Jarrett, the former chief executive of a Chicago real- estate company who acts as the president's liaison to the business and financial community, dismissed reports the administration and Wall Street are at odds. "We have a Cabinet that is sensitive to the needs of the business community," she said. Business leaders who have spent time with Obama "understand his philosophy; there's no disconnect." She said criticism of Obama's Cabinet because it doesn't include any former top executives was off base. "We have a very diverse cabinet," she said. "We've recruited broadly in the business community."
"We have a Cabinet that is sensitive to the needs of the business community," she said. Business leaders who have spent time with Obama "understand his philosophy; there's no disconnect."
She said criticism of Obama's Cabinet because it doesn't include any former top executives was off base.
"We have a very diverse cabinet," she said. "We've recruited broadly in the business community."
Portrait, Valerie Jarrett | NYT | 26 July 2009
Jarrett's shared experience with the Obamas is about race -- and on a deeper level, about the coexistence, in the post-King African-American psyche, of conscience and ambition, activism and accommodation. Their identity rests on that fulcrum; it is, as Barack Obama would say, who they are.
Jarrett was born in Shirz, Iran and lived there until the age of 5
"I think the thing that's important to the president and the first lady is this whole notion of authenticity," says Martin Nesbitt, a Chicago parking-lot entrepreneur whose closeness to Barack Obama rivals that of Jarrett. "And knowing them as well and being as close a friend as she is, Valerie's always there to say: `Yeah, but you know what? That's not you. You wouldn't say that. Somebody else is saying that. Barack Obama wouldn't say that.'"... The experience of infuriating developers and neighborhood groups alike "toughened me greatly," Jarrett says. From 1991 until 1995, she presided over a rancorous but largely successful makeover of the city's landscape, tearing down blighted housing projects and relocating residents -- those who qualified anyway -- to far more attractive new developments in racially mixed neighborhoods. (After her tenure, the infamous projects bearing her grandfather's name were demolished.)
The experience of infuriating developers and neighborhood groups alike "toughened me greatly," Jarrett says. From 1991 until 1995, she presided over a rancorous but largely successful makeover of the city's landscape, tearing down blighted housing projects and relocating residents -- those who qualified anyway -- to far more attractive new developments in racially mixed neighborhoods. (After her tenure, the infamous projects bearing her grandfather's name were demolished.)
The Plan for Transformation, "They was going to do what they was going to do"
Meanwhile, she was raising her daughter and developing a social life that revolved around an intimate community of like-minded black urban professionals who, like Jarrett, sought advancement not only for themselves but for the local African-American community. Chief among them were the Obamas. Jarrett brought Michelle into the Daley administration, attended their wedding, threw a book-signing party for the "Dreams From My Father" author and generally assumed a big-sisterly presence in the young couple's lives such that "I don't think either of them made major decisions without talking to her," Susan Sher said.... "This town loves and is dying for a whiff of a Rahm/Valerie power struggle," Cecilia Muñoz, Jarrett's director of intergovernmental affairs, says. "And there isn't one."
"This town loves and is dying for a whiff of a Rahm/Valerie power struggle," Cecilia Muñoz, Jarrett's director of intergovernmental affairs, says. "And there isn't one."
Too bad. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
Henry Horner Homes v. Chicago Housing Authority
As of September 2005, demolition had far outpaced new construction and rehabilitation. [88] Due to the massive demolition and lack of newly constructed or rehabilitated housing, as many as 4,851 CHA families, who are members of the Gautreaux plaintiff class, were forced to relocate involuntarily from their public housing units with Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. [89] Between 1995 and 2005, they moved into the private market. [90] CHA had entered into a Relocation Rights Contract with the residents that promised to help displaced families move into neighborhoods more racially and economically integrated than those from where they were displaced. The CHA's relocation process produced the opposite result. CHA residents were relocated by CHA into neighborhoods that were just as racially segregated, and nearly as poor as the communities from where they were forced to move. [91] In order to remedy this situation, the Shriver Center and the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law litigated the Wallace v. CHA case, which was filed in January 2003 and settled in May 2005. [92] Under the settlement, CHA is obligated to use its "best and reasonable efforts" to provide programs to assist Wallace class members to exercise their own choices in relocating to economically and racially integrated communities. [93] It is too early in the process to assess the effects of the Wallace remedies. [94]
CHA had entered into a Relocation Rights Contract with the residents that promised to help displaced families move into neighborhoods more racially and economically integrated than those from where they were displaced. The CHA's relocation process produced the opposite result. CHA residents were relocated by CHA into neighborhoods that were just as racially segregated, and nearly as poor as the communities from where they were forced to move. [91]
In order to remedy this situation, the Shriver Center and the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law litigated the Wallace v. CHA case, which was filed in January 2003 and settled in May 2005. [92] Under the settlement, CHA is obligated to use its "best and reasonable efforts" to provide programs to assist Wallace class members to exercise their own choices in relocating to economically and racially integrated communities. [93] It is too early in the process to assess the effects of the Wallace remedies. [94]
HENRY HORNER MOTHERS GUILD, et al., Plaintiffs, The CHICAGO HOUSING AUTHORITY(pdf)
Clinton-Bush HOPE VI "public-private partnership" ditto.
GAO,2003
As of December 31, 2002, construction was complete at 15 of the 165 HOPE VI sites, and the majority of grantees had not met deadlines established in their grant agreements with HUD. Relocation was complete at 101 sites, demolition was complete at 87 sites, and at least some units were built at 99 of the 165 sites. Grantees had completed 27 percent of the total planned units and spent approximately $2.1 of the $4.5 billion in HOPE VI revitalization funds awarded. However, the majority of grantees had missed at least one of the deadlines in their grant agreements. For example, grantees did not submit the revitalization plan to HUD within the time frame specified in the grant agreement for 75 percent of the grants awarded through fiscal year 1999 (for grants awarded after 1999, the deadline had not yet passed at the time of our study). Similarly, grantees did not complete construction within the deadline on 39 of the 42 grants for which the standard time allowed for construction (54 months) had expired at the time of our study. Several factors affect the status of work at HOPE VI sites, including the development approach used, changes to revitalization plans, and relationships with residents. For example, sites funded with a mix of public and private financing tend to take longer because housing authorities must hire additional staff or outside consultants proficient in private-sector real estate construction, financing, and lending practices in order to put together financing and retain developers.
cha-ching Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
