Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

Schenectady, N.Y. (Photo by Elephi Pelephi, via Flickr)

An article on reversing urban blight in the Cleveland Plain Dealer uncovered an interesting story in the once-dying city of Schenectady, N.Y. In a bid to save itself from a shrinking population and economic base after General Electric Co. moved out, Schenectady, near Albany, recruited immigrants from a crowded neighborhood in Queens.

Facing the kinds of job losses and abandonment known to Cleveland, Schenectady pursued a creative solution. It introduced itself to an immigrant group in New York City, lured curious couples north to view its impossibly cheap homes, and let capitalism and immigrant dreams run their course.

In less than a decade, people who hail from the South American nation of Guyana have become about 10 percent of the city of 62,000, and streets once considered worthless now stir with fussy homeowners.

“They breathed new life into this town,” said Albert P. Jurczynski, the former mayor who marketed his city with bus tours and his mother-in-law’s homemade cookies. “They changed Schenectady. And they never asked for a dime from anyone.”

News 21 found similar effects in Hazleton, Pa., which had seen an influx of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. The Latinos, many of whom had been in the United States for years, resurrected a blighted section of Hazleton’s commercial district. Latino businesses followed factory and farm workers, and as the Latino community grew, a professional class arrived, buying deteriorating homes on the cheap.

Unfortunately, Hazleton’s immigrants were not met with the same welcoming attitude that Schenectady’s Guyanese received from the city government. But as Rust Belt cities with shrinking populations try to save themselves, perhaps more could benefit by welcoming newcomers looking for a piece of the American Dream.