IF NEWPORT CAN DO IT, WHY CAN'T WE?

Ted Fulmore had a posting on his blog, "Our History in New Albany" Sunday with an interesting idea. He was hosting a forum at the YMCA, Tuesday 3/10 about Newport, KY and how they became a "rags to riches" town, in a matter of speaking.

Having never been to Newport, I was intrigued. Mr. Robert Yoder, the spokesman, gave an excellent talk about the history of Newport and how they found their niche in the community. Newport is now a model city. Their crime rate is low, and their city is clean. Interestingly enough they have FOUR Code Enforcement Officers for a city of 16,000 people.

They also had what he called a "Rehab A Rama" where the city bought old homes and sold them to developers for $1 with the condition that they would be converted from small apartments to single family dwellings and rehabilitated. Additionally they used state funding to create a plan called Hope VI. With Hope VI they were able to tear down their housing project and provide inexpensive homes for rent or purchase. These homes are now occupied by working class people, and they are very well kept.

Obviously, there is a lot of pride on the part of the residents. I asked Mr. Yoder how they manage to keep their city so clean and he replied that if you clean up your town it will stay that way. Really!?!

All in all it was a great presentation and an interesting evening. If we could just do something like that in good ole' N.A.