What We Believe

DAS/ESJ strongly believes that what is really needed is allowing organizations to partner with businesses, social enterprise strategies that invest in assets and the resources that are already there or are committed to locate in the communities. What we really need most of all are investments in “systems and policy” change, which require long-term investments, that is not a quick fix. What has happened for decades is that many organizations (philanthropies, others in the non-profit sector) have spent millions of dollars within the community, however the bulk of those dollars are geared at programs, rather than system and policy change at the same time knowing that philanthropies, non-profits are not going to fund even peaceful revolutionary ideas. DAS/ESJ is committed to breaking our addictions to traditional ways by beginning to promote systems built around more wealth-building investments.

Why not encourage widespread citizen-ownership as an alternative to government monopolistic ownership of what was provided by nature?

Land for development, for example, if owned by free shares to every permanent resident of a developing community could be leased to users and developers for up to 100 years creating a rental income for every child, woman and man to support their living expenses. Sustainable development and planning cost for land, new infrastructure, transportation, recreation, schools, health centers, climate control, preservation and other uses of nature and advanced technologies could then generate taxable incomes to all citizens to pay for all appropriate government services and uses. It would also create new work and citizen participation in planning opportunities for all citizens, within both a more just and less corruption-vulnerable market and political system, and a more dynamically growing and just marker economy based on more equal future ownership opportunities. And St. Louis can become Open to “RE-ENTRAFICATION” rather than gentrification.

Government would still have the roles intended by America’s Founders, the original creators of a then revolutionary State among governments of the 18th century world, In the words of its “Preamble” our Constitution was intended to “create a more perfect union” designed to protect the Founders’ own personal sovereignty as well as enhance the sovereignty of all future citizens, Besides such purposes for forming the State, “We the people” emphasized that the first and primary role of the State is “to establish Justice” , as well to provide security and promote the general welfare. The Citizens Land Development Cooperative is one of several citizen ownership reforms that would “establish Justice” through our proposed Capital Homestead Act, practical changes in monetary, tax, financial policies all aimed at promoting growth based on economic justice and economic empowerment for all citizens and to establish a Citizen Land Development Cooperative and to finance the development of a technologically advanced new city.

Attached is a link on the DAS/ESJ website to HB 4922 to establish a proposed law to transfer all legal ownership and city planning powers over the land from the governments of Metro East, Illinois (East St. Louis and 15 surrounding communities) from the public sector to a Community Investment Corporation (also known as a “Citizens Land Development Cooperative” to build a new domed city designed by Bucky Fuller in the 1970s. Norm Kurland of CESJ designed the legislative proposal championed by State Representative Wyvetter Younge, which passed the Illinois House of Representatives in 2008 by a vote of 114-0. When Rep. Younge died in December 2009 the project lost the State leader to gain passage through the Illinois Senate. Attached also is an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch describing the world-class team organized to work for the citizens in building a new citizen-owned economy, plus a third attachment describing how the Federal Reserve could work with local banks to create the money to finance the planned city.