Eva Young wrote:
>
> 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....
You came in six years after the debate started. This may be
why you had not heard it.
> >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.
Read more carefully. I said "the person LEADING the
fight...." (emphasis mine) Most of the most vocal opponents
to the Motel live
> in the neighborhood
> Most of the people advocating for the hotel live in the neighborhood too. That's one
>of the examples of the racism which comes out in this debate. The implication is that
>if folks are not English speakers, they don't live here.
> One might want to check the census bureau's latest results out of the Census 2000
>effort. Population of Central--25.X% Caucasion; 27.x% African American, 47.X% other,
>with a high percentage of immigrants, particularly Latinos and Somalis.
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"?
>Sabri called Walt Gutzmer
> and David Piehl "racists"
Racism/classism/etc. is in the eye of the accuser, not the
accused. Though Sabri said it, it could very well be (and
I'd be willing to bet it is )the consensus of the many--only
25.x% Caucasian--and, having a long history with both Walter
and David, I know the accusation to be true. It is also
true for every other adult in the neighborhood, so it's
hardly a distinguishing attribute. David and Walter may be
personally accused because they made themselves more
prominent in a whole bunch of arenas.
as well as talking about "cockfighting" going on
> in a Hmong family's house. Isn't Sabri using bullying tactics with other immigrants
>here?
Another example of racism here. Who alleges? The very
persons accused of racism. No one knows that Sabri bullied
anyone. For all you know, or I know, or anyone else knows,
they asked Sabri to speak for them. He does seem to be the
leader of the laundromat among the immigrants and often
among the African Americans.
Sabri then went on to attack Corrine Zala -- the
mini-developer --
> personally on this list as someone who never finishes projects.
Sabri appears to measure Zala by his notion of developer,
i.e. a project not finished on the outside in 4 years is not
acceptable. Zala has made the argument that she is a
neighbor/developer doing this with her own money and that
when she finishes the house, she currently plans to live
upstairs. I'm not buying her argument. On the 3000
block-face of Central neighborhood, there is only one
resident--Dave Coral. Zala's address is in Phillips.
>
> 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.
> -----------------------------------
> 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.
Found by whom? The judgement of the ones accused of racism?
Guess what? They don't get to vote on this issue. They do
get to ask the question, 'how is this racist/how does this
action adversely affect persons of color?'
People of color replied very clearly vis-a-vis the hotel:
'these are jobs, these are entry-level jobs, these are close
to home so I don't need a car, these don't require a high
level of skill in English'. I don't think they could have
been any clearer. They said it in Spanish, they said it in
English, they said it in Somali, they said it in Arabic.
The accusation is 'they don't live here, those are
low-paying jobs, it won't help the neighborhood.' There is
the racism, big as life. They do live here, in this
neighborhood where Caucasians are the minority and these are
the kind of jobs they need at this time and will need for
some time in the future.
> Asking
> someone to back up their case is not denial -- it's just asking someone to
> back up their case. In my estimation, they backed up their accusations pretty
>thoroughly.
>
> There's nothing wrong with asking someone to explain more about a charge
> they have made.
Demonizing Sabri, myself, the Metoyers and etc. is not
asking anyone to explain. It's disrespecting the person and
creating a climate in which those accused of racism can
automatically dismiss whatever is said by their accusers.
One developer brought a hotel with 38 jobs plus the jobs
building it, the other developer offered a real estate
office where she would maybe be the sole employee/owner but
might have two other employess at some point. One developer
had the wherewithall to develop something like ten lots, all
but two of which are vacant. Those making the racism
accusation had made their wants known at a meeting of the
CNIA development committee where they passed the motion.
>
>
> There were many posts on cnia-chat from you advocating for the Motel.
There were many posts from me advocating for jobs and
revenue for the neighborhood via a hotel.
Let's get down to some brass tacks.
Well, I can say without fear of contradiction from any side
that this has been entirely tacky and quite brassy to boot.
Remember, Eva, you came in after the issue had been debated
for something like six years. During those six years, the
demographic profile of Central was turned on its head and,
during the debate neither side gave ground.
>
> Among those who opted for the mini-developer's
and if this
> Motel was about race and class -- please give some concrete examples
See above.
> 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.
And the new organization, by implication, is then the
political arm of the white minority homeowners? Thank you
for making my case for me.
WizardMarks, Central
>
> Eva
> Eva Young
> Central
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