Amy Kohn is a Senior Planner at Goody Clancy, an architecture, planning and preservation firm in Boston. In this presentation she outlines her work in the Shirley Avenue Neighborhood of Revere, MA.

1. Planning for
the INTERcultural City
Practice + Visions
Tufts University Intercultural Planning Group
www.sites.tufts.edu/tuftsicp
October 22, 2010

2. Amy Kohn, Senior Planner, Goody Clancy
Planning for the INTERcultural City

5. Shirley Avenue Neighborhood
Gateway Planning Initiative
• Six month study ending in August 2009
• Sponsored by a Gateway Plus grant from the
Massachusetts Dept. of Housing and Community
Development (DHCD)
– Program provided $1.35 million to 18 cities
– Targeted housing, quality of life, and community/civic
engagement
– Eligible to communities with
• Populations of over 35,000
• Median HH and Per Capita Incomes below state average
• Educational attainment rates below state average
– Grants of up to $75,000 per community

6. Shirley Avenue Neighborhood
• Dense, culturally diverse “gateway neighborhood” with excellent
transit access and a lively if marginal business district
• In 2008, home to approx. 9,000 residents and 3,300 households
• Compared to the City as a whole or the Boston metro region, the
neighborhood is younger, poorer and households are larger
• 18% of residents have less than a 9th grade education
• Compared with the City as a whole, higher transiency rates,
household vacancy and more distressed or foreclosed properties
– In March 2009, over 67% of vacant residential properties were in this
neighborhood
– More than 30% of Revere’s 1,022 distressed or foreclosed properties
were located in this neighborhood (Dec. 2008)

7. Meet the Shirley Avenue Neighborhood

8. Meet the Shirley Avenue
Neighborhood

9. Meet the Shirley Avenue
Neighborhood

10. Meet the Shirley Avenue
Neighborhood

11. Workshop #1: Engaging more than the
usual suspects
• All-out effort from Steering
Group
– School Dept. translated
flyers into 5 languages
– City Council member
canvassed Shirley Avenue,
inviting people to attend
– Contact with local
organizations (Cambodian
Temple, CEW)
– Food from neighborhood
restaurants
– High school students help
us translate

12. Workshop #1: Engaging more than the
usual suspectsSuccess!
• Over 100 participants!
• Diversity of the
neighborhood
represented!
• Sound system somehow
located in back room!
• High school students
faithfully translate
verbal and written and
questions/comments!

13. Workshop #1: Engaging more than the
usual suspectsWe learn what concerns residents,
including:
• Undersupply of park space
• Public safety
• High-traffic streets and intersections
• Desire for more libraries
• Concerns about illegal dumping
…and we heard questions about:
• Access to affordable housing
• Fair treatment of youth
• How to find ESL programs
• How to find workforce training
opportunities

14. Workshop #2: Fostering Ongoing
Engagement
Mini-Presentations
from Police Chief,
local social service
providers and others
in response to
questions on:
• Housing
• Code enforcement
• Public safety
• Social Services

15. Workshop #2: Fostering Ongoing
Engagement
• 30 participants
• Very little diversity

16. Workshop #2: Engaging the usual
suspects
What Happened?
• Steering Group
members
committed – but
had other
commitments too
• People felt they’d
already said what
they needed to say
• People have busy,
complicated lives
• …

17. What we learned….
• Understand your goals—involvement
in the plan or a longer term
commitment?
• New relationships take time and
resources
• Resources today are scarce!
• Language is a barrier – but not the
only barrier
• Get schools involved

20. #1: Strengthen the Gateway to the
Neighborhood

21. GATEWAY

22. #2: Improve Key Streets

23. SHIRLEY AVENUE

24. BEACH STREET

25. CENTENNIAL AVENUE

26. #3: Provide New and Improved Parks

27. PARKS

28. PARKS

29. PARKS

30. PARKS

31. #4: Address Priority Needs Throughout
the Neighborhood

32. PHYSICAL NEEDS
THROUGHOUT THE
NEIGHBORHOOD
• REVISE ZONING
AND TRASH
ORDINANCES
• ADDRESS OTHER
SIGNIFICANT
STREET AND
SIDEWALK
NEEDS

33. Engaging hard to reach
constituencies—the same but different
• Showing up
• Taking part
• Being heard
• Staying
involved
• Measuring
success and
failure

34. Case Study #1• Overburdened municipal staff
• Broad-based steering committee
• Cooperation with school department—
volunteer translators
• Meeting flyers in multiple languages
• House calls by elected officials and
community organizations
• Unprecedented meeting turnout….multiple
languages….high school translators
• Good input; some unanswered questions
• Follow-up meeting less well attended
….why?
• Ideas captured in plan but sustained
involvement is challenging

35. Case Study #2
• Deep municipal staff
resources/capabilities
• Seek guidance from
community leaders on how to
build engagement
• Engage communities on home
turf first
• Bring groups together later
• Make outreach personal—be
visible at community events,
churches, meeting places
• Get kids involved
• Commit staff resources to
sustain contact