Article 53. Developing A “Sense of Community” and Micro Economies in Depressed Areas.
A micro economy occurs when local people get together to form small businesses that fill the needs of the community. In many cases the county extension offices as a part of the states university system nurture these small businesses. The State and or the Federal Government may provide the necessary seed money for the startup of the businesses. Micro economies are important because they provide a safety net for the families in the community. The positive micro economy is a much more desirable and less expensive than the crime and drug dealers, which form the negative economy.
Examples of micro economy businesses are day nurseries, home run catalog businesses, gift shops and craft manufacturing. Often festivals and annual community events aimed at bringing tourists to the area bolster these businesses. But for the most part they should be self-sustaining and provide day to day services in the community.
We need to recognize the importance of the “Sense of Community”. Most high rise tenements built for welfare families fail for this reason. The “sense of community” fails when the majority of the people living in an urban community cannot recognize those who actually live in the area. With increased anonymity comes increased crime that forces the elderly to barricade themselves in their apartments.
The idea of a “sense of community” can be developed by blocking off through streets in urban environments, providing a local police station with foot or bicycle patrols, providing recreation facilities for the youth and encouraging the development of a micro economy. Active community organizations provide involvement opportunities for its citizens developing a source of community pride. In extreme high crime areas communities should be gated and fenced with surveillance cameras everywhere. As more and more of the communities are developed gangs and their accompanying crime can be forced into a small enough area where police can get control of the situation.
