Community and Economic Development
Riverdale, Illinois Economic Development Initiatives
As mayor, I think economic development is the increase in the standard of living within a given community like Riverdale towards a sustained growth from a simple, low-income economy to a modern, high-income economy. Also, if Riverdale’s quality of life could be improved, economic development would greatly be enhanced. Its scope includes the process and policies by which our community improves the economic, political, and social well-being of its people.
The review of economic development encompasses the causes of industrial-economic modernization, plus organizational and related aspects of enterprise development in communities like Riverdale. It embraces sociological research an enquiries on business organization and enterprise development from a historical and comparative perspective; specific processes of the evolution (growth, modernization) of markets and management-employee relations; and culturally diverse acceptance looking forward into this new millennium.
Understanding the Demographics of Riverdale, Illinois
As of the 2000 census, there were 15,055 people, 4,987 households, and 3,675 families residing in the village. The population density was 4,138.6 people per square mile (1,596.9/km²). There were 5,441 housing units at an average density of 1,495.7/square mile (577.1/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 11.07% White, 86.38% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.04% from other races, and 1.11% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 2.43% of the population.
The top non-African American ancestries reported in Riverdale as of the 2000 census were German (2.7%) and Polish (2.3%).
There were 4,987 households out of which 47.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.3% were married couples living together, 33.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.3% were non-families. 22.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.02 and the average family size was 3.50.
In the village the population was spread out with 37.6% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 14.5% from 45 to 64, and 6.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 84.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.2 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $38,321, and the median income for a family was $41,892. Males had a median income of $36,005 versus $29,521 for females. The per capita income for the village was $14,461. About 16.6% of families and 18.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.8% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those ages 65 or over.
Riverdale Local Government
Riverdale is divided between two (2) congressional districts. Most of the city is in Illinois' 2nd congressional district; the area west of Ashland Avenue and the area southwest of 141st and Halsted Streets are in the 1st district. The local government of Riverdale consists of six (6) elected trustees, one (1) elected village clerk, and one elected mayor. Tuesday, April 7, 2009 the incumbent mayor, Zenovia Evans was decidedly defeated by longtime Trustee and now Mayor Deyon L. Dean. Riverdale Village Clerk is Deborah Smiley, Fire Chief is Tyrone Jarrett, Sr., Police Chief is William McHenry, Public Works Director is Don Blacher, Village Attorney and Economic Development is Amy Kurson and Riverdale Resource Director is Allison Heard. Joseph Letke & Associates are the financial administrators for the Village of Riverdale, and they are charged with the responsibility of managing all financial resources for the village.
Riverdale Collaborations for Success & Regional - South Suburb Policy Direction
As mayor, in my opinion, policies of economic development encompass three (3) major areas:
- Riverdale should develop broad planning and economic objectives to address neighborhood instability, high unemployment, and sustainable community growth in a distressed economy. Such efforts include prudent monetary and fiscal policies, regulation of financial institution partnerships and assistance from State of Illinois, Cook County pertaining to tax policies.
- Meaningful programs that provide infrastructure upgrade services such as sewer systems, street lighting, tree trimming, trash disposal, waterways, bridges, railways, roadways, alleys, parks, affordable housing, crime prevention, fire prevention, code enforcement and K–12 education.
- Job creation and retention through specific efforts in business finance, marketing, neighborhood re-development, small business development, business retention and expansion, technology transfer, and real estate development. This third category listed is a primary focus of economic development professionals.
As mayor, I believe collaborations are successful when the processes allow people or organizations to present different perspectives to solve shared problems with a common goal. It’s through exchanging our different viewpoints, perceptions, experiences and resources that forces communities to go beyond limited resources and achieve synergy.
By collaborating, decision-makers and elected officials can garner several benefits, including mutual respect for intergovernmental and jurisdictional authority, sharing unified efforts toward common goals with mutual and successful financial outcomes.
An good example of private-public sector collaborations are already underway with railroads like CSX, Indiana Harbor Belt and Canadian National, where they have continually partnered with local jurisdictions in places like Riverdale, Illinois to secure professional relationships with first responders i.e. fire and police agencies.
The framework needed to be successful are within the steps needed to safeguard success, for an example:
- 1. Recognize the need for collaborations among public-private organizations.
- 2. Demonstrate, as leaders, a strong committed culture towards building collaborations.
- 3. Assign responsible and accountable individuals to champion goals of the organization.
- 4. Develop a clear path for communications with partners.
- 5. Ensure transparency is always present with the decision-making process.
6. Set and establish regular meetings to build trust and knowledge.
Economic Developers (Riverdale)
In recent years, I have observed/noticed economic development”, which is essentially economics on a social level, has evolved into a professional industry of highly specialized practitioners. The consultants have two (2) key roles and responsibilities: one is to provide leadership in policy-making, and the other is to administer policy, programs and projects to support economic growth. Here in Riverdale, our goal is to have “economic development” specialists and/or consultants work at the municipal level; one of our main initiatives is to engage in public-private partnerships that benefit our business owners and residents long-term. We specifically require staff members of our economic and development department to commit to seeking out new economic opportunities for the Village of Riverdale that makes sense to the overall scheme of things developed at the planning stages.
There is extreme competition between communities here in the south suburbs of Chicago-land for new economic development projects in today's globalized world, and the struggle to attract, appeal and retain business is further intensified by the use of many variations of economic incentives to the potential business such as; tax incentives, assistance with investment capital, village donated land and many others.
Lastly, the use of community profiling tools and database templates to measure various community assets versus other communities is also an important aspect of economic development. The ability for job creation, economic output, and increase in taxable basis are the most common measurement tools that as mayor I want to see materialize. Political entities when considering measurement, place too much emphasis on economic developers for "not creating jobs" as promised in many cases. However, the reality is that economic developers do not typically create jobs, but facilitate the process for existing businesses and start-ups to do so. Therefore, the economic developer in my mind should make sure that there are sufficient economic development programs in place to assist the businesses to achieve their employment hiring goals and benchmarks.
