Well Wizard, thanks for the opening. It seems that a response here is
indeed necessary. Here are some facts.
The 4th and Lake building was financed through loans to be paid back by the
Parliament Company, payable to the MCDA. CNIA's only legal role in the
partnership was to assist in raising money for the development and to
monitor Parliament's work as a developer. Parliament was the developer,
responsible for building and financial management and the overall project
development. When Parliament began having troubles managing the building,
it came to the CNIA Business Development Committee chaired by Basim Sabri
and Zach Metoyer. Mr. Parliament had not paid his property taxes and the
County was forfeiting the building. The Development Committee moved that
the County indeed take back the building and forward ownership to the MCDA.
>From there it went through the MCDA posting processes. MCDA staff
recommendation was actually for an Asian Businessman who needed to move his
restaurant from Anoka. He promised to keep the Community Theatre, and to
keep affordable housing upstairs. The CNIA Board took no action on a
recommendation about this property at the time.
There was $270,000 in NRP Phase I Transition Fund dollars to purchase the
building. There was a $20,000 Federal Home Loan Bank Loan which went
towards the creation of Affordable Housing. The current owner converted the
affordable housing units into offices for his business. There was another
$25,000 for Judy Cooper Lyle to build out her Community Theatre. The
current owner evicted Judy within months of owning the building. There was
$75,000 from the Met Council towards the build-out of a 1st floor commercial
kitchen. Most of that rehab work was ripped up by the current owner to
enable him to create more commercial bays vs. one large restaurant. The
remainder of the development funds were loans payable to the MCDA, the
responsibility of the Parliament Company.
There were individuals unhappy with CNIA for one reason or another, but the
Board, as well as myself worked hard to sort through any concerns, determine
the cause of the concern, and then attempt to work them through. I
certainly cannot speak for the African-American community, but I do know
that many long-time Central African American families were represented on
the Board as of May 2000. Additionally, Greg McMoore, was the CNIA Housing
co-chair....Rosemary Williams (Mrs. Adelia Nevil's daughter) was the
Community-Building Chair and on the Board. Also, Earl Rogers of Southside
NHS and Louis King of Summit Academy were on the Board, to name a few of our
Boardmembers.
I also know that our Stats. for use of NRP funds, available through the HOMS
Initiative and thru Southside NHS, are remarkable. The highest percentage
of funding went to African-American families, the majority were 1st time
homeowners from the neighborhood. The goals set by the Housing committee
were met. The Housing Committee helped to create the HOMS Initiative which
provided millions of dollars of private funding over 5 years to match NRP
funds. These funds provided for Gap Financing in the rehab of over 60
homes. As of 2000, only 11 boarded and vacant homes out of 144 identified
by Richard Barrett in 1995 remained without a development plan.
As far as health care, no employee had to pay out of their pocket for health
expenses. We paid our monthly premium 30 days late and the policy was
cancelled for a short period of time. Immediately, we began a system of
electronic payment to avoid any such situation in the future. It never
happened again. One employee had health care expenses and CNIA paid for
those expenses. This was in 1997, Robert Schmid was not even on the Board
at the time.
Well, sorry for the long post....but I don't believe that people of color
were screaming that their needs had not been met. I believe that the needs
were so great in the community, that many people were feeling that their
needs had not been met. The Board set priorities and approached identifying
and resolving concerns as best as they could and as best as resources would
allow. We were trying very hard to be fair, to set up standards with
entities, like Southside NHS, that we contracted with to meet objectives set
by committees based upon needs express within blocks and to CNIA. One
example of an innovative program was the Central Initiative, funded by the
James Ford Bell Foundation. It was based on the 5th Ave. Corridor from Lake
St. to 34th St. It involved youth employment and training through Summit
Academy, Housing development and rehab. through Southside NHS, and
community-building through CNIA and the blocks. The primary focus of the
Initiative was on the health of the corridor, for youth, for housing needs,
for community-building. A couple million dollars of private funds went into
this project....house x house...block by block...fair and focused.
Greg McMoore and his organization were asked to facilitate Conflict
Resolution sessions at the request of Roxana Orrell and the Board of
Directors. The Board at the time was sincerely concerned with getting to
the root of the conflict and taking steps to move forward, to understand one
another. Earl Rogers and Tony Didier facilitated a Conflict of Interest
workgroup to enhance CNIA's existing bylaw on conflict and create a policy
with greater teeth in it. Louis King facilitated a session on Committee
Participation to ensure that our procedures were inclusive and open for
participation. This was all in Roxana's 1999-2000 year. She worked very,
very hard at balancing the complexities of the demand in the job as CNIA
Board President.
And, maybe I should have stepped down, but I don't think that this would
have eased any conflict at all. From what I hear, there is still conflict
in Central 18 months later. Tough issues take open minds and open hearts to
begin to resolve.
Lastly, I believe that a huge part of the conflict at CNIA was based upon
what is a Conflict of Interest and what is not. I think that more
governmental oversight and contract management was needed by the City, to
intervene and resolve those debates...rather than to have individuals begin
to attack and accuse each other about what is a conflict, what is not.
With that said. I'll close for now. Thanks to all of the CNIA and Central
volunteers who worked so hard for the past twenty years. It is a great
neighbohood, full of dedicated neighborhood leadership.
-Jana Metge
Phillips Resident
former CNIA Director 1992-2000
CLPC Coordinator
--__--__--
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 15:38:00 -0600
From: "wizardmarks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Robert Schmid" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [Mpls] Dodging responsibility at CNIA
Robert Schmid wrote:
>
> This is nothing but unfair attacks on Jana Metge. CNIA was running
> nicely UNTIL she was illegally fired by a new Board of Directors who
> were installed as part of coup by Basim Sabri.
As a matter of fact, things were not running nicely at all.
Board meetings were a disaster. CNIA had trouble with the
state for not submitting form 990s on time. $1.2 million was
spent on the 4th and Lake building, much of it NRP funds,
and it reverted to MCDA and was subsequently sold to Sabri.
People of color were screaming that their needs had been
ignored in the NRP Process. CNIA went through a time when
the insurance for employees was screwed up and employees had
to pay out of pocket for health care when they thought they
were covered.
Robert Schmidt was treasurer during part of that period, his
wife, Roxanna Orell, was president. Neither did anything
effective to cope with the issues around race as it
pertained to CNIA.
Had Metge stepped down a year before she was illegally fired
(which she had said she would do ("I'm leaving when the 4th
and Lake building is finished," Metge's words), instead of
allowing Orell to convince her to stay another year, the
whole debacle of CNIA could have been avoided.
It's not a personal attack; it is a pointing out of where
some of the worst of the problem originated.
WizardMarks, Central
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