Once the Rehab Program was on its way, my role in it diminished due to the performance of the youth named Cachano and others in the rehab crew. Cachano turned out to be one of those quiet, powerhouse guys with innate leadership, who rose to head one of the work crews. It was beautiful when I was no longer needed. As the rehab crew grew in numbers and the young adults began to flow back into the Barrio and grasp the handle of their own fate, this subtle transformation and reversal from a previous downward to a new upward spiral had taken a positive shape and continued to expand.
The entire neighborhood was on its way to good health now. And El Hoyo is where the human leadership converged. The way to reverse a downward spiral, available all the time, was in a shift from emphasizing the derelict to emphasizing the productive. Forget about peeing on the wall. Concentrate on pride gained for doing something productive, constructive, and effective.
“It is much more valuable to look for the strength in others. Look at where you want to go. You can gain nothing by criticizing their imperfections.” So said the Japanese Philosopher and educator, Daisaku Ikeda. And then Zig Ziglar, one of America’s best salesmen concluded, “You can get everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” Not easy, but relevant to the Rehab and Self Help Housing effort.
The peer pressure among those in the crew was directed towards performance and improvement. No free rides! I don’t know if there was healthy internal competition among them, but if there was, and there should have been, it was never manifested in violence. The gang type related leadership was absent. Instead, and I attribute much of this to the personality of Cachano, the physical fixing-up of dilapidated houses was having a parallel and good effect on behavior. Just as the parallel effect that running the Tool Library had had on the older José in his amazing recovery. Bobby Galvez’s leadership and the work ethics of all of them moved the learning progress forwards. Eddy Moreno brought the Yard back to life, not a small feat. There were many others’ invaluable attribute into the accomplishments of the Rehab Crew. Leadership flourished.
Also, these kids knew better than I when they needed to get expert advice for issues of technical repairs, and they had the resources among their extended family network to tap into and get difficult tasks accomplished. Their work was by far better than what the City was doing with their selected contractors, whom I had terminated previously. We did much better than the City did, even if city staff claimed otherwise. Wisdom is also in knowing when it is that you don’t know.
I cannot emphasize enough how my getting out of the way, not too soon, not too late, once the ball was rolling, was so crucial in their success. From the negative statement of our previously hired rehab specialist who had said he could not find any qualified youth to work with the contractors, to 32 of them running the show on their own, was a big and wonderful leap. People who want to preserve their selfish power prefer and accept the incompetence of others. Instead, we can liberate the power of many when given the encouragement to be free. A dilapidated barrio can produce excellence. Be happy when someone is better than you, as it gives you an opportunity to learn. Wealth trickles up.
With hesitation I ventured a fleeting observation to Ray.
“The following concept of incompetence is not clear enough yet in my head, but it seems to me that it is at the basis of tyranny and dictatorships, maybe even in everyday life; we tend to suppress excellence in others out of envy and fear of been left behind. It follows the saying, “For me to win, you have to lose”, versus, “for me to win we should both win.” Socialism is based on controlling others at a low level of achievement. Which is one of the reasons why communist countries intentionally fail economically. Communism promotes incompetence on purpose. “Every child needs to get a trophy”. It sounds so innocent, but it is not. They need to stifle competition, progress, and individual development.
“The freedom to excel is primordial, since people with a free spirit are harder to manipulate. Few people realize it, but this may be behind the intent by communists to eliminate the middle class, which is the large number of educated individuals trickling up, and instead they take from everyone and keep the wealth for those in the upper class who support the oppressive system.”
I was pleasantly surprised at the way kids flocked back to the Barrio when given the incentive. For them, it was coming back home. In a racially charged environment, a harsh cruel world is out there. Family and the place of childhood offers refuge and more. We just needed to enhance the ‘more’.
As one of Tito’s friend had said earlier, “To some, home is where their heart is. To me, home is where I find my people.”
We were recreating a healthy home within their culture for them to return to; more than just healthy. It was thriving, but it was to be inclusive, not isolated. This is tricky.
Despite mistakes in the learning curve, the speed of recovery in the health of the Barrio was phenomenal. It’s a wonderful feeling to see pent up talent surface and expand to covers territories previously unavailable. You provide the possibilities. The kids will compete for the action. Then next step is to teach them to look for those possibilities themselves. They will compete for accomplishment. Don’t do things for them when they can do it themselves. The future of the Barrio was taking shape for the long haul, despite the City Department’s interference.
Also beware, among the enemy from within. There were others of their own, and it did happen, who were pulling them toward bad behavior. One day, one of their friends came offering free cocaine.
“Today is free, tomorrow you pay, in a few days you are hooked, day after tomorrow make money selling it for me.”
The young people of the Barrio were given a choice: work for a drug dealer or stay with the Rehab Crew. All of them stayed, they got rid of the drug dealer. Despite some mistakes and failures, overall faith in human nature is rewarding, if that faith is based on equity and justice and not on paternalistic and condescending control. This may be why the Bureau of Indian Affairs struggles between success and failure.
As I looked at each kid pounding nails, working at different task, I would evaluate the progress made by each of them, and give them more to do; each with different personality and different family background, sharing the same culture, and different skills. A few had already entered the working force before coming to work with us. I was convinced that none of them would have a difficult time in the future, as far as work and income were concerned. Even those who would pursue other preferred skills outside of the construction field. These youths were developing and reinforcing positive attitudes, respect and enthusiasm for a proper working environment, and the proper mental attitude towards work. I had even heard a few positive rumbles asking questions about college. Life was good! The one unknown factor is wherever they could take this advance made within their territory, their family environment, and their Barrio, and expand on it outside their Hispanic turf as well? Out in the wide American world? I hope so!
Now I had time to dedicate to the Self Help Housing Program. Some people think that because I admit my ignorance openly, I am easy to fool. Yes, I AM easy to fool, but not the way most people would think.
Dan Benitez began to use the full resources of a government entity to try to derail our progress. One by one, he used the tools at his disposal. Early on, his accountant had denied my mileage reimbursement, because I had a $1.75 addition error on one of my mileage reports. I corrected it and resubmitted it. The cost of the error plus the cost of my time in correcting it was less than the cost in salary of the time it took his accountant to point it out and follow through.
On the Self Help Housing concept, you may think that I contradict myself. If people can do it on their own, what am I doing here?
Even the most intelligent and aggressive individual needs to cover gaps in their knowledge. They may need to learn from a person who specializes in specific details, the professional or the skillful. You may be the most successful businessman, or mechanic, or electrician, or President of the United States, but you still need to hire the architect to design and build a house, except if you are Jefferson, or the pilot to fly your airplane. Also, as we shall see, you may need someone to cover your back.
By one of those coincidences or pre-determined elements of fate, an unexpected thing happened, which saved me from my own ignorance. I had bitten off more than I could chew when my skills and expertise had come to a dead end. Thus far, all was good! We had the family group who decided to call their Self Help Housing Group “Casas Unidas Family Group” or “United Houses Family Group”. Not to be confused, although such was their intent, with the Neighborhood United group which was made of newcomers malcontents later.
We drew up an agreement between the Casas Unidas and the TBA. Each family was pre-approved by the lending institution of Pima Savings. The TBA bought the land and had it subdivided into lots. Each family chose their location. It’s amazing the differences in likes and dislikes even within a group of the same culture. In the first group, we had one Anglo family and six Hispanics. For the next group of applicants, who were already lining up, we had three Black families and two Anglos, and five Hispanics. A few from outside the neighborhood, but there is a lot that goes into building a home that starts way before digging a hole in the ground, and I knew very little about that. Soil compaction, site, utilities, zoning. Just as I knew little of the legalities of banking, even after I came back from Beaumont.
Then the unexpected happened. Another help from heaven. A Mexican-descendant girlfriend from my past had married a black man and moved to another state. The marriage had not worked out and she returned to Tucson with a child. The father of the child came a few months later to try to make up with her. He was an unusual person, but extremely smart and very knowledgeable in matters of land use, land planning, land acquisition and development. My friend suggested we hire him for a specific term. We did and he did magic as far as I was concerned.
He ran all the surveys and paperwork as well as the Historic Archeological survey. He subdivided the lots, prepared the construction plans for water, sewer, and soil preparation, grading etc. How he did it, is beyond my comprehension. His skills were superior to mine. He was extremely professional, and the City did not give him any difficulties in the processing. He was well-paid, and then he was gone. With his help before he left, we contracted with the company that did the work for the street, utilities, sidewalks, and fire hydrants. I could not have done it.
Life is not simple. We were ready to break ground. We advertised and interviewed several applicants and finally hired a wonderful man as construction supervisor. Geraldo was in his 50’s, weathered, and extremely experienced. The choice was unanimous. I didn’t vote. Only the families did. All I did was to make the process possible.
We hired an architect with experience with adobe by the same selection process. The families had full control under advice of every decision that affected their lives and within the federal guidelines of HUD. The City was not even consulted. They had no ownership rights in any of this. Each family chose a floor plan from three basic styles, and then modified it to fit their needs and land conditions. For example, one house was in a corner, another farther into the back of the lot. All but one was on the same block. The last family was building three blocks away but all within walking distance. Every family had to sign a mutual agreement with each other and the TBA.
The TBA bought the land with CDBG funds, subdivided it, and held all the titles. Each family selected the lot and house plan they wanted, the Saving and Loan Bank pre-approved each family for a home loan thanks to what would be a 20% down payment covered by their sweat equity and a partial value of the land, bought by the TBA, to be passed to the families at the end to make the numbers match the Bank’s. This partial amount of the land provided, was the only hand-out or incentive offered, and necessary to have value up in front, and as equity for the Bank loan. They all had jobs, work was done after hours and on weekends, with a mutual commitment of a minimal plus or minus twenty hours per week per family, not eight hours per day of course. At completion, during closing, simultaneously, the title of $180,000 house would transfer from the TBA to each of the families.
For five years, the families could not sell their houses to prevent speculative participation, roughly their sweat equity at the time equaled more or less $16.00 per hour. The homeowners (and the bank) would own the house free and clear. The construction supervisor and the administrative overhead were both covered by the TBA, as was the interest in the construction financing, while the principal would be paid by the families upon closing. The families had to do all the work, build and finish the houses, qualify for the financing, and pay the loan just like any other human being in this great world of ours. In the end, the accrued amount was getting hefty. When the City took away our administrative funds, they had to pay the interest but did not have the title to the property. This created a very interesting dynamic that led some of the staff in the City Department to pull their hair out and then do some very illegal maneuvers, which I will soon go into detail about.
Families signed an agreement to move all at the same time, not before. Previous experience in Visalia California and elsewhere demonstrated that once a family moved into their new home, the motivation to work hard would be gone and they stopped working on the others. Recognizing the reality of this, all houses went up simultaneously, everybody worked on everybody’s house, and the construction was done in consecutive stages: all foundations, floors, walls, tie-beam, roof trusses, plywood, shingles, etc.
Although it took two years of work, it came out to three and a half month per house.
Plumbing, fixtures, electrical, cabinets and doors were outsourced. We got a friendly licensed plumber to do the plumbing. He knew about PVC pipes and could supervise part of the work. The electrical work we took no chances with but hired a licensed electrician for it. Every other detail was done by the families other than the cabinets and the trusses or rafters. There were no volunteers other than extended family and no outside help. More than 80% of the homes were owner built, including every single adobe that was used in the walls was made by the hands of the families from mud, clay and sand, and some straw. Some used asphalt and one used a light touch of cement. Both are used mostly to keep humidity out, and as slightly binding agents. I did not like to use cement. Straw or hay is used by some to help reduce the normal cracking due to shrinking by the clay component. It was their home. No government telling them how their house was to be. They made the maximum possible number of decisions. Our first group was bound to experience some beginners issues.
