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More Community Corner Private development agency expands role in Brockton
Brockton has expanded the role of the nonprofit 21st Century Corporation, a development agency created by state statute amid the city’s fiscal crisis in the early 1990s.
This spring, Mayor James Harrington proposed that the 21st Century Corporation, which receives some of its funding from the city, would oversee both community development and the administration of federal block grants. Harrington said the city’s planning department is chronically understaffed and its redevelopment authority has not been making optimal use of federal funding.
As a result of a compromise with the City Council, the city’s planning department will continue to exist, at least for the coming year, but the 21st Century Corporation, not the city’s redevelopment agency, will administer the block grants.
The 21st Century Corporation is perhaps best-known for its role in the development of Brockton’s minor league baseball stadium and adjoining conference center.
With responsibility for administering block grants now vested in the nonprofit corporation, Harrington said, “We need to go out and find a project and complete it in a timely fashion, to show that this was the right decision.”
City Councillor Thomas Brophy, meanwhile, has proposed that instead of turning over planning functions to a quasi-private organization, the city should create its own planning and economic development office. Brophy noted that because the 21st Century Corporation is not a public entity, it is not subject to open meeting laws.
“I think they’ve done a good job with economic development,” Brophy said. “But I don’t think it was ever intended that the 21st Century Corp. would be involved with planning.”
More Community Corner Private development agency expands role in Brockton
Private development agency expands role in Brockton
Brockton has expanded the role of the nonprofit 21st Century Corporation, a development agency created by state statute amid the city’s fiscal crisis in the early 1990s.
This spring, Mayor James Harrington proposed that the 21st Century Corporation, which receives some of its funding from the city, would oversee both community development and the administration of federal block grants. Harrington said the city’s planning department is chronically understaffed and its redevelopment authority has not been making optimal use of federal funding.
As a result of a compromise with the City Council, the city’s planning department will continue to exist, at least for the coming year, but the 21st Century Corporation, not the city’s redevelopment agency, will administer the block grants.
The 21st Century Corporation is perhaps best-known for its role in the development of Brockton’s minor league baseball stadium and adjoining conference center.
With responsibility for administering block grants now vested in the nonprofit corporation, Harrington said, “We need to go out and find a project and complete it in a timely fashion, to show that this was the right decision.”
City Councillor Thomas Brophy, meanwhile, has proposed that instead of turning over planning functions to a quasi-private organization, the city should create its own planning and economic development office. Brophy noted that because the 21st Century Corporation is not a public entity, it is not subject to open meeting laws.
“I think they’ve done a good job with economic development,” Brophy said. “But I don’t think it was ever intended that the 21st Century Corp. would be involved with planning.”
Written by MMA Associate Editor Mitch Evich
