Eva Young wrote:
> Yes, you did, Tim, and I appreciate your disclosure on the topic. It's
> interesting information that Basim Sabri had taken the time to ask you to
> post on this topic. This, along with Basim asking David Brauer to post his
> take on the hotel (which also took gratuitous swipes at David Piehl and
> Walt Gutzmer for being "racists") is useful information.
>
> Most of my post was criticising Basim
> Sabri for trying to obscure the real issue (which is whether or not to
> build a motel on that block) by raising the issue of racism.
The issue of race/classism has been here from the beginning and Sabri wasn't
even in the picture then. Don't shoot the messenger. Sabri just says it, often
and prolongedly.
Remember, Urban Ventures notwithstanding, the OZ Plan, voted down, was also
the work of African Americans in the neighborhood. When AfrAmer.s have
milestone events--births, deaths, graduations, marriages, Christenings,
reunions, the whole extended family comes to town from all over the country.
For them a hotel is banquet space, extra rooms for extra family (and not every
member of every Af-Amer. family is dirt poor) are a plus for the neighborhood.
( Same with Latino families, same with Irish Clans, but that's another story.)
I don't yet have enough experience with Somalis to have a judgement.
Here's how race and class often set the tone in Central. Each person uses his
or her personal experience as the basic theory from which they work every day.
Ergo, each group projects onto the other group the norms from their personal
history. Those norms do not cross cultures, nor do they even express one
culture. A German-Amer. from No. Dakota (Piehl), another G-A from a small town
in Wisconsin (Gutzmr) and small town Chek-Amer. from Wisconsin (Zala) of course
project what they think of as "neighborhood" onto their blocks. So does each
other group. I grew up first in the projects during WWII, and then just off a
corner like Chciago/Lake, but in a neighborhood of about 30,000--all white, all
Catholic, mostly immigrant and children of immigrant. Lucky for me, I don't
have to stay there--it's quite stultifying. But I carry those values whereever
I go--they are MY norms. Who cares? Politics, even on the neighborhood level,
is the art of compromise.
At this juncture, Piehl, et.al. want no part of a compromise. They want what
they want and they go to meetings and can outlast anyone for trivia and
baloney. When Sabri, Zack, Valerie, Pauline and Steve Wash got together on the
board, they talked over anyone in a vain attempt to be heard. The less they
were heard, the louder they complained. Everybody else, self included, finally
stops in priodically because we've had enough.
Many of the Central residents who are most aggressive about what they want to
see are not accustomed to listening to people who do not have the same norm
base without imposing their norms on the situation. The longer people are
unheard, the worse it gets. At this juncture it's so bad that virtually no one
is listening to anyone so far as I can see.
Whether Sabri is an SOB or a gift of the Maji is immaterial. Whether Zack
works for him or not is immaterial. Whether Piehl is a big wind from So.Dak or
something else is immaterial. Samee-samee Walt, Corrine, Eva, KForbes and the
rest.
The real deal is that Sabri owns the land because Piehl, et.al. had no money to
buy the land. And possession is nine points of the law. And Sabri is one
persistent cuss as well.
The issue now is not the same as it was 7 years ago or even 3 years ago. Given
the changed population (and the census is most likely to show that the great
majority of Central is people of color and Latinos, though no one group will
probably dominate, or, if it does, it won't dominate by much), the changes
being visited upon Lake Street, the arrival of Wells-Fargo, the three housing
projects in South West Phillips, Sears (if Harris and the city get their stuff
straightened out), the answer to the question is not "Is this hotel a good
idea?"
It's more like: once the newness wears off, will local business and visiting
firemen for Wells Fargo and other businesses along the street continue to
sustain the hotel as a positive amenity in the area? How are we going to deal
with Coral's house, Zala's house, Flowers? They want to be here and two out of
three cited want a home/business address--commercial zoning. How do we
accomodate all of that? In order to accomodate Piehl, the freeway ramp is a no
build--that probably isn't going to happen. It is NOT, in my estimation, a good
spot for housing. Most of the folks on the 2900 block of Second will attest to
that. It's "edge land" in city parlance, it's held by housing until the city
gets around to spending some cash.
Personally, I think Piehl's pushing a rock up hill with his nose, but it's his
nose.
> The death threat to the Lors--which mentioned their children is a serious
> matter. Unfortunately, whoever made that death threat succeeded in getting
> hte Lors to sell their house and move out of the neighborhood.
>
> And there are more possible suspects, and more have been accused. The Lors
> did not live on a nice street. Third Av. in the 3000 block has been all over
> junkies and hookers and dealers, big trucks and too many cars with careless
> drivers or predatory ones. The Lors were unable to cope with their small
> children and language barriers. Their house was worth much more than they
> paid for it, and they had the opportunity to go. Threatening their children
> was the last straw and the worst one. It wasn't just the threat on their
> children, but that and everything else they put up with on Third, and the
> housing market. That we are all appaled that some schmuck would do that to
> the Lors is now beside the point. They're gone.
Wizard Marks, Central
>
>
> Eva
> Eva Young
> Central
>
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