From: Thomas Warnke [mailto:ThomasWarnke@MSN.COM]
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 1:21 PM
To: Comments
Subject: Community Reinvestment -- RIN 3064-AC50
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to convey my strong opposition to this latest attempt to
gut the Community Reinvestment Act of any real teeth in ensuring
financial institutions do their part for poor urban and rural
communities nationwide. The proposal to raise the "small bank"
definition to banks with assets up to $1 billion will have a
disproportionate impact on poor and especially rural communities.
The CRA has been the single most important regulation to ensure
adequate resources are available for poor communities. In its close to
30 years, it has helped community groups implement breathtaking changes
in communities that many had given up for lost. In low-income
communities nationwide today, there is new life, new hope and new
opportunity. The CRA played a critical role in bringing this renewal
about. It is remarkably short-sighted, at best, to hamstring this
regulation when its impact is now achieving true scale.
Again, I urge you not to implement this proposed change.
