Editorial: Moving Forward After Task Force Disaster

Chestertown’s Mayor Chris Cerino accomplished two nice feats at his second council meeting last Monday that should give great comfort to the community.

The first was his genuine declaration of gratitude to the Chestertown-Washington College Task Force – accompanied by a proper eulogy for its premature and unwarranted death last month. The new mayor accurately expressed the town’s collective sadness and disappointment that the committee’s long hours of hard work were squandered by acts of neglect by town government and, in the opinion of this publication,  the senseless abuse of the Freedom of Information Act by the Kent County News.

Mayor Cerino is nobly attempting to the make the best out of this unfortunate situation by presenting the defunct task force’s findings at a public hearing on Feb. 10, a week from now. Something positive will surely come out of that town discussion, but it remains a great tragedy that these recommendations must now stand without the full voice and advocacy of some of the community’s most outstanding citizens.

The second feat was the mayor’s call to move forward by repairing and investing in the public marina on the Chester River as soon as possible. It is the right project for the town to focus its immediate attention.

And while it is important for Chestertown not to dwell on questions of fault with regard to the task force debacle, there remains a more complicated issue of how communities, and this community in particular, can grow and develop with regulations that virtually prohibit a safe and protected process for honest debate, incubation, and innovation without the fear of violating public meetings laws.

Tom Menino, perhaps one of Boston’s most successful mayors, recently told a talk radio host last January that, “You can kill the process by too much transparency.” Given that this liberal is credited with creating dozens of high impact economic development projects, those words should have special import to Chestertown as it moves forward.

One serious answer to this long term dilemma is for Chestertown to formally start a community development corporation or CDC.

The function of a CDC can vary considerably, but in general terms, these are quasi-governmental, community-led, organizations that focus on town infrastructure projects, which have traditionally included affordable housing, parks, waterfronts, and other large scale economic development projects.

A CDC has the capacity to operate more nimbly than town governments in the development of large projects, both in terms of planning and securing funding from private and public entities.

While these organizations offer a temporary safe harbor for planning and research purposes, they are not immune to transparency laws or government oversight. CDC projects must be approved by town governments and citizens alike.

Today, more than 2,000 CDCs operate across all 50 states, serving communities in urban and rural areas. Over the last twenty years, foundations, corporations and individuals have contributed over $2 billion to invest in community development efforts. At the same time, national CDC groups, like the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and the Enterprise Foundation have contributed over $5 billion to these town or city efforts.

In short, there is funding to be had in those hills.

It should be noted that some CDCs have failed in their mission. Some were undercapitalized with unpredictable budgets and some suffered from overall incompetency.

Other critics have noted the inherent contradictions of CDCs to act as developers, landlords, and business owners, while articulating ideologies of empowerment and community control. A related concern is the dependency of CDCs on external resources, an arrangement that allows influence and control to lie beyond the reach of neighborhood residents.

Despite these valid concerns, the community development corporation is still generally regarded as an important and necessary agent for community change and revitalization. Time and time again, researchers have found that many CDCs are able to overcome considerable challenges in spite of the odds against their success.

It is time Chestertown look seriously at this useful tool.