James Graham seems to be inventing his own reality and creating a straw
horse in order to put his favorable spin on his organization's open
racially tinged hostility to and nefarious efforts to defeat a low
income housing proposal.
The invented reality is Graham's suggestion that different ethnic groups
got together to oppose the proposal. I recall observing one African
American speaker opposing the proposal. I observed one Latino community
member (whom I recognized as a Minneapolis city prosecutor) cheering
when a speaker proclaimed that the PPL proposal would create a
"cesspool." I did not observe any Native or Arab Americans
participating on Graham's side, as he claimed. Perhaps someone with
more inside knowledge of the Ventura Village organization dynamics could
shed more light on who actually sided with Graham. It was obvious to
any observer that a diverse group of African, Euroopean and Arab
Americans supported the low income housing proposal. The supporters of
the proposal were clearly much more representative of the ethnic
composition of the commmunity than the opponents.
Graham's straw horse is Basim Sabri, and the attempt to pretend that he,
rather than the PPL housing proposal was the target of Ventura Village
homeowners' opposition. This is again an attempt to reinvent reality.
There has been no substantiation of any connection between Sabri and PPL
or its proposal. The purported dislike for one of the supporters is a
shallow and unconvincing explanation for opposition.
It is also revealing that Graham makes no attempt to explain his active
involvement in preventing eligible community members from voting, and
does not challenge that there were far more people of color prevented
from voting than those who were allowed to vote. Does the need to
defeat this straw horse justify such disenfranchisement in obvious
violation of the organization's own rules?
Graham finally explains that Ventura Village has supported affordable
housing by advocating the building of Carriage Houses behind existing
houses. He does not mention that he would be the developer of these
Carraige Houses, and presumably make a large amount of money from them.
The merits of these Carriage Houses would be an important topic for
separate discussion on the list. But Graham really seems to be claiming
victory for fending off a threat to HIS control over Ventura Village and
the profits to be gained from development.
Jordan Kushner
Powderhorn
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