Library board candidate Wizard Marks writes....
>Actually, I was not promoting a hotel on that block.
Odd -- that's the first I've heard THAT....
>I was
>countering what was going on.
>Neighborhood people demonized Sabri because he's an
>outsider--a developer. He can be a horse's patoot, which did
>not distinguish him from the crowd in the situation in
>Central.
>My objection during the whole fracas was that the person
>leading the fight against the motel is an absentee landowner
>of a vacant/boarded property.
-------------------------------------------------
Actually, there were many involved in this -- not just the absentee
landowner you describe. Most of the most vocal opponents to the Motel live
in the neighborhood including the winner of the much coveted BS "pain in
the A**" award, List member, David Piehl (take a bow David).
If the neighborhood doesn't
>want developers making the decisions, then it doesn't want
>developers making the decisions. An absentee landowner,
>whose express purpose for buying the vacant/boarded building
>was to develop it for a real estate business, is a
>developer--no different than Sabri, but with a lot less
>money to develop with. Hello.... I had to ask was Zala a
>more acceptable developer because she's white, from
>Wisconsin, speaks only English? In other words "more like
>me"? The tone of the whole chatter around this issue--from
>people all over the neighborhood, was xenophobic to the max.
>Bothg developers are manipulators, Sabri isn't at all subtle
>about it.
That's very convenient to believe. The point is Sabri posted something on
this list calling some of the larger opponents on this issue: Walt Gutzmer
and David Piehl "racists" as well as talking about "cockfighting" going on
in a Hmong family's house (who have since been bought out by Sabri). The
Hmong family wasn't on this list, so had no opportunity to defend
themselves. It turned out after talking to others in the area, that the
Hmong family did have chickens -- and also a pig -- but there was no
cockfighting. Isn't Sabri using bullying tactics with other immigrants
here? Sabri then went on to attack Corrine Zala -- the mini-developer --
personally on this list as someone who never finishes projects.
>> to call his opponents "racist".
>It's become very "in" in Central to assume that any charge
>of racism, particularly if it comes from a person of color,
>is "playing the race card" as a convenience because he/she
>does not have a credible argument. His/her behavior is
>commented upon as further evidence that there is no case for
>racism. As a 27-year resident of Central, I can
>experiencially say that is denial in all caps--and I'm not
>even a person of color. But one can stand back from the fray
>and see it lit up like Las Vegas.
-----------------------------------
There's been a number of charges of racism, that Wizard, you have raised on
the cnia-chat list -- that have subsequently been found to be unfounded.
It's important for anyone to to have a credible argument if they are going
to make accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia or whatever. Asking
someone to back up their case is not denial -- it's just asking someone to
back up their case.
>It becomes the duty of an even half-way honest person to
>separate the particular behaviors of the individuals making
>the accusation from the accusation itself.
-------------------------------------------------
There's nothing wrong with asking someone to explain more about a charge
they have made.
>No, I did not advocate for Sabri's hotel, per se. I
>advocated that if we are going to choose a developer to
>control what happens on the block, we should at least opt
>for the one with the money and know how to do the whole
>block. Further, I don't particularly like the site as a
>place for housing children in that high traffic area because
>I don't like seeing kids suck up lead and other particulate
>matter coming off highways and busy streets like Lake and
>Second.
There were many posts on cnia-chat from you advocating for the Motel. I
wonder how you'd feel if a developer wanted to expand that car wash on the
corner of Oakland and Lake -- and acquire land to the immediate south for
that project. Gee it would bring jobs into the neighborhood.
>We Central people are not going to get anywhere, we will
>stay stuck in this miasma of crapola until such time as we
>honestly address issues of race and class, not in a
>theoretical way, but in a way which honors the diversity of
>our numbers.
-------------------------------
This is what I don't get -- most of the discussion of "race and class" in
this post is all very theoretical. Let's get down to some brass tacks.
Among those who opted for the mini-developer's
>position and supported that developer, I see very few who
>are honest enough to examine their race and class issues.
>Among those who supported the hotel I see a lot of blue
>collar, pink collar, and no collar people making the
>accusation of racism. The hotel fracas acted that out for
>the public to witness. Way to go Central!
----------------------------------------------
It was not about supporting a "minideveloper's" position -- and if this
Motel was about race and class -- please give some concrete examples of how
that works. It was about supporting the plan for the residents in that
area -- who had done alot to improve the housing in that area. I also
don't quite understand why Sabri thinks he has the right to eminent domain
over properties on that block. If he would come up with plans for
development on the property he owns, he'd find this neighborhood alot
easier to work with.
As far as what's happening in Central.... currently the discussion on
cnia-chat is about forming a new organization -- and letting CNIA be the
"political arm of Sabri Properties" as it has become.
Eva
Eva Young
Central
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