tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post1799997937069056970..comments2023-12-24T05:26:48.861-05:00Comments on The Pittsburgh Comet: Monday: The Haircuts Give 'em AwayBram Reichbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620172942925293407noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588280325775325323.post-4880706588803319572008-05-21T23:56:00.000-04:002008-05-21T23:56:00.000-04:00Will Smith sez:Take it from me - bloggers just don...Will Smith sez:<BR/>Take it from me - bloggers just don't understand.<BR/><BR/>1) Community development corporations leverage investment in risky neighborhoods that for-profit developers won't touch. That's why they're nonprofits - they work where the market won't so that eventually the market comes back. East Liberty may be hot now, but it took nearly 30 years of hard work on the part of ELDI to make it that way. <BR/><BR/>It is incredibly short-sighted and misinformed to criticize a young woman - native to the area she serves - who fell into the uncommon and ideals-driven career path of organizing residents to participate in a community-centered and resident-driven redevelopment process.<BR/><BR/>2) Regarding Mr. Stiver - the Sprout Fund (located in a very sexy neighborhood - I hear they're turning the old Garfield Heights housing project into a Whole Foods!) makes grants to community organizations to catalyze change. Sprout stands nothing to gain. It's funded grassroots efforts to empower low-income communities - including the League of Young Voters. How exactly is Sprout (or Mr. Stiver) as egregiously offensive to the idea of a nonprofit as UPMC? Am I missing something, or are promoting public art and organizing minorities to vote the same as windfall profits?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com