    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [May 3, 1991]
    [Pages 465-467]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to Cochran Gardens Community Members in St. Louis, Missouri
    May 3, 1991

        Thank you, Governor, and thank all of you. Bertha was telling me
    you've been out there in the rain for 2 hours. That's beyond the call of
    duty, as we say over there--as General Schwarzkopf would say. But let me
    just say how pleased I am to be here. Bertha asked about Barbara Bush,
    and I wish she was with me today; she wishes she were here, too. But
    she's doing an awful lot to help kids learn to read. And I hope all of
    you kids here today will take a lesson on that and do your level-best in
    reading and in studying.
        Bertha was telling me about the wonderful spirit here. And I wish
    I'd heard the drum and bugle corps in action. Maybe we'll get to hear
    them when we finish here. But we congratulate all of you over there.
        Let me salute our two Senators, Senator Bond and Senator Danforth.
    And of course, I'm delighted to have with me here today a man who has
    been here before, who lives this ideal of home ownership, tenant
    management, and that's Jack Kemp, our Secretary of HUD. What a job he's
    doing.
        On the way over here, we passed an extraordinary place, that new
    children's playground. And where once was called Little Nam, a war zone
    of drugs and decay, you've created a field of dreams. And where dope
    dealers once roamed, children now can be children. And they can learn,
    and they can laugh, and they can play. And you deserve great credit for
    giving these kids hope.
        You know, people who have never seen housing development don't
    understand how significant a small playground can be. But this
    playground is just one of your many achievements. You've shown an entire
    nation what great things people accomplish when they get an opportunity
    to take control of their own communities, when men and women seize their
    homes and streets from drug dealers, when we empower people and not the
    bureaucracy.
        What a contrast to the dismal legacy of projects like Pruitt-Igoe.
    Think of how Pruitt-Igoe suffocated this community, attracted crime and
    sheltered drugs and shattered hope. To me--to many of us here--that
    vacant tract symbolizes the failure of

    [[Page 466]]

    the past.
        And today, more and more Americans know that the solutions of the
    1960's can't meet the challenges of the nineties, that a system that
    puts government bureaucracy in charge of everything leaves no room for
    individual dignity--the dignity that Bertha's fighting for, that all of
    you believe in--a system that warehouses people, strips them of their
    humanity. I'm here to say, if the system's not helping build a better
    life, then we must change the system.
        Last November I signed the National Affordable Housing Act, the most
    radical departure in Federal housing policy in two decades. And I want
    to thank Kit Bond, Senator Bond, who serves on the Senate Banking
    Committee, who worked hard with Secretary Kemp to get that act through
    the Congress. Its core is HOPE--you see the sign right there:
    Homeownership and Opportunity for People Everywhere. HOPE moves policy
    in a new direction. It lets public housing residents like you manage
    your property and eventually own your property.
        Although I'm proud that under our administration the number of
    residents groups training to become resident managers has leaped from 13
    to 100, we've got to do more. Today--now, listen to these numbers--three
    million people live in public housing. Yet barely 9,000 units--barely
    9,000--are managed by their residents. I call on Congress to give us
    full funding--$855 million in fiscal '92. We don't just want a piece of
    the program; we want the whole darn thing: one million new low- and
    moderate-income homeowners by the end of 1992.
        I also would like to announce two new initiatives today, initiatives
    that honor people's dignity and ability. The first is the Enterprise
    Zone and Jobs-Creation Act of 1991, which I'm proud to say will be
    introduced in Congress next week by our own Senator John Danforth and by
    Senator Joe Lieberman. This act would plant the seeds for a real urban
    revival. It designates up to 50 enterprise zones over a 4-year period,
    one of which could very well end up right here in St. Louis.
        Now, you all understand the concept beside enterprise zones: They
    convert poor neighborhoods into centers of work, centers of opportunity,
    and they ensure that the most successful entrepreneur in a
    neighborhood--ensure that that entrepreneur will not be a crack dealer.
    It will be that a man or woman who starts a business, demonstrates the
    value of hard work, offers jobs to local residents.
        You also know that you can't start up a business without money. This
    bill also eliminates capital gains taxes on the development in the zone.
    It tells potential investors: Put your money right here; put the jobs
    right here. And that's where I need your help.
        It also gives these enterprise zones priority as a free-trade area
    status. That would let businesses in the zone import materials duty-free
    if the products are sold abroad. Our Tax Code ought to promote growth.
    It ought to promote investment and entrepreneurship and opportunity
    throughout the land. And that's why I have tried repeatedly to get the
    Congress to cut the capital gains tax. That tax is a tax on the American
    dream. It is a tax on growth. And we ought to get rid of it so you can
    have more jobs and opportunity right here in this very area.
        You know, the Enterprise and Jobs-Creation Act of '91 makes it
    possible to turn communities that were once riddled with despair and
    isolation into neighborhoods that are greenlined for growth and jobs and
    opportunity. And in that spirit, I'm proud to announce a second
    initiative: the Community Opportunity Act of 1991, which we will
    transmit to Congress today. This legislation rejects the idea that
    Washington knows best. It challenges localities like yours to develop
    ``community opportunity systems.'' And these would enable poor citizens
    to tailor Federal programs to meet their actual needs. The bill also
    lets Federal officials set aside regulations that might otherwise
    prevent citizens from devising programs that work.
        This act shifts power from the heavy hand of the state to the
    dedicated hands of the people. I have enough confidence in the American
    people to believe that they will create new hope and opportunity, that
    they will devise new and effective solutions

    [[Page 467]]

    if they are just given a chance. You don't want a crutch. You want a
    ladder, a ladder of opportunity to a better future. And that is what we
    are determined to provide.
        Most Members of Congress, you know, say they want to revive our
    cities. And now we can test them. We can put them to the test. I call on
    the Congress to support our HOPE program fully. I call on the Congress
    to pass the Enterprise Zone and Jobs-Creation Act of 1991. And I call on
    the Congress to enact the Community Opportunity Act of 1991 right now.
        Bertha, Bertha Gilkey--I've got this quote of hers: ``We don't want
    to be taken care of; we want to take care of ourselves.'' That is, to be
    treated like human beings, not numbers in a housing project.
        And people all across this country said: Yes, we want dignity, we
    want independence, we want responsibility, and we want to own our own
    homes, and we want to control our destinies. And I would say to the
    Congress: Congress, you ought to start thinking anew. Give the people a
    chance now, and pass this new legislation, and don't go back to the old
    answers that have failed the people of St. Louis year in and year out.
    It's time to think anew. So, I am convinced that together we can build
    upon your success. We can offer new opportunity, new optimism, new hope
    to people condemned to daily bleakness and hardship.
        So, please join me. You do have some power in your hands. Get ahold
    of your Congressman; convince him to think anew and give these new ideas
    a chance. Because Bertha is right: homeownership builds dignity.
    Homeownership offers people a real bite of the apple, a chance for the
    great American dream to come to everybody.
        Thank you all, and God bless you, and may God bless our great
    country, the United States of America. Thank you very much.

                        Note: The President spoke at 12:40 p.m. in the
                            Cochran Gardens Community Center. In his
                            remarks, he referred to Gov. John D. Ashcroft of
                            Missouri; Bertha Gilkey, president of the
                            National Tenant Union and chairperson of the
                            Cochran Gardens Tenant Management Corp.; Gen. H.
                            Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the U.S. forces
                            in the Persian Gulf; Senators Christopher S.
                            Bond, John C. Danforth, and Joseph I. Lieberman;
                            and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
                            Jack Kemp.