 2013 — 3-6 Panel Discussion; 7:30 Film Screening
Bronx Documentary Center
614 Courtlandt Avenue, Bronx 10451
Harry DeRienzo, President, Banana Kelly, is a member of the panel discussing gentrification
http://bronxdoc.org/post/67662846354/1st-annual-bronx-gentrification-conference… Read more...
By Harry DeRienzo
My friend, Dr. Brian Sahd, says I am becoming more conservative over time. He goes so far to say that “Glen Beck would be proud.” It may be true that I am becoming more conservative, if conservatism is defined through peopled-centered, accessible, and equitable economic systems that, far from degrading our humanity, enhance it; systems that are politically organized to be ever suspect of “big government,” concentrated wealth, or economic power aggregated within corporate entities. … Read more...
By Brian Sahd
I have come to the belief that DeRienzo is more conservative as time goes by. In his latest musings DeRienzo suggests that the prognosis for the United States is not bright; America is in a state of decline. … Read more...
By Eric Goldfischer
At the Urban Convergences conference this past weekend (sponsored by the Rosa Luxembourg NYC office and hosted by the New School), a group of academics, thinkers, activists, and students got together under the banner of “Where Theory Meets the Street.”… Read more...
By Harold DeRienzo
In my last blog, “National Health” Care, I posed the question of whether or not our country was in the state of decline. This question was based on the philosophical analogy of government as a “body politic,” one that functions as a whole only as well as each of its parts function. … Read more...