A new proposed freeway suddenly threatened our older inner-city neighborhoods. Simultaneously, the school system was considering consolidating inner-city schools into one mega school. During that time large shopping malls were negatively impacting smaller retailers, grocery stores, and the local economy while enticing residential developments in the suburbs. Fortunately, large corporations, such as IBM, were prevented from becoming monopolies and thanks to the free market, small entrepreneurs such as the Apple Company could compete and trickle up. Here we saw at that time the value of both large and small, without cronyism or burdensome regulations, the small entrepreneur will start filling in the gaps that a mega corporation cannot fill. If Apple gets too big, the same should happen to them. Government regulations kills the little guy and help the giants because they can afford the lawyers that facilitate filtering the intricate regulations. I don’t oppose all regulations, only the excess intended to handicap small businesses; Regulations and loopholes, the bread a butter of the well paid lobbyists. More modern politicians and bureaucrats have learned that by nurturing selected growing businesses they can offer them monopolistic opportunities if they join their cause. We will see technical corporations growing out of proportion side by side with particular politicians.
I am not an economist, but I do possess common sense and to me, widespread sharing power is the most advantageous and effective, if not the most efficient, form of creating social and economic progress in the neighborhood and in the nation. The key to salaries is educating the individuals about their choice to pursue a better work environment and the employers to benefit from better workers. The proof is in Henry Ford’s example. When he established the salary level of his employees, so each of them could own one of his cars, the economy in Detroit and elsewhere soon saw a tremendous boom. It was not a high salary per se that did it. It was a salary responsive to the free market, tapping on worker’s motivation of ownership to boosts the economy. We forget that in the Middle Ages your lot in life was determined at birth. There was no trickle up. Starvation was common. The king and his nobility had it all and they increased their wealth (redistribution) by taxing others, going to war, and taking from others. The advent of free market and industrialization changed all that.
For the government to raise the minimum wage is a step backwards. It’s a corrupt appeal for votes and an artificial and destructive interference, until cost and demand levels up again, a time which costs the poor the chance for entry level jobs, and freedom to move up, which is a critical step up in the trickle up trail. Wages should follow demand because demand increases competition and production. Control is the antithesis of freedom. Where does the referee cross the line into manipulating the game? We should move slowly toward increasing responsible freedom. Entry jobs are exactly that. You are young, you enter easy, free to learn, free to do well, to move up to management or get a better job. If you don’t learn, then you have an issue. The problem is not the job nor the pay. You stop moving up when your reach your level of ability and satisfaction.
Economically, sharing the power with whites, blacks browns, coppers, and yellows is the best way to go. It will double the productivity of this nation. Decent people are waiting for others to prove themselves earnest. ‘Earnest’ in this case is referred to as ‘a desire to improve’ and nothing else. Without that desire, the free market could pass you by.
News of the new freeway made several neighborhoods begin to talk to each other. Freeways were a common enemy! I had evolved! After fighting for a neighborhood, you don’t want it whipped out by a freeway. Three of us got together and called for a meeting to which twelve neighborhoods came. We followed our previous pattern: Open venting, writing tablets, reality check, prioritizing, setting goals, strategy, groups for planning tactics, and action-oriented solutions. We used two columns: one central column for mutually shared issues and another for items of concern to each individual neighborhood. This way, arguing one did not overpower the other. As always, most of the success in organizing was in preventing the ideological bullies from manipulating the agenda, while recognizing issues of other neighborhoods for mutual help.
The cutting-edge strategy came after a heated discussion about what kind of structure to give to our newly formed Inner City Neighborhood Coalition. Many outspoken people wanted to create a formal organization with bylaws, elected officers, etc. I spoke strongly against that[xxviii].
“The moment we elect leaders,” I argued, “a set structure will cause some neighborhoods to exert more control, gain the goodwill of the City, and get more benefits for themselves[xxix], allowing for the City to divide and conquer us. The City will identify who the leaders are and try to win them over, exert extortion, or buy them off. They will pit one neighborhood against another. I suggest we keep this group as a well-organized ’amorphous fog’. Each neighborhood has its own well-established structure to fit its needs, but in this coalition, we can respect our differences and coalesce around our mutual needs, and each can call for a coalition meeting. The caller will chair that meeting and we will all cooperate with our support.”
At first, this idea of an amorphous fog was unpopular, but as the initial inevitable power struggle began to pull and push, more began to see its value and sided in support.
“The best part of this concept is that the City will never know where we are going to be coming from. They will never be able to pinpoint the leadership. They cannot use legalities to restrict us nor channel us into a corral[xxx]. Notice that most local leaders want to stand out and be recognized by the power structure. Therefore, this type of decision must come from the majority, not from those who are more outspoken. The true power of the organizer is to get all to share the power, not just a few. Power with, and not power over.
It’s a double edge sword. This foggy elusiveness is also well known by those doing subversive undertakings. Keep this in mind when used against you by ideological bullies. Ask who is really behind the apparent spontaneous riots that end up with buildings set on fire? There is nothing casual about them. All of them are fabricated!
Several meetings later, this concept had won the day with the use of ‘reality check’ and the Inner City Neighborhood Coalition remained as a very successful ‘amorphous fog’.
Barrio Libre benefited from this arrangement because we had experiences. We had been the trailblazers in so many encounters with the City and had done a ton of work. Our influence within the ‘amorphous fog’ made us equal. Moreover, it helped the Barrio immensely because instead of four hundred voices we now counted with four thousand voices, and they were real. This system was so effective that it was not replaced for years.
The media likes to flounder with superficial news, never knowing any of this, not looking deep enough. They also like to take sides and promote bias ideologies by selective exposure and excluding from print the full other side. The City’s Office of Neighborhood Support facilitated our effort with distribution of mail and information. We now tried to reach the State of Arizona who had to count with city support for the freeway.
The Deputy City Manager, Bill Ealey, whom some of us had met before, was assigned to resolve this issue. At his request, we met at his office the next day. “I will be your point of contact from now until the day this issue is resolved, we’ll meet every week.” he informed us. This was a man who never said a word at any of the City Council meetings, sitting next to the City Manager. He was almost invisible and easy to overlook, but always there, alert, attentive, conscious of all that went on. His eyes were direct and focused on the public speaker no matter the gibberish spoken. He was invited to our planning meetings, despite some opposition and true to his word, he came. Like the Planning Department, he was exposed to ‘reality check’ and was positively impressed by a result he may not have seen before. The one rule strictly enforced during ‘reality check’ was that when a person spoke his or her mind, as we went around the room, no one could criticize, agree, disagree, or interrupt. Most corrupt leaders and dictators will do everything possible to prevent this from happening because it dilutes their influence. Ellen and I were very careful to find that third person needed with whom you can control every meeting and insure that ‘reality check’ is never perverted by the ideological bullies and the self-serving hogs[xxxi]. Twelve diversified neighborhoods under one unifying goal won the day. Diversity is a weakness, unless you have a unifying common denominator to hold it all together.
The freeway was not built. The fight for the schools was mostly fought and won by Raul Grijalva and his group at the School Board. It was good to have a few good people on the same side, the side of the students.
Malls and suburbs expanded, local small businesses in neighborhoods were never going to be the same, except maybe for restaurants and curious shops, to be replaced by 7-Elevens and Walgreens. Cars and parking would control zoning. Downtowns were losing their retail strength, in grand part because of the limited availability of free parking, but entrepreneurs like Apple and Microsoft would do well, hopefully making room for others as well. IBM would also continue. Jobs for Barrio kids had been hard to find, unless education was improved.