Community Benefits

The Fight for Community Benefits

Jovanna Rosen

• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781512824148
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: City Planning & Urban Development
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In Community Benefits, Jovanna P. Rosen explores a new pattern in urban development: local residents and community representatives leveraging large-scale development projects for agreements that promise dedicated local benefits, such as parks and jobs. In general, such development projects have not produced impactful benefits for local residents, and often have contributed to significant community harm, including gentrification and displacement. In response, community activists have launched a fight to control development, using benefits-sharing agreements to ensure that projects produced better outcomes for local residents. While such agreements now exist across the nation, the process of negotiating and enforcing them remains challenging. This book dives deep into four case studies—in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, and Milwaukee—to answer the following questions: Who ultimately benefits from both the agreements and the projects in question? How do benefits get delivered, and who controls this process? What works for these agreements to successfully produce community outcomes?Rosen shows that, without agreements that promote accountability, developers and other project proponents can walk away from the negotiating table once the agreement is signed and the development moves forward. This disregard for community benefits and priorities can leave community residents solely responsible for benefits delivery during implementation, but with few viable avenues to ensure that outcomes materialize. The cases reveal specific elements that agreements require to achieve success during implementation: community participation, managerial connections, effective partnerships, responsiveness, and vigorous oversight with accountability mechanisms. Although creating these conditions is difficult, sometimes impossible, and contingent on fragile processes, Rosen concludes the book with recommendations for both the agreement negotiation and implementation phases to ensure success.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Nonresponsive Investment: The Atlanta Falcons Community Benefits Plan
• 2. Community Bypass: The Yesler Terrace Community Workforce Agreement
• 3. Managerial Disconnect: The Park East Redevelopment Compact
• 4. Fragile Accountability: The Metro Project Labor Agreement
• 5. Limits Learned: The Challenges and Opportunities of Benefits-Sharing Agreements
• 6. Toward an Accountable Future: Strategies for Community Benefits Delivery
• Appendix 1. Benefits-Sharing Agreements: A New Frontier for Development Conflict
• Appendix 2. Methods
• Appendix 3. Westside Neighborhood Prosperity Fund Grants Funded by the Arthur M. Blank Foundation
• Notes
• References
• Index
• Acknowledgments