Just Transition

The agrarianist Wendell Berry wrote once that modernity had bred a dangerous and close-to-fatal ignorance about ecology. In contrast to earlier ways of life, our social relations, which are our productive relations, do not force us to reckon with the consequences of what we consume in the course of making our lives, including making the people who come after we do. But modernity allows for exceptions.

When city government attempts to revitalize a city by reducing revenue available to public schools and social services, city tax coffers may grow but the people’s quality of life can actually take a hit. Like other U.S. cities, Decatur government wants to utilize a land bank to “redevelop blighted properties.” The City is already using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts to “stimulate the economy.” How are these strategies connected and do they help middle- and low-income residents in Decatur?