By Thomas L Blair 25 October 2017 ©

October 1997 Vanessa Thorpe interview continues:

 “Professor Blair, an American of West Indian descent, arrived in Britain  from New York 30 years ago. He is an international urban planning adviser who has lectured in Europe and the United States and has taught environmental and social planning for 18 years at a [London College]. During this period he has witnessed the failure of repeated schemes to improve the lives of the inner-city blacks; first, the inevitable injection of large amounts of cash, then the forlorn wait for the benefits to “trickle down”.

“In fact, the social infrastructure is the thing to deal with straightaway. Of course, I could have told you that 30 years ago, but the crucial thing today is that there are now more and more black peoples finding their homes in the public sector in the cities,” he says.

“Local participation is the key to regeneration and reinvention in these places. We want to include the black Pentecostal churches, the pirate radio stations, the youth workers, and the multi-lingual peoples of the diaspora. We want to reach them through the computer access being setup in many communication centers.

“In this way, The Chronicle hopes to be part of a wave of feeling in black communities, that they want to be heard.”

*Part 3. of New Century Black Britain .Writings from a Cyber-Scholar’s Journal – On The Chronicleworld’s 20^th anniversary 1997-2017. The October 1997 Vanessa Thorpe interview with Professor Blair

To be continued – Regeneration times a-coming: Offers insights and opinions on urban affairs and Black Communities