Abstract
This article focuses on the initial application phase of the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community (EZ/EC) program. It considers characteristics of the legislation, administrative rules, and guidelines for implementation that applied to first-round applicants for EZEC designation. The article suggests that Congress and the Clinton administration made a good-faith effort to launch the EZ/EC in a positive fashion. The local planning and application process was an obstacle course, made all the more frustrating because of preventable problems at the federal level. The experience of launching EZ/EC should provide lessons for improving the opening phases of future federal initiatives. The article describes the "woe" of the application process, offers suggestions for improvement, and suggests reasons for the "triumph" of the city of Detroit.
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