Julie Lyons from the Dallas Observer has a great take on the Bexar Street Redevelopment Project. It's worth a read (link). I'd love to hear from people in the community regarding their thoughts on this project.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
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2 comments:
Thanks for posting about this project...
I have very mixed feelings about this project, and in the past have been more involved in the area than I am now. I used to be on the staff of a church that helped the TR Hoover organization build a community center there along Bexar Street, and our church also helped to build about five Habitat for Humanity houses in the area.
(Disclaimer: I am no longer at that church, and TR Hoover is no longer associated with this renovation project...these were totally unrelated developments. But all this is to say, I'm a little out of the loop...)
I DO know that Ms. Lyons is incorrect in asserting that there are no new houses in the area. In fact, Habitat has built many new homes in that area, and so has TR Hoover. Yes, there are many still empty lots there in the area.
But there has been more new construction there than in many other areas of town. In fact, that may be one of the things that has given Councilman Chaney the hope that this project can work.
I think it's an extremly ambitious plan, most certainly. And I DO think that to work it must have more new construction on those many vacant lots that Ms. Lyon's talks about.
However, there is a "chicken and egg" dynamic that develops when you talk about this kind of massive redevelopment...which comes first...new houses or new infrastructure/investment? Hard to say, really. You probably need to have some of both.
For a good example of the positive that can happen, perhaps everyone should look over at the Munger Place area of town.
There, Habitat for Humanity built dozens of houses...so many that private builders eventually moved in, and finally commercial redevelopment has totally transformed a formerly dead part of town. Lot's of new folks have moved back...
So, it can happen....
Will it happen for Bexar?
Harder to know....but it seems to me from the little I know there is more hope than perhaps some might believe.
Hi I am Sherri Mixon Executive Director of TR Hoover CDC @ 5106 Bexar Street. I am not a computer person so I am rather late at discovering the blog and learning about it. I wanted to let those people out there that read your page to understand how the city hammered me and my group a grassroot organization for a project that belongs to its community. The Bexar Street retail development is not a project that just came to be it is a project that demanded man hours that are undocumented because the passion for this transition came out of residents who believed that justice was for all and equality was for all but not so in Dallas. The desperation for name recognition and political power was the motive I believe for this case that was fraudeltly built against TR Hoover CDC.I have always know that when man failed at something it only meant that he was human and the only true perferct person is God. This country was founded on Godly principalities but if we review the poor since of business Dallas exploits to neighboring cities we don't match up because the mentality of our governing body is locked up in a box. They can't see there way to develop Downttown which is confusing when you look at what is the direction of revitaliztion going on so the next best thing is to disrupt a a well organized developement with great momentum and potential. The bible has always warned us of evil doers but we never thought that such deceit would be caused from a the city with great participation on 5 floors of the city.This sort of underhanded plot to steal and kill was done to a minority group in good spirit because they believed that we the people of this community could make a change.
Well my point is they may have disrupted our lives here in our quiet little community but through it all holding on to Gods promises we have survived. I was elected to this job not because of my qualification but because of my recommendation. God spoke this for me and its for him that I labor in love for the work is what he will have me to do. Although I was turned down by large Legal firms for added support for this fight we were blessed with one God made. Although this struggle for rightgeousness gets hard we will keep pressing on. God has been the provider when everyone walked out on this group we trusted God to see us through. I have learned a lot through this ordeal I have lost a lot as well.For the most people who sat silent through this knowing that the wrong that was presented publicly was not right and did nothing may have lost more than me........
Attached below is a letter of great definition about how this all came about in our petition for help from Secretary Alphonso Jackson.Please if possible lets meet to further discuss I would like to sit with you and share with you and your readers if you believe this is something of interest to your readers.
April 22, 2005
The Honorable Alphonso Jackson
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary
451 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20410
Dear Secretary Jackson:
This is Jacqueline Mixon and I writing on behalf of T. R. Hoover Community Development Corporation (TRHCDC). As you may remember, I have worked in the Ideal Neighborhood of southern Dallas for over 20 years and continue to serve this community through TRHCDC. TRHCDC has been attempting to resolve an issue with the City of Dallas Housing Department and HUD for over year. Everything came to an unexpected point back in September 2004. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for HUD enter our building and seized all of our financial, banking, grant records, computers and any other thing that they thought would be needed in accordance with a warrant they had. To this date, we have not received any of our record back and received any report from the OIG office. We will give more of the events that lead up to this later in this letter. In turn, as a result of events that have transpired with the City of Dallas Housing Department relative a Community Development Block Grant that was awarded (in the City’s own words) to TRHCDC for the Bexar Street Retail Development Project, we filed a discrimination compliant with the HUD office in Fort Worth (case nos. 06-05-0251-8; 06-05-0024-6; Patrick Barnes & Thurman G. Miles) and the Office of Inspector General in DC (GET information for letter)exhibit a. The most disturbing aspect so far is that the HUD office in Fort Worth conducted and concluded its investigation without ever contacting TRHCDC Exhibit B. No one ever came out to our facility or call to speak with me as the President of the Board or Sherri Mixon, the Executive Director. When our attorney spoke with (Name of person), he simply said that he was sorry for not contacting anyone at TRHCDC but they had concluded that there was no need to. We have correspondence that will be included in this letter that supports everything that TRHCDC has done over the last few years relative to these issues. The City’s response simply denied all of the facts without addressing the issues that we put forth (Exhibit C). If this is the normal process for investigating a compliant then we will be satisfied, but it is hard to believe that anyone can conduct a fair investigation without visiting and speaking with both parties. Now a little history of what brought us to this point.
ORGANIZATION HISTORY
T. R. Hoover Community Development Corporation (TRHCDC) began as a grassroots, neighborhood association comprised of concerned residents seeking to reverse the negative trends developing within their community. For over a decade, TRHCDC has work diligently to promote and foster the revitalization of the “Ideal Neighborhood” through partnerships with its residents, associations, local institutions and other public private and non-profit organizations. In the summer of 1997, the Ideal Neighborhood Association decided to take a more active role in the revitalization of the neighborhood and established the TRHCDC. The organization obtained its 501 (C)(3) status in that year (1997) and became a City of Dallas Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO). TRHCDC completed its first affordable home for low-income families in 1999 and to this date have completed 45 new in-fill affordable homes in the Ideal Neighborhood Community. We have operated a free after-school program for the last three years that enrolls 40 children, our senior’s program ministers to over 20 seniors weekly, the food pantry feeds over 200 families monthly and we offer free ESL, GED and computer literacy classes for the community.
THE COMMUNITY
The “Ideal Neighborhood” community is located in southern sector of Dallas, Texas (Your old neighborhood). The neighborhood is sited in the Rhoads Terrace/Turner Courts Walker Target Neighborhood in census tract 39.02 in the northeast quadrant of South Central Expressway and C. F. Hawn Expressway (U.S. I-75). TRHCDC’s city designated boundaries are Hatcher on the North, Municipal on the South, Malcom X on the East and S. M. Wright Freeway U.S. 175 on the West (census tract 39.02). The Ideal Neighborhood maintains an approximate population of 10,560 and is comprised predominately of low-income elderly and single-female head-of-household Black and Hispanic families. The median income in the area is $11,367 per annum.
CITY OF DALLAS/HUD ISSUE
TRHCDC has partnered with the City of Dallas since 1998 when we received our first Operating Assistance Grant (OAG). These are federal funds that the city’s housing department gives to certain CHDO’s that are for operating expenses. TRHCDC has received this grant from 1998 to 2004. The city has reviewed our financial statements every year and we have gone through yearly compliance audits by the city auditor’s office. Out of the seven years of receiving these funds from the city, we have had only 3 or 4 minor compliance issues which we resolved. My point here is that the city of Dallas has never questioned the
integrity of our organization or its financial statements. We have also received grants from HUD on two occasions and one grant from the U. S. Department of Education.
In 2002, TRHCDC received an Economic Development Initiative Special Projects Services (EDI) grant that the city of Dallas administered. It was to be used for down payment assistance, accounting and legal cost. TRHCDC would request the funds from the city of Dallas Housing Department and they would disburse the funds. The agreement called for $5,000.00 to be used for down payment assistance and $10,000.00 out of the $35,000.00 (In question) which was used was done in compliance over two years. During the two year period, Sherri Mixon, Executive Director for TRHCDC had numerous discussions with Claude Allen (Housing Department staff) about using the funds to reduce construction cost so that we could keep the prices of our homes between $65,000.00 and $78,000.00. Claude Allen gave Sherri Mixon a verbal ok to use the funds in this manner. This is why $25,000.00 was sent directly to TRHCDC as opposed to the first $10,000.00 that was sent directly to the title company.
Around February 2004, TRHCDC was informed by Claude Allen that he was made aware by the Director of Housing, Jerry Killingsworth, that $25,000.00 of the EDI funds had been used out of compliance and would be disallowed cost which would have to be repaid. Mr. Killingsworth began to write letters accusing TRHCDC of certain violations in which we responded by informing him that all of the funds were used with the consent and direction of the City’s Housing Department (ExhibitsD). The letter writing and meetings went for a few months and on May 13, 2004, TRHCDC met with Claude Allen and Mark Obeso, Assistant Director of Housing to discuss and resolve the EDI issue. Mr. Obeso and Mr. Allen both agreed that no one was at fault and that we needed to come up with a method of repaying the funds. In fact, Mr. Obeso can not believe that this has come to point it is. He is not allowed (By the City) to speak to anyone at this point. As you know, that is what the federal regulation dictate for disallowed cost issues. On May 14, 2004, TRHCDC entered into a signed agreement with the City of Dallas to repay the $25,000.00 (ExhibitE). TRHCDC assumed that the EDI compliance issue was resolved.
During this same time period, TRHCDC was in the process of finalizing the information required by the City to begin accessing a $714,000.00 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). These funds were to be used for the Redevelopment of the Bexar Street corridor (Exhibit F). This is a project that TRHCDC has been working on for 4 years as part of its comprehensive development plan for this community. After years of meetings with the City and a continuous providing of different types of information, the City informed us that we would have to have a financial due diligence review performed before
receiving the $714,000.00 CDBG funds (Exhibit G). TRHCDC has used CDBG funds before and have never had to go through a financial due diligence review.
As we stated before, the City reviews our financials every year and have never had any questions. Furthermore, the City would approve every penny of the $714,000.00 prior to disbursing to TRHCDC and provides over site on the project. After weeks of questioning the City as to why this was the case and pointing out that no other CDC has ever been required to do this, we agreed to their request . On June 14, 2004, TRHCDC met with Mr. Obeso and delivered him copies of our financials which signed upon receiving (Exhibit H). On June 16, 2004, TRHCDC receives a letter from the City stating that after the review and assuming that no findings are identified then the City would be ready to move forward with the CDBG contract (Exhibit I). To this date, TRHCDC has not received any report relative to the financial review and have no knowledge of the results. After about a week (June, 23, 2004) of our attorney, Greg Mayes, communicating with the City, Mr. Mayes wrote Paul Garner, Assistant City Auditor, a letter expressing some concerns on behalf of TRHCDC (Exhibit J). As Mr. Mayes’ letter states, Mr. Garner informed him that the City would be using audit procedures used for detecting fraudulent activity. We were astonished to hear this news coming from the City Auditor’s office. On June 24, 2004, Mr. Mayes wrote another letter expressing our concern about the insinuation that the City was making (Exhibit K).
TRHCDC continued to have conversations with the City and on July 27, 2004, we received a letter from Mr. Garner (Exhibit L). To TRHCDC’s surprise, Mr. Garner states that the financial due diligence review was requested because of the EDI issue. This was the first time the City mentioned the financial due diligence in relationship to the EDI issue. As we state earlier, the EDI issue was resolved with the signed repayment agreement dated May 14, 2004 (Exhibit M). Additionally, as other correspondence from the City shows, the financial due diligence was always related to the $714,000.00 CDBG funds. Furthermore, in Mr. Garner’s letter dated July 27, 2004, he includes an attachment referencing the federal regulations that outline the procedure to take to resolve disallowed cost issues. This is exactly what TRHCDC did in the May 14, 2004 agreement! TRHCDC’s responded to Mr. Garner’s letter on July 27, 2004 again expressing our concern about this entire ordeal (Exhibit N).
Correspondence between the City and TRHCDC continued during August and on August 16, 2004, Sherri Mixon and Greg Mayes met with Councilman Chaney, City attorneys, Jerry Killingworth, Paul Garner and other City staff. The City stated that they wanted to do a full audit of TRHCDC’s books and in Mr. Garner’s words “He wanted go through every file in our office”. TRHCDC again stress to the City that there no issue concerning them coming to do compliance audit but TRHCDC would not allow them to conduct a full audit of our books. In fact, we ask them to show us where the City’s Audit Department had ever done a full audit of any independent organizations books. We ultimately agreed to the compliance audit and informed them that it would take a few weeks to gather the information since there had been a fire at one of our offices (November 13, 2003). We informed them that we were getting information from third parties and would let them know as soon as we had gathered it all. Everyone agreed on this timetable. On Thursday, August 19, 2004, TRHCDC receives a letter from Mr. Garner demanding entry into TRHCDC on Monday, August 23, 2004 (Exhibit O). On Friday, August 20, 2004, Mr. Mayes responds in disbelief relative to the demand for the audit after everyone had agreed on the timetable on Monday (Exhibit P).
TRHCDC attempted to continue corresponding with the City with little success. The Housing Department stop communicating and only the City Attorney’s office would respond. On September 28, 2004, the Office of Inspector General entered our offices with a search warrant and removed all of our financial, banking, grant and other documents. Additionally, they removed our computers and questioned Sherri Mixon and Rod Givens without allowing TRHCDC’s attorney’s to enter the building. As we stated earlier, we have not received any of our documents back or received any information on what is going on.
TRHCDC’s attorney was able to get a copy of the “Affidavit For Search Warrant”. Mr. Garner swore to Mr. Robert Tighe, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, U. S. Department of HUD, Office of Inspector General, Fort Worth, Texas the following factually inaccurate and untrue statements (Exhibit Q):
1. Paragraph 6: We had never heard of Mr. Garner until March 2004 but he says “that in audit in July 2003 cost were questioned concerning the OAG grant funds and that a financial due diligence was requested”. As we have shown in the documents earlier (Exhibit G), the City did not request the financial due diligence until May 2004. Additionally, the financial due diligence was related to the $714,000.00 CDBG funds request. Mr. Garner further states, that this was when the EDI issue arose. As we stated, we never heard anything about the EDI issue until 2004.
2. Paragraph 7: Mr. Garner states that “a report was to be issue in November 2003 and that a request was made to produce records pertaining to the OAG and EDI grant”. Again, TRHCDC never received any correspondence from the City in 2003 relative to the EDI issue. As we have stated to anyone who will listen, if the City communicated there concern about the EDI issue to TRHCDC in 2003 have them produces the documents. The only documents relative to EDI arose in 2004. Mr. Garner continues to say “Garner was told by Greg Mayes and Sherri Mixon that all records pertaining to the EDI grant were destroyed in the fire”. Again, there was never a conversation between Mr. Mayes, Ms. Mixon and Mr. Garner in 2003 or 2004 in which they told Mr. Garner that all EDI records were destroyed . Mr. Garner further states that he was told by a “Deputy Chief Sims that TRHCDC’s security guard had been seen moving computers from the building prior to the fire”. TRHCDC has the fire investigation report and there is no reference to TRHCDC’s involvement in the fire (Exhibit R). In fact, Lieutenant M. D. Stephenson, who performed the investigation, thought they had identified the person who started the fire. Mr. Garner states he “asked Mr. Mayes and Ms. Mixon if they would allow him to go into the burned office and Garner was denied access by Mr. Mayes and Mixon”. Again, TRHCDC never heard of Mr. Garner until 2004 and the fire occurred in November 2003. There were City officials that came to the site in 2003 but Mr. Garner was not one of them. If he is saying he asked to see the burned structure in 2004 then that is still untrue because we began repairs in February 2004.
3. Paragraph 8: Mr. Garner states that he requested access to TRHCDC’s new office and was denied access. As we have stated earlier and supported with documents this is not what happened.
4. Paragraph 9: Mr. Garner states that “Regina Givens is the Controller for the City of Dallas and is responsible for signing and accounting for all checks issues by the City of Dallas. Regina Givens authorized funds amounting to $35,000.00 to be released to TRHCDC pursuant to the EDI Grant”. Again, Mr. Garner knows that Ms. Givens’ signature is on a stamp that is used for all checks under $150,000.00 and that Ms. Givens or the Controller’s office does not authorize any funds. The departments authorize payment and the Controller’s office simply pays the authorized request. This is the City policy and Mr. Garner knows his statements are inaccurate. Mr. Garner further states “Rod Givens, husband to Regina Givens is the Assistant Director at TRHCDC”. TRHCDC has informed the City of numerous occasions that Mr. Givens is a consultant and has never been the Assistant Director. In fact, the only document that the City has produced to support this claim, is an incomplete application that TRHCDC believes did not originate from its office (Exhibit S).
5. Paragraph 10: Mr. Garner states “that while he was conducting the T. R. Hoover review he and other city auditors observed T. R. Hoover officials using computers during their normal course of business”. Mr. Garner has never been inside of T. R. Hoover’s offices (5106 Bexar Street or the office at 2558 Starks Ave.) Furthermore, there has only been one auditor doing the compliance audits since 1998. All of these statements can be confirm by the City’s records.
6. Paragraph 11: Affiant states that based upon the above facts, there is probable cause to believe that officials of T. R. Hoover and others are involved in a Fraudulent Scheme to embezzle funds from the EDI Grant in violation of Title 18, U. S. Code, Sections 1341, 1001, and 666 and evidence of such activity is located in the T. R. Hoover CDC offices at 5106 Bexar Street Dallas, Texas 75215. As we have pointed out, all of the information that was use to develop this claim/affidavit was based on the factually untrue statements of Mr. Paul Garner, Assistant City Auditor City of Dallas. All of the above statements can be show to be untrue with a little work on the part of an independent party. We hope that will be your office.
7. Paragraph 13: “T. R. Hoover’s refusal to cooperate with city officials is illustrated be the suspicious nature of the fire in the T. R. Hoover office after records were requested, Deputy Chief Sims statement that the T. R. Hoover security guard was observed taking computers from the office prior to the fire. Attorney Mayes and Sherri Mixon’s refused to allow city auditor to enter the burned building and subsequently refused to provide any records pertaining to the EDI grant. The information provided to date would indicate that any attempt to obtain T. R. Hoover’s records other than a search warrant would result in the definite destruction of all records maintained in the T. R. Hoover office or the Blue conex box being stored on the site of the burned building at 2558 Starks”. Again, we have shown facts that are easy to confirm that the fire was in November 2003 and the EDI request (For audit) was in July 2004. There was never a request for documents and a fire set after the request. Mr. Mayes and Ms. Mixon never denied a request by anyone to enter the burned structure in November 2003. Finally, when the search warrant was issued the office at 2558 Starks had been repaired and was no long a burned structure. All Mr. Tighe had to do was look inside of the build to see that it was not burned and had been repaired.
Secretary Jackson, or XXXXX as we called you growing up, we know the facts and just want someone from your office to interview T. R. Hoover and review the documents that will show that Mr. Garner was not truthful to Mr. Tighe. Also, the document will show that this EDI issue was resolved and that the City applied a different set of standards to T. R. Hoover relative to the accessing of the $714,000.00 CDBG funds.
You know what the Ideal Neighborhood community had become (Ten years ago) and you know how hard we have worked in this community to bring it to where we are today. You know I’m a fighter and will not stop until T. R. Hoover’s name is cleared. This is about my integrity and the integrity of this community.
Finally, on a personal note, we are so proud of you here in southern Dallas and wish only the best for you and your family. May God continue to keep you and Bless you.
Respectfully,
T. R. Hoover Community Development Corporation
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