LaVilla Shotgun Houses On Verge Of Being Demolished?

[Cheshire Cat]

^I already know why, in detail. Ms Mitchell was very involved in the beginning but had little involvement in recent years.  The fact is that she was "cut out" of the process willfully by individuals in office who wanted her to back off her efforts. She and her group used to pick up and mow to keep the properties up.  They were eventually locked out. 

It is my plan to make sure the members of council know the in's and out's of all of this.  I have told this story year after year after year to changing officials, administrations and legislators.  It is an ugly story but I plan on telling it one last time so that we can insure that LaVilla and it's history which includes these little houses is respected and preserved. 

While Warren Jones says he "inherited" this problem and the failed Genovar Hall, his statement however is not quite accurate. In fact I called him out a number of times for trying behind the scenes with his fraternity friends to get the Brewster Ladies to let them have control of the Hospital.  They were very sneaky, but they never counted on the fact that every call they made, every attempt to influence the ladies was told to me immediately by the ladies themselves.  They even tried intimidating the ladies saying if they did not give the building over it would be demolished.  The Brewster Ladies told Jones, Fullwood and the Fraternity to deal with me directly as they had voted me their representative in all matters concerning Brewster.  They were not happy when they found that out.  Warren was the one who set that deal into motion and worked with Reggie Fullwood and the Fraternity in the years that followed and then again when he was re-elected.  By the way,  I found the scam in the Genovar Hall deal when there was 350K already wasted on it.  The property had been improperly given to the Fraternity for $10.00 with a Warranty Deed containing a few requirements.  This never went to council and there was never a valid contract in advance of the property being turned over to the group.  We could have saved nearly 700K in state and local funds had I been able to get this deal stopped when I first exposed what was happening. Nearly a million bucks was blown on those three walls and faulty tin roof that is standing there right now.  However, Warren Jones, Reggie Fullwood, Al Battle DDA and Reggie Estelle worked behind the scenes to keep this thing going in order to syphon as much money as possible to members and friends of the Fraternity.  There was never a valid document as to how the money was spent as well as any of the requirements of the faulty Warranty Deed being met.  This happened outside of the legal process in Jacksonville and the City only got the Deed back from the Fraternity after I involved the State Preservation office and legal authorities.  Can you say sham?  I sure can.

[sheclown]

Thank you Diane.  We do need to know the story. 

When (year-wise) are we talking about? 

[Cheshire Cat]

I started this the last year that Delaney was in office, through Peyton's administration until now.  I have a bunch of documents in storage.  I will ask my husband to retrieve them for me.  I hope I kept all the site plans that not only show that the shotgun houses were a part of the fraternity plan, but the Genovar Hall and The Brewster Hospital as well.  I even have original newspaper clippings of the Fraternity.  In fairness to them, the general membership was totally unaware of what was happening behind the scenes.  Most of them thought all of this was on the up and up.  I also hope to put my hands on the documents that proved that the majority of the LaVilla homes were not derelict but rather were infact sound.  What we heard from Redman tonight is part of the original mindset of those who drove the destruction of LaVilla.  We are talking racism, money and profit as the bottom line here.  As I said earlier it is important to let people know that this was White politicians and developers along with Black politicians and private interests who all had their hands in the "piggy bank" that was and continues to be LaVilla.

[mtraininjax]

The decision to tear down lies with 1 person and 1 person only, the director of Code Enforcement. If she, in this case, sees that a property is not habitable, she can sign the order for destruction. Redman can go push a rope up a tree.

[Cheshire Cat]

The decision to tear down lies with 1 person and 1 person only, the director of Code Enforcement. If she, in this case, sees that a property is not habitable, she can sign the order for destruction. Redman can go push a rope up a tree.

Not sure what you are talking about.  Now that the houses are designated tearing them down is no longer simply the decision of the Director of Code Enforcement. Can't happen that way.  The same goes for moving the structures.  When State historic funding begins to flow again (which is already happening) those houses need to stay where they are in order to move grant requests forward. 

[Noone]

Urban core CPAC voted in support of the landmark designation tonight at its meeting.

Congratulations to all on the vote by LUZ for the Landmark designation. When I tuned in to watch Gloria was addressing the committee. The subsequent speakers and then the vote was a true lesson in civics 101.

The key request by Gloria for the removal of the fence and barbed wire so that access can be gained is pivotal in moving the restoration forward. Maybe a future food truck rotation stop with pavers and a shaded spot with tables in between the houses as life has been given back to a piece of Jacksonville history. Springfield came to LaVilla. Now some from San Marco, Riverside, Avondale, St. Nicholas, Ortega and other parts of Florida will reclaim history.

Gloria on a side note has the Urban Core CPAC on 2013-384 the armory asked for an amendment that would allow for 24/7 access to Hogans Creek?

[sheclown]

The decision to tear down lies with 1 person and 1 person only, the director of Code Enforcement. If she, in this case, sees that a property is not habitable, she can sign the order for destruction. Redman can go push a rope up a tree.

Diane, Mtrain is correct.  If code declares it an emergency, no designation can save them.  See the "emergency demolitions" in Springfield (which are, in essence, landmarked).

Zero checks and balances.

[sheclown]

The decision to tear down lies with 1 person and 1 person only, the director of Code Enforcement. If she, in this case, sees that a property is not habitable, she can sign the order for destruction. Redman can go push a rope up a tree.

Not sure what you are talking about.  Now that the houses are designated tearing them down is no longer simply the decision of the Director of Code Enforcement. Can't happen that way.  The same goes for moving the structures.  When State historic funding begins to flow again (which is already happening) those houses need to stay where they are in order to move grant requests forward. 

It can.  It does.  Twice on east 2nd Street in the last couple of months.

Code doesn't need to justify/and or prove  EMERGENCY to anyone.  No one.  Nada.  Zip.   

And don't ask the HPC to protect landmarks from capricious and arbitrary "emergency" demolition  either. 

They will say "ain't my job, man".

[strider]

The decision to tear down lies with 1 person and 1 person only, the director of Code Enforcement. If she, in this case, sees that a property is not habitable, she can sign the order for destruction. Redman can go push a rope up a tree.

Not sure what you are talking about.  Now that the houses are designated tearing them down is no longer simply the decision of the Director of Code Enforcement. Can't happen that way.  The same goes for moving the structures.  When State historic funding begins to flow again (which is already happening) those houses need to stay where they are in order to move grant requests forward. 

Unfortunately, mtraininjax  and Sheclown are very right  The Office of General Council has stated for the record at the last HPC meeting that neither the Historic Preservation Commission nor the Staff of the Historic Preservation Department can question her decision in any way and must provide a Certificate of Appropriateness without delay nor question. 

If the right people were to decide these now landmarked houses needed to go away and found her funding, even Federal funding, she could take them down and would without hesitation.   

[sheclown]

I started this the last year that Delaney was in office, through Peyton's administration until now.  I have a bunch of documents in storage.  I will ask my husband to retrieve them for me.  I hope I kept all the site plans that not only show that the shotgun houses were a part of the fraternity plan, but the Genovar Hall and The Brewster Hospital as well.  I even have original newspaper clippings of the Fraternity.  In fairness to them, the general membership was totally unaware of what was happening behind the scenes.  Most of them thought all of this was on the up and up.  I also hope to put my hands on the documents that proved that the majority of the LaVilla homes were not derelict but rather were infact sound.  What we heard from Redman tonight is part of the original mindset of those who drove the destruction of LaVilla.  We are talking racism, money and profit as the bottom line here.  As I said earlier it is important to let people know that this was White politicians and developers along with Black politicians and private interests who all had their hands in the "piggy bank" that was and continues to be LaVilla.

Was this before they were moved?  Or was the removal from Lee Street part of the restoration plan.

[Cheshire Cat]

^Well, this is very interesting.  The office of General council has declared this you say? I am not doubting that they made the statement but whether or not their interpretation of the law regarding demolition is correct is worth looking into more deeply.  For instance, you heard during last nights meeting that a structure that has been designated and received grant funds, particularly State funds, if demolished requires those monies be paid back to the State.  In some cases that can be thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. How is it I wonder that a city department head can make such a decision for taxpayers in a unilateral way? Should that even be the case as the reality is "emergency" demolitions are not always an "emergency" in Jacksonville.  I also wonder if there has been any "tweaking" of the lawful requirements in recent years?  I had occasion during this whole LaVilla struggle to be in a conference room with seven, yes seven attorneys from the GC arguing a point of law and that one set of criterion directly conflicted with another.  When all was said and done, it turned out that they indeed had been mistaken in their interpretation. 

Everyone may recall that the head of GC, Cindy Laquidara stated that Alvin Brown using donated money and services for travel was not against the rules of State Ethics.  She was told by others repeatedly, including our City Ethics Officer that this was in fact an inaccurate determination by law.  Recently the State Ethics office ruled that Laquidara was in fact completely off base with her interpretation of the law.  As we all know, the mayor can no longer accept these "free rides".

Let me research this further to see if there are some conflicts of policy here.  I learned long ago that just because someone in a City Hall department makes a declaration about the law (even the GC) doesn't mean that interpretation of the law is always correct.  Let me look into this further.  May take some time as I need to check a number of sources. 

[Cheshire Cat]

Gloria, When I got involved, the shotgun houses had already been removed.  Joel's office should have some documentation as to when the removal took place.  I believe it may have been "Hygema" movers who had transported them. 

[Cheshire Cat]

Gloria, what put this mess into action was a bill 2001-375 which was eventually rewritten and "withdrawn" I believe in 2006.  As you can see the first part of the bill number "2001" is when it was written.  Here is the link for the bill.  http://cityclts.coj.net/coj/COJbillDetail.asp?F=2001-0375\Original%20Text

Note that the bill encompasses "relocated" structures on the site.  The shotgun houses were the only buildings relocated to those parcels, so they must have been moved prior to the first draft of this "failed" bill.

[Cheshire Cat]

Briefly to the issue of demolition and preservation.  Here is a portion of what is written at the state level with regard to the "problematic" interpretations" of city law. (note:  I didn't re-read the entire file yet, but this is informative)  Here is the link to the PDF  http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/lawreview/downloads/254/abney.pdf

However, any local government enacting a historic preserv
a
-
tion ordinance should focus on two concerns. First, the ordinance
should be effective. It should establish a historic preservation pr
o
-
gram that actually protects structures and sites deemed worthy of
preservation. Second, the ordinance should be able to withstand legal
challenges. Careful procedures and sufficient standards for reviewing
projects impacting historic properties should be established to ensure
that a court will not overturn the decision of a historic preservation
commission. While only fifteen percent of historic preservation co
m
-
missions implementing local ordinances have had their decisions
challenged in court, "[p]erhaps the greatest fear many commissions
have is being sued by a disgruntled property owner and having the
validity of the ordinance and the commission's powers questioned,
typically with great publicity."
1
Faced with a broad array of potential
legal challenges—including claims concerning procedural due pro
c
-
ess,
2
private property rights,
3
the Americans With Disabilities Act
(ADA),
4
and the designation of religious properties
5
—it is no wonder
that keeping out of court is a priority for many historic preservation
commissions.
A common challenge to loca
l historic preservation ordinances i
n
-
volves the vagueness doctrine.

[strider]

All of that seems like it is to help insure that the structures are protected.  Jacksonville's OGC seems to have recently done the opposite.