DAVID MEEKER PAPERS, 1971-1984

David O. Meeker had a long career in public service for both the city of Indianapolis, Indiana and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In Indianapolis, Meeker served several positions: Acting Director and Director of the Department of Metropolitan Development, Director of the Indianapolis Model Cities Program; member of the Mayor’s Task Forces on Housing and Relocation, Model Cities, Black Capitalism; and served as Deputy Mayor. As Deputy Mayor, he was charged with development activities for the city and the coordination of all state, federal, and private funding.

In May 1973, Meeker was asked by the White House to become the Assistant Secretary of Community Planning and Development for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It was a new position in HUD as a result of consolidating the Community Planning and Management and Community Development functions. He accepted President Nixon’s offer and started on July 31, 1973.

Meeker coordinated the programs of various government agencies that had a major impact on community development, including the inter-agency task forces that prepared the biennial Report on National Growth and Development for President Gerald Ford in 1974 and 1976. This assignment was delegated from the President’s Domestic Council, and the reports were presented to the Congress as required by the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970.

One of Meeker’s major HUD responsibilities was the development, negotiation, and implementation the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which was enacted by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. The primary objective of this act was the development of viable urban communities by providing decent housing and expanding economic opportunities through the elimination of slums and blight, and increasing the supply of low- and moderate-income housing. Other goals were the conservation of existing housing, improvements of public services, improvement in use of land, and the preservation of property with special values. This act replaced the following categorical grant programs: Urban Renewal, Model Cities, Neighborhood Development Program, Water and Sewer, Neighborhood Facilities, Open Space, Public Facilities Loans, Urban Beautification, Code Enforcement, Historic Preservation, and Rehabilitation Loans. Meeker was responsible for the administration of these programs as they were phased out.

Meeker was the Chairman of the Federal Agency Bicentennial Task Force, and he was responsible for the development and coordination of HUD’s Bicentennial projects, the funding of the Philadelphia and Washington Bicentennial projects, and the program development for “Horizons on Display.” “Horizons on Display” was a program for the Bicentennial theme “Horizons 76” that was jointly sponsored by HUD and the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA) It was also the official U.S. demonstration project for Habitat, the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements held in Vancouver, Canada, May 31-June 11 1976. It recognized 200 solutions to community development needs in ten broad areas: citizen involvement, communications, community development, economic development, environment, health, human values and understanding, learning, leisure, and transportation. Mr. Meeker was the permanent United States Representative to the Habitat conference.

Meeker was Disaster Coordinator for the President and a member of the board of directors for the Community Development Corporation, a corporation within HUD that administered the New Communities program. He was also involved in budget planning, environmental quality and planning activities, relocation policies, urban design, rehabilitation loans and grants, comprehensive planning assistance, state and local management assistance, project review, relocation policies.

Meeker resigned his position in September 1976.

In March 1977, Meeker accepted the first endowed Chair in Urban Studies and Public Service at Cleveland State University. His duties were to conduct graduate-level courses in public policy development, public service and urban concerns. He was also to act as a catalyst in the community to cause things to happen, notably in neighborhood revitalization, to get major projects off the ground and to stimulate public-private ventures. He held this position until March 1978.

In April 1978, Meeker became the Executive Vice President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), a professional membership organization. In addition to supervising employees of the organization, he was responsible for government liaison lobbying, membership development, speaking on national issues, liaison with allied organizations, and meeting the annual goals of the Institute.

The Meeker Papers
This collection appears to be Meeker’s personal reference collection, rather than his official files. It contains documents that he accumulated and used mostly during his tenure at HUD and AIA, but also contains materials from his positions for the city of Indianapolis and Cleveland State University. It includes published reports, draft reports, papers, studies, memoranda, routine and personal correspondence, copies of official HUD correspondence and memoranda, clippings, publications, speeches, testimony, briefing books, meeting books, and notes.

This collection alone does not give a clear sense of Meeker’s role at HUD, or his relationship with Secretaries James Lynn and Carla A. Hills. One notable exception is Meeker’s deposition for United States v. Cedar-Riverside. In this deposition he discusses his career in local and federal government, and provides detailed information about federal aid to communities, the New Communities Program, and the Cedar-Riverside area in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Materials related to housing, economic development, urban policy, federal aid, and growth policy are present throughout this collection. One particular topic that is heavily documented is the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The collection contains sample application forms, Congressional oversight hearing briefing books, the first annual report, sample grantee performance report forms, and information related to litigation, amendments to the program, and CDBG programs in specific communities.

There is quite a bit of information related to the Bicentennial celebration, including HUD bicentennial programs, program funding, Philadelphia activities, American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA) publications on citizen involvement, and publications produced jointly by ARBA and HUD for “Horizon’s on Display.” For example, the collection includes “Challenge/Response” papers on transportation, economic development, leisure, and the environment. These papers were designed to stimulate discussions of problems and needs at the community level, and used many of the responses embodied in “Horizons on Display.”

Materials related to disaster assistance document HUD’s participation in long-range economic recovery efforts. The collection contains information related to the recovery efforts following severe tornadoes that struck the South and Midwest in April 1974, especially in the hardest hit area of Xenia, Ohio. It includes options for recovery, status reports, and materials related to other federal agency interaction. There is also information related to the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, which was passed immediately following those tornadoes. The act strengthened and streamlined the use of existing federal assistance programs.

There are also handwritten-notes, clippings, and letters of recommendation related to Meeker’s possible nomination as Secretary of HUD in 1975. Other topics covered in this collection include HUD budget planning for 1975-1978, Carla A. Hills’ appointment as Secretary, national growth and development policy, the 1974 and 1976 Report on National Growth and Development, the New Community Development Corporation and its funded new communities, 1974 Summit Conference on Inflation, urban studies on Detroit and Boston, and other materials related to urban design, energy, environmental protection, community development.

Materials related to Meeker’s work in Indianapolis include a correspondence, clippings, and a 1972 Development Strategy for Indianapolis. Documents from his work at Cleveland State include requests for funding, correspondence, and reports related to neighborhood revitalization, economic development, and juvenile delinquency.

Finally, AIA materials document architecture, housing, urban design, and the AIA’s interaction with HUD. It includes a small amount of correspondence with HUD officials, including Secretaries Donna Shalala and Patricia Roberts Harris; and the “HUD 518 Final Report,” which details a program that provided homeowners with an opportunity to have Section 518 claims reviewed by an impartial third party (AIA and the AIA Research Corporation).

Related Materials (March 2004)
Other materials directly related to David Meeker and the Department of Housing and Urban Development can be found in the White House Central Files Name File; White House Central Files Subject File categories FG 24 Department of Housing and Urban Development and HS Housing; the Carla A. Hills Speeches collection, and the Housing and Urban Development Subject File of the F. Lynn May Files. Additional materials related to housing are extensively documented in numerous Library collections.

Material related to urban policy during the Ford administration is documented in the Arthur F. Burns Papers, L. William Seidman Files, and the files of Domestic Council staff James Cannon and F. Lynn May.

Materials related to the Bicentennial can be found in the Milton E. Mitler Files, John O. Marsh Files, and the files of Domestic Council staff Andre Buckles and Stephen McConahey. There are also materials in White House Central Files categories FG 75 American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, FG 370 American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, GI 3 Gifts to President (includes Bicentennial) and PR 8-1 American Bicentennial Celebration.