The Problem: The Case of Little Italy

City News

Ivory Palace in a Concrete Jungle: G-BioSport Prospers as Local Neighborhood Loses Character, Residents

Up and coming high tech company G-BioSport has been growing quickly in the last few months. But while financial analysts are optimistic about the company's solvency, their neighbors are not quite as happy about the changes to the area.

The office park where G-BioSport established its operations is in the center of what used to be called "Little Italy." In the last ten years the community has lost much of its vitality. Now 70% of the people in the area live below the poverty line, and 65% of those are retirees on fixed incomes. One building out of every ten is abandoned.

Enter G-BioSport. The company has not only set up its offices there, but most of its employees live in the area. These newcomers make an average of $50,000 per year, and have been renovating many of the old houses or just tearing them down and building new structures on the old sites.

This renewal is bringing people back into the area, but long time residents are finding problems with prosperity. Rosa Sabatini, 74, received a complaint through the city planning office that her house needed serious repairs to comply with zoning ordinances. She claims that she does not have the money to fix a problem that has not been identified as a problem in all the years she has lived there. She also has been told that her choices are pay for the renovations, which she cannot afford, or move, which she cannot afford.

Property values are going up in the area, but many natives cannot afford an increase in property taxes. In addition, many people feel G-BioSport isn't doing enough for the area they moved into. There is much criticism that the jobs G-BioSport bring to the community are not being filled by members of the community.

G-BioSport representatives have said that they try to be a good member of the community, but it is unclear as yet what that means in terms of money or policies. After an initial survey, leadership determined that 1150 homes were affected in a 6 block radius. Approximately 50 families require an average of $30,000 per home in order to bring their houses into zoning compliance. Further, because of the increase in property value, each family had an average of $400 per year increase in property taxes which support both the city and the local school district.

Be Attentive: Set the Context

1. Ethical Actor

The first step is to identify the ethical actor. In a sentence identify the ethical actor for this problem.

2. Stakeholders

The next step is to identify the stakeholders. List the other stakeholders for this problem.

3. Assumptions

In two or three bullet points, identify any assumptions you are making about the problem.