 It is difficult for a human being to flower amid the weeds of poverty. Poverty makes a stamp upon the landscape and upon the spirit. The conditions needed for human growth and hope are absent. Neglect becomes decay. Decay becomes despair. What human harvest can you reap from neglect? The crop is the alienated, the dispossessed, another generation of the poor. Model Cities was an outgrowth of the Johnson years and that administration's a biting concern for domestic needs. It was the program created to do something about the great wastelands that were spreading through the core of most American cities. Urban renewal had displaced the poor and destroyed existing communities in the name of progress. But in too many cases without providing the residents of the old communities with housing and neighborhoods to replace what had been lost to redevelopment plans. By contrast, the goal of Model Cities was to encourage people to remain in the neighborhoods in which they had been living. By helping to meet the social, economic and educational needs, Model Cities would expand the opportunities for Model Neighborhood residents. This film deals with the capital improvements, the physical changes that all may witness, which the Model Cities program made in Seattle. Model Cities intended to attack the problems of poor communities on several fronts. By giving residents of neglected neighborhoods the services they needed and the buildings to house those services and in the process creating employment for neighborhood residents not only in the construction and renovation of facilities but as workers in the service and social agencies which Model Cities would fund. There was a five year limitation written into the Model Cities plan so there was a greater sense of urgency here than in many social programs. Model Cities had neither the limitless funds nor the time to start completely from scratch so great emphasis was placed on taking advantage of existing facilities on using what was already there which could be given new life by renovation and Model Cities wanted to add on to existing facilities to create multi-service centers buildings which could serve a variety of community needs. The Garfield complex was developed around an institution that is one of the vital organs of any community, the high school. Garfield High has a long tradition for the residents of the central area. Most of the young of the community pass through the doors of this old but still gracious building. It is the place where they try to get it together for the challenges that lie ahead on the battlefield of earning one's daily bread. Model Cities saw the chance to expand this institution into a recreational complex for the whole community. Utilizing funds from forward thrusts, more land was purchased immediately adjacent to the school grounds. The site was improved with new topsoil, an automatic sprinkler system, new backstops and fencing and the installation of walkways and paths. The play field equipment was updated and the park belongs to the people. Right next to Garfield is a million dollar pool built by forward thrust and Model Cities funds with a prize winning monolithic design appropriate to the memory of the slain civil rights leader, Medgar Evers for whom the facility is named. This Olympic size completely enclosed pool was built for the year round use of the community. The building has the feel of a giant piece of sculpture designed for the people to play on, around and in. A huge ramp leads pedestrians to a serene walkway on the top of the complex which gives a fine vista of the pool's courtyard and the mural which enhances one of its walls. There is a feeling of spaciousness here and a feeling that the building was built for people to enjoy. The mural gives the building the final stamp of belonging to the community called the Wall of Respect. It is a celebration of the ethnic roots and traditions of the people. The complex has certainly not been wasted as a gathering point for the community. For the past two summers area residents have turned out in droves to celebrate who they are at the Black Community Festival and Medgar Evers pool has been the focal point of the festival. The people have celebrated their thing on their turf using their facilities. The festival was an outpouring of pride and there was indeed a feeling of community. Decent housing is one of the major problems confronting the poor. Exploitation of the poor by absentee landlords is legendary. Once a street or an area begins to decline, even the homeowner who wants to maintain his residence is faced with a losing battle against the downward slide of his property's value. Federal housing efforts had been so fraught with problems that by 1973 virtually all federal housing plans had been terminated. Before Model Cities, Yesler had blanketed by a maze of overhead wires what obscured virtually all views of the street. Model Cities funded a vast undergrounding project to remove the wires and open up the vistas of these avenues. Then Model Cities went on to secure the program which would renovate old buildings like this apartment on 20th and Yesler. The structure of the building was still sound but it needed a facelift, new painting and awning to grace its entrance. Now it not only provides good housing for area residents but serves as a constant reminder of how much life you can resurrect in what seems to be dead. The housing on Yesler Way and on the street adjoining it had fallen into the typical pattern of urban decline. But Yesler is an important street, a main arterial linking the central area to the redevelopment area of Pioneer Square and the downtown shopping and commercial areas. And since America is not likely to find funds to provide all of its poor with brand new housing, this building is an important lesson. That which is old need not necessarily be abandoned. This attractive contemporary apartment building is a fine example of what private industry and the government can do when they combine the resources in an effort to meet the needs of the people. The Boeing Company, HUD, Operation Breakthrough and Model Cities were partners and parents of this building. Minority contractors acted as the midwife. The resultant offspring is a complex containing 58 modern apartment units in which low income families may live, enjoying such amenities as underground parking, superior architectural design and a resident manager. Furthermore, since Bryant Manor is now managed by the first AME Church, an important church in the central area, it is controlled by the community itself instead of a distant and anonymous government body. The building is ideally located close to the Langston Hughes Center and the Urban Service Center and convenient to downtown. This impressive classical structure was once the Bicker Column Synagogue. For a time it stood vacant. Model Cities provided the funds for the purchase and major renovation of the building. Now it is called the Langston Hughes Center. The multipurpose building provides childcare for low income families, a primary need of mothers who must work to provide for their children or who wish to get the training and education necessary for survival in this society. The center also contains food and nutrition programs to combat the undernourishment that plagues and handicaps the poor. There are arts and crafts programs here to help people develop and enjoy their talents so that the spirit is fed as well as the body. A variety of community groups have access to the center's 350-seat auditorium. The center is a particular boom to the senior citizens who reside in Kowabee House, which is located just behind it. The seniors of Kowabee House need not suffer the isolation from the outside world which darkens the life of so many older people in America, for they have an active neighborhood center right at their doorstep. Just three blocks away from Langston Hughes Center on 14th and Yesler, another major renovation project, the Urban Service Center, resulted in new life for still another architecturally historic building. Seattle Model Cities funds and grants from the federal government combined to make this building into a center which now houses some 13 projects, including the Seattle Urban League, which wanted to move closer to the people it served. The NAACP, King County Youth Action Council, the Office of Minority Affairs, and the Camp Consumer Action Project. Woe is he who is both poor and sick in America. For the quality of health care for this country's poor is shockingly low for a nation which even in these hard times can claim the status of being the wealthiest in the world. Poverty and poor health have a way of going hand in hand. The poor have a shorter lifespan and a higher rate of infant mortality. They are subject to diseases that result from poor nutrition. They are the prey of stress-related diseases. Those of the body, such as high blood pressure, and those of the mind and body in partnership, as is the case for diseases like alcoholism and drug addiction. So Model Cities attacked the problem of poor health at its initial source, using its funds to develop and maintain the Odessa Brown Health Clinic, which provides both prenatal and pediatric care. Located just off Yesler Way, this clinic is another strand in the network of services now available to residents of the community. The clinic is operated by Children's Orthopedic Hospital, and since its inception has provided medical and dental services to well over one-third of the youth under 18 who live in the East Model neighborhood. 70% of the children who are seen in the Odessa Brown Clinic come from families with an income below $3,500. This clinic is providing vital health services for those who otherwise could not afford such care. In providing good health care, you must treat more than the body. You must also provide the body with a healthy environment, one free of disease-breeding conditions, such as abandoned buildings and vacant junk-filled lots, which harbor rats. The Environmental Health Project is an outgrowth of the Odessa Brown Clinic and is funded by both Seattle Model Cities and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Model Cities provided for the purchase of five large trucks. In the three years of the project's operation, the trucks have been used to remove countless tons of junk and 600 abandoned vehicles. 76 dilapidated buildings have been raised and 116 vacant lots have been cleared of debris, and the work is still going on. Environmental Health's Community Education Project has helped inform residents of what they can do to stop such problems before they start, and thus has improved the outlook for the future of the area, as well as improving the present environment. One of the great virtues of Seattle is that it is a city in love with itself. Its residents are proud that the blight characteristic of the great megalopolises of the eastern seaboard has not yet put its dismal mark here. Seattleites cherish the history of their city. They love the old things that have put the stamp of character on this town, and they take pains to preserve the best of the past. Pioneer Square was one of the old places and full of the architectural gems of a bygone era. But by 1960, decay had taken hold. Big Business had moved on up the way and built itself new quarters, and Pioneer Square was writing its final chapter as a dilapidated ghost town. Seattle Model Cities became the catalyst for the renaissance of Pioneer Square. It hired a coordinator and a staff whose job it was to serve as a guide and monitor for the redevelopment of the area. Once planning was given a focus, Model Cities provided the main ingredient without which no urban project stands a chance of success. Money. But this money had a strategy behind it, because it was used primarily as money which would attract other money. The name of the game is matching funds, and Model Cities provided the local share. The funds put up by Model Cities generated an investment of 585,500 more dollars in federal, local and private funds. A very successful demonstration of how money, enthusiasm and vision beget more money, enthusiasm and vision. What had once been a dying area is now alive and well, and full of new business as well as a variety of government programs. The historical aura of the place is enriched with restaurants and galleries, and tourists in love with the atmosphere. Local business firms have realized that the city has made a solid investment in the area and have taken heart and begun to invest their own resources in redevelopment. The renovated architecture of another era gives grace and a needed and refreshing change from the sleekness of the newer commercial development uptown. In Pioneer Square, the past has not been abandoned. It has joined hands with the future. Pioneer Square Park is the heart of Pioneer Square, a crossroads for the variety of people who frequent the area. Seattle Model Cities, forward thrusts and private individuals donated the funds for the rehabilitation of this town square. It is the only major park in downtown Seattle, and it is always full of humanity and the cosmopolitan feeling that only comes about where all strata of society coexist. The historical tone is set by two rejuvenated relics of another era, cobblestones and the famous pergola, a glorious shelter of old glass and art nouveau wrought iron swirls. Seattleites love their pergola like Parisians love their metro. The shelter, cobblestone, trees and benches form a unique park in the center of a major rehabilitation area. A constant goal of the Model Cities program was to take advantage of existing facilities and improve them by upgrading, keeping foremost in mind the needs of the residents of a given area. At Madrona School, what was needed was a safer street crossing for young children on their way to school. Model Cities solved that problem for Madrona School by constructing a simple traffic diverter that rerouted through trapping and at the same time gave children a protected walkway across the street. Traffic branches off to either side of the walkway. What was once a through street which invited careless motorists to speed is now a carefully marked turn. The walkway is paved with cobblestones and protected by a concrete wall, a safe and inviting path for pedestrians. The kids call it the yellow brick road, and they follow it. One of the finest examples of how Model Cities was able to take advantage of the older buildings which were already in the Model neighborhood is the Camp Firehouse on 18th Street. The building has served as a firehouse for many years. Model Cities funded the renovation of this old building to house the headquarters of the Central Area Motivation Program, a multi-service community action agency. The Camp Firehouse serves as a cultural center for the community by providing space for the Black Academy of Music and the Dance Department of Black Arts West. There are two job placement programs here and a community affairs department. The building is a magnet for the young and the talented and serves the adults of the neighborhood as well by providing a meeting place for various citizen groups. Immediately adjacent to the camp headquarters is the Firehouse Minipark. A total of $96,000 in funds was drawn from the combined resources of Seattle Model Cities, two federal grants, and forward thrust. Not such a staggering figure when divided among four different budgets. The park was completed in 1971 and today the trees have flourished to provide a leafy shelter for the play activities of the youngest generation of the neighborhood and a friendly meeting spot for people of all ages who enjoy being around children. The Model Camp Firehouse complex offers something for neighborhood residents of all ages and shows what you can do by improving what you already have. A park is a needed oasis for the human spirit. In an age of endless concrete and an ever accelerating pace of human movement, a park is an area of repose. And for families of limited income who may have many children but little living space for them, a park is a yard, a place for children to enjoy freedom, play, and friends. A good park is a neighborhood gathering place and one of the building blocks that unites people and makes them a community. Before Model Cities and the Seattle Parks Department forward thrust put their skills and their funds together, there was no park here on Empire Way, just an empty space. Now it is a place for people. What child's imagination would not be sparked by these intriguing play constructions? The agile should try to scale these many walls. Universal obsession of kids. This waiting pool even has a waterfall. The park has spacious stretches of lawn and with the years these trees will provide shade and the oasis will be complete. In two other Model Cities projects, the emphasis was placed on ethnic values. Pride and confidence in origins are sustaining psychological strengths for any person rich or poor. The sole pole is a totem of the black man. The masks on this 22-foot column, which stand by the Yesler Library, harken back to the unique artistic forms of Africa. The faces are etched with achievement, suffering, survival, and the pride which sets a history in genders. The use of the indigenous totem forms of this region serves to express in particular the long story of blacks in the Northwest. El Centro de la Raza is the headquarters of the Chicano residents of Seattle. The center's program continues to provide valuable teaching services to its clients. Poverty is a many-tanical monster, a true hydra that will sprout new buds even as others are attacked. Model Cities has had to launch a broad attack against this prolific scourge to try to keep it from spawning and to strike against it where it has already taken hold. For this reason on Skid Road, poverty is a familiar companion. Seattle has a first-hand knowledge of Skid Roaders. This city gifted the English language with the term Skid Road. Now the term is for the transients, the chronic alcoholics, the down and outers who people a despairing thirst in all our cities. Most survive on a fixed income of pension or social security checks, an income modest enough to begin with, and one which has been whittled relentlessly down by the ravenous knowings of inflation. Model Cities noted that among Skid Roaders there were tight bonds of understanding, bonds that grow from the shared experience of a distinct culture. A man learns how to get by on Skid Road. His associates are here, and his bank ballots of friendships and favors tender. It would have been intemperate to displace these poor, nor were funds to build a new community for them available. Model Cities provided some on-the-spot relief, working to put new life into what was already at hand. What was at hand were a couple of old hotels, the Frye and Downtown hotels, that were slipping into seediness. Model Cities provided some much needed repairs to renovate these hotels. Clean up, patch up, fix up. Recycle what you have and make it better in the process. Frye and Downtown hotels are not a panacea for poverty, just an improvement on Skid Road. Also now serving residents of this area is the Pioneer Square Health Station. A new park in the International District provides a sunny gathering spot for the hotel residents of that Downtown neighborhood. The Seattle Model Cities program has had many successes. The tangible evidence of its capital improvement exists on street after street, where citizens may see for themselves, upgrading in housing, and new multipurpose centers which serve the community. There is also evidence to suggest that the example of Model Cities' capital improvement has encouraged other agencies, both public and private, to make investments in the area. Planned Parenthood has opened new facilities in the Model neighborhood. SOIC, a vast training complex, has been developed here. New businesses represent a vote of confidence in the Model neighborhood by private investment sources. Moreover, the data gathered by Model Cities encouraging such vital matters as the wishes of the residents themselves for their community's future and the pattern of land use within the Model neighborhood has been utilized as the basis for individual neighborhood plans in the Man, Manor, Madrona, Stevens Harrison, Atlantic, and Leschi communities. The studies made by Model Cities has not been shelved and wasted, but have formed an information bank for future planners to draw on as they chart the course of future change. But there are factors less tangible to be considered when one evaluates the success of Model Cities, nagging questions to be answered. Do the improvements brought by Model Cities have a salutary effect on the areas of the Model neighborhood that did not get any improvements? Do these capital improvements, in fact, provide models? Do they help to unify communities so that the people may continue to organize for change? Or are the gains made by Model Cities only isolated phenomena in a pattern too entrenched for any significant long-term change to be fostered? Is a model enough to dissipate the crippling forces of such an ancient enemy as poverty? It is, perhaps, a start, and America must try, for it is upon the well-being of all our citizens that our claim to be a civilized nation must ultimately rest.