The Denver West Side Housing Projects.
It was at these housing projects that Els began her career with the Denver Housing, in the mid 1950s. She had recently moved from the Valley and had finished Barnes Business School . Denver Housing then hired her on as the front office clerk in 1956. Els even got robbed at gun point during this period, and her picture appeared in the newspaper covering the story. The thieves apparently locked the office crew in the safe and made a clean get away. By the early 1970s, Els would become the first female housing projects manager; and she possessed no formal college degree. Because of her experience in and around the West Side, she was tasked with cleaning up the “North Lincoln” … “jets.”
Els had just had a quick jaunt to the Boston area to “see a boy.” She’s been eager to go see the world: like Jimmy Stewart in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. But with that travel bug out of the way, she could now start her career.
Els was back home, and now it was all business. Cleaning up the projects became her personal challenge. As manager, she had a mission. Els is like military; mission oriented. In her world they are “projects” and she is quick to plan and solve them. But no one could fault her her for lack of focus.
One of the first things she tried was to have the residents plan and tend their own lawns in front of their unit. The Housing Authority had offered and funded pallets of sod, and were on their way to prepare and lay it. Els told them to take it back. She refused the order. Of course she got called to the carpet and had “some splainin to do.” She reasoned that when the sod belonged to the housing authority, it was not theirs. It was implemented and managed by the Housing Authority. It “belonged” to Housing. Residents had no stake in the grass.
Els was about to introduce these residents into “ownership.” They were going to own these plots. It gave these mostly-retired something to do during the day. And as a collective, they would clean up their own community. “Housing” supplied residents with seeds, wooden spikes and twine. The residence could water their plots of land at the time they felt most comfortable.
The trick was that the residents paid what they could. Probably on some sort of exaggerated sliding scale, but Els made them pay. They had to feel as though they contributed. Nothing free. It’s a modest fee, but a fee to own, ownership. It may be as little as %0 cents, or even a quarter. The items had to cost something. They just couldn’t be free.
Els probably violated some Housing for charging for materials they had already paid for. She never pocketed the earnings. She put them into getting a can dispensing soda machine for the resident’s activity room.
With everyone pitching in on bettering their areas, a collective started to form. Retired residents were now proud of their little plot of grass. They felt compelled to defend them. So when the gangs wanted to take root in these projects, she felt compelled to do something about it. Els had a problem; she is good at solving problems. Plus, she was the boss at Lincoln.
Next, Els held a meeting with each of the families of the purported regular offenders in the projects. A new sheriff was in town; and she needed a posse. She turned to these project “mess ups.” She challenged them, the purported problem was about to be transformed into her posse. Els figured their goal was control of the social life in-and-around the projects. So she publicly endorsed the delinquent residents.
Next Els issued them “gear” … each was given a recognizable t-shirt and flashlight. Their base would be the residents activities room. They had a direct line to my mom’s phone. Remember, this was in the days before the ubiquitous cell phone. When they did a good job, she would reward them with luncheons and small ceremonies. She always made sure they received a certificate of some sorts. This award had the Housing logo on it, and gave lavish praise for job-well-done.
Not only did she get the mess ups on her side, but got them to enforce the standards. Everyone wins. Pretty soon the Denver Police began patrolling the area as more and more residents began taking pride in the area. Previously DPD had pretty much given up on the projects. Just don’t let it spill into the streets was their agreement. Now that the residents owned the turf, they began taking pride in their plots, and had a purpose. The Housing Director began to take note. Problem was, Els and the Director didn’t fully get along.
You see, it was the early 1970s and women hadn’t made too much headway in this field. So, now to have a non-college female getting results was embarrassing the suits. Thus, the suits decided to play manager musical-chairs and moved all the managers around to different housing projects. Els was assigned to Westwood Housing Projects off of Knox and Exposition.
Els was forced to start from scratch. But she had a model. And that West Side model could be expanded upon. She did n’t waste any time getting things going. She had to get to know the residents, and got involved in the residents in JHS and HS. Els went to visit their requisite schools, touring and meeting the teachers. Getting to know their staffs and how they interacted with busing.
One thing she noticed was that each of the teacher had a computer-printed class roster. And after each of the residents’ names was an “P.” Els learned that that “P” stood for a projects resident. She felt that this was an unfair label and immediately asked that it be removed. Teachers didn’t need to know this information. It would influence the teachers’ attitudes before they ever met them. If the teacher learned on their own, fine. But an immediate label wasn’t helping anyone. This resulted in teachers bonding more with the “projects kids” by not buying into the common stereotype. Of course it wasn’t magic; that is, it wasn’t 100%, but combined with with other techniques, this Westwood project would get cleaned up as well.
This time around, Els instructed her residents to water their lawns about an hour before sunset. This way, the ground would be soaked and wet. She had rightly assumed that mess ups roaming after dark didn’t want to hang out on grassy areas that were soaked wet. Water and mud would be problems.
Els’s techniques once again won the day. She and her staff were once again awarded the most improved project. And again Mayor McNichols presented them with the award at a festive ceremony.
Let’s just say the Director wasn’t too pleased, yet he was perfectly impressed. Els was going to stir a hornet’s nest. She stayed at Westwood for sometime. And again she cleaned it up and made the residents take some pride in themselves. poor people don’t hear too much praise. Once they experienced some positive reinforcement, and rightfully earned Els’ praise, they became addicted to it. Share in ownership and a leader that makes you accountable, but has your back, is a powerful combination.
Els stood proudly for these awards. No college degree; but best results. Els had graduated from the school of hard knocks; with a minor in reality.
pete padilla petepadilla.com