I have been back and forth with the North Carolina Department of Commerce about the city’s application for Embassy funds.
The citizens who signed petitions against this use of Community Block Development funds were entitled to have their petitions presented with the application in opposition to the application. It does not appear that the City of Henderson included them when they sent the grant paperwork to Raleigh. This is what I was pressing to discover. It seems to be a moot point…except, of course, from an ethical standpoint.
Why?
Because today we learned that the Henderson grant application for CDBG funds for the Embassy has been turned down. That is a good thing, because the idea was preposterous from the get-go. There was no money to support this project either now or in the long-run. There was no way this project was going to improve housing in the target area. There was no way that this made any sense at all for a CDBG application. This was obvious to most of us in Henderson, and it should have been obvious to our city government. How is it that almost everyone else in Henderson, except the city council, knew that this was a bad scenario? Why did they not provide the leadership to kill this ill-conceived application before so much time and effort was spent?
Now that it has been turned down, what is the harm, you ask?
There is plenty of harm. The Department of Community Assistance in Raleigh knows first-hand of the terrible housing problems we have. They must have questioned why the city government would even consider asking for money for an auditorium when the neighborhoods right around the Embassy, especially in the area of David Street, were in such disrepair. So, the initial damage is that Henderson has lost a great deal of credibility in Raleigh. How seriously will they take this city for future applications for money?
The second injury comes because while Henderson was applying for money for the Embassy project, we lost many opportunities to go after CDBG money for acceptable and allowable projects. You might not like the idea of your tax dollars being spent for CDBG projects, but the money is there and some community is going to benefit. Losing the opportunity to apply for grant cycles because we were focused on the Embassy project is a very poor way to look after our citizens.
The final bit of harm falls on the city government because they lost the faith of many of those they swore to serve. Our citizens saw that it was power and politics at work in this grant application for the Embassy project. The needs, concerns, and considerations of the average taxpayer were ignored by our elected officials. Our city government turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to logic, reason, and responsibility. This loss of respect cannot be earned back. We saw that they voted seemingly out of obligation and not with a great deal of introspection or logic.
In March of this year, neighborhood stabilization grants were announced. Vance County and Henderson get $2 million. We qualified because we had the greatest needs. With this money, there are plans to take down blighted properties and rehabilitate houses in Henderson and Vance County. Moderate income people are eligible. Let’s hope our elected officials have their act together for this grant and use this money for the greatest possible good. In the past, the city has allowed owners of rental property to have their property rehabbed with CDBG funds, and they never had to pay a penny back! This was a ridiculous way of doing business, and it should never be repeated. If this is the game plan for this grant, then we, as citizens, need to band together once more to see that reason will reign.
Stay tuned.