2009

pressofAtlanticCity.com

HUD secretary visits Pleasantville public-housing community

PLEASANTVILLE - A U.S. Cabinet secretary swept through town Tuesday afternoon, visiting the public-housing community built last year and declaring himself impressed.

Shaun Donovan, secretary of housing and urban development, met with local officials and chatted with two newly minted homeowners in the New Hope Community, which replaced the troubled Woodland Terrace complex. "HUD can do a lot. We've heard some inspiring stories," Donovan said. Wanda Reyes, 32, and her three children moved last year from a trailer to a pastel-green house with a yard. A mild breeze and the muffled hum of Atlantic City Expressway traffic blew through her living room Tuesday as Donovan and a following of local officials spoke with her.

"You've done a great job," Donovan said, surveying the tidy interior.

"Thank you. I do my best," Reyes said with a smile, her braces glinting.

She said afterward that she was not nervous about Donovan's visit: "I take it for, like, a compliment, and I'm happy because it makes me feel like I'm doing a good job on my house." Donovan spoke about how the community's design, with porches and an open central park, promotes easy socializing. Almost no one walked around New Hope during his visit, however; school had not been dismissed.

Mattie Fisher put her arm around Donovan as he answered a reporter's questions in front of her home. Asked how the quality of New Hope compares to HUD complexes nationwide, Donovan replied, "Why don't you ask her?"

"It is awesome," said Fisher, 72, in a gravelly voice. "I'm just grateful to everyone. I really feel so good that I can walk in and say, 'This is mine.'" Fisher acknowledged that the drug trafficking that plagued Woodland Terrace still exists in New Hope to some extent, "but not right in front of you." Donovan also visited Atlantic City, Newark and Hackensack in his two-day visit to New Jersey.

Pleasantville Mayor Jesse Tweedle said Diane Johnson, HUD's field office director in Paterson, has notified him about new funding opportunities.

"She made a point to let us know that even though we're Pleasantville, we're equal to any other large city," Tweedle said. "The secretary coming here is a message that we're doing things right."

Earlier Tuesday, Donovan spoke to a crowd of about 1,200 redevelopment and affordable-housing professionals attending the 15th annual Governor's Conference on Housing and Community Development at the Atlantic City Convention Center. HUD and federal health, environmental and transportation officials intend to push integrated programs they believe will best address the multifaceted quality-of-life issues confronting communities.

Locally, that likely means incentives to develop affordable and mixed-income housing near transportation hubs, according to acting Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Charles A. Richman.

"That will benefit South Jersey spectacularly. That link between Atlantic City and Philadelphia cries out for that kind of development," Richman said, referring to the NJ Transit rail line that connects the cities.

Richmond addressed the crowd along with Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who left without taking questions from the media.

BY: Eric Scott Campbell

Photo by: Ben Fogletto