Unpaid St. James II loan begs explanation
In 1993, at the behest of a powerful local politician, the city of Greensboro provided a $1 million loan to the St. James Housing Board.
As a taxpayer, I have some questions concerning this "loan" of my money. Was the loan interest-free? Was there no payment plan? What was the collateral? What were the penalties for nonpayment? What about foreclosure?
Unbelievably, the same person who "brokered" this loan also wound up managing the funds for St. James.
Even more astounding, no payments were ever made on the loan, there was no follow-up by the city as to the status of the loan, and the $1 million of taxpayer money seems to have simply vanished.
In view of the obvious malfeasance negligence on the parts of city officials and St. James management, would the following not be reasonable:
1. Resignation or removal from office of every City Council member still sitting who participated in this fiasco.
2. Demand for disclosure by the St. James manager of the disposition of the $1 million provided to him by the city for upgrading the project.
As taxpayers, we should demand no less.
W.K. Oden Jr.
Greensboro
Editor's note: The city loan was interest-free. The city had the power to foreclose but had no say in the loan agreement on who would manage the apartments.
Comments (5)
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Amen to that. Show me the money!!!! If they can give away $1 million, then surely they will let me stop paying property taxes for the next 1000 years.
Posted on March 3, 2005 8:30 AM
That whole St. James business was racial extortion at it's finest, a'la Jesse Jackson. It's disgusting (and probably criminal) that black "leaders" in this city siphon money into their own pockets using the scaredy-cat politicians as the funnel. This includes Skip Alston and Earl Jones who line their pockets and those of their friends and relatives with our tax money for free.
When is it going to stop? When will our elected councils stand up to these thugs?
Posted on March 3, 2005 9:54 AM
St. James has nothing to do with race Mr. Morton. St. James is about poor leadership and poor management. Race has nothing to do with individuals who chose to take money from taxpayers. I am black and I do not consider Jesse Jackson a leader of anything. I think it is time we had some accountability from all members of public service. If they want to fatten their pockets we need to boot them out. If the city council as a whole cannot hold organizations accountable for loans and other city ordinances then the citizens of Greensboro are in trouble. Mr. Oden is right in demanding for disclosure by the St. James manager of the disposition of the $1 million provided to him by the city for upgrading the project and having resignation or removal from office of every City Council member still sitting who participated in this debacle.
Posted on March 3, 2005 5:51 PM
Skip Alston and Earl Jones play the "race card" and subtly (sometimes not so subtly) imply that the white council members are racists if they don't give them what they want. Alston recently blasted city workers as being "racist" because he did not get what he wanted.
This is very much a matter of Jones and Alston using race to line their own pockets, much the same as Jesse Jackson does when he extorts money from big companies under threat of boycotts, etc.
I agree on the accountability issue, I want to know why the white members are cowed every time someone of color demands something and threatens racial backlash if they don't get it.
Posted on March 3, 2005 9:54 PM
Excuse me Wilbert, but St James has EVERYTHING to do with race. The apartments were low-income built to provide for mainly minority tenants. The people involved in managing the apartments were black. Experience with the way our local government is ran indicates that a blind eye is turned whenever 'black' projects are ran haphazardly. And the fact that some of our black leadership brings the race issues into everything makes this a race issue. I think that most people would prefer to NOT make this a race issue. Most of us would hope that people of all colors are honest and good stewards of our money.
The fact is that Skip Alston is a crook and he would be a crook whether he was black or white. But for some reason, he likes to remind us all that he is black time and time again. Since I never see him in person, I wouldn't even know he was black if he didn't bring it up TIME and TIME and TIME again. And it is always to use it for some kind of political leverage.
Now, for the rest of our elected officials. I think they almost like it that Skip is such an attention getter and a embarassment to our county. That way they get off the hook for their own pathetic management of our county. They are responsible to hold the Skip Alstons of this area accountable. But because of partisan politics, the fear of being labeled a bigot and their own hidden agendas, all they can do is sit there with their mouths shut.
Posted on March 4, 2005 9:49 AM