From: Dick Jones [mailto:mediabum@rcn.com]
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 6:20 PM
To: Comments
Subject: Community Reinvestment -- RIN 3064-AC50
Sirs:
Don't gut the Community Reinvestment Act! Rural America, and
especially it'sfamilies, need this program to assist in developing new
communityinfrastructures and career opportunities, so families can stay
together and support themselves in the small towns and rural areas where
they grew up.
I live in New York City now, but I have many relatives and friends
who live in rural America and I care about their welfare. And I'm not
alone. Much of the population growth in American cities in the past
three decades has occurred because economic opportunities were (and are)
very limited in the country, so people have been forced to leave their
home areas for more job opportunities in the cities. If there had been
viable work opportunities in their home area, many would have been happy
to stay there. So, if you think there is no interest in this issue among
urban voters, I assure you you're wrong.
Gutting the CRA will only increase the economic pressure that splits
up families. The young are forced to relocate to cities and the old and
untrained languish. Thus, we are creating ghettos of the old, the weak,
the poor, and the dysfunctional in rural America, where there are few
social services and little civic protection. Crime is on the increase in
many rural areas because of these realities.
Is this how America should serve the people and locales that gave
birth to the Baby Boomer generation, and were the source of much of
America's current prosperity?
Sincerely,
/Dick Jones
Dick Jones 212-787-0700
Director, Progressive Internet Action
