SPAR Opposes Ordinance Changes Associated with the Ability Housing Settlement

[strider]

anybody have a TL;DR

OK, here's a shorter answer.  Jack Meeks paid out 100K to be able to commit a crime (discrimination against the disabled) and have the City as a co-conspirator.  Now the City wants to take a very kind deal and move on.  Jack Meeks, with Bill Hoff's help, wants to not only continue to commit that crime but get a better deal to boot.  Sort of like knowing you committed a crime and are facing a possible life sentence and turning down community service because you still like committing that crime and so just want to go free so you can do it some more. One is the smart move, take the settlement offer and learn your lesson.  The other is just plain dumb.

Better?

[strider]

I can't seem to get it to actual post here, but there is another noticed meeting about the settlement happening somewhere (the letter did not say where, but we can assume City Hall?) being held by Danny Becton, District 11.  It will be on Monday April 10, 2017, 3 to 6 PM. It states that Jason Teal will run the meeting and go through the zoning changes line by line.  Also invited to make comments and suggestions will be:

Tom Ingram - Lawyer for Ability Housing.

Paul Harden - representing Springfield - I have issues with this.  Paul Harden is not donating his time so who is paying him?  I also believe Paul Harden is representing only whomever is paying him (we can guess perhaps Jack Meeks) and so should NOT be considered as truly representing the majority of the residents in any way.

Christina Parrish - As ED of SPAR Council.  While I understand why she was invited , I do have issues with the fact that SPAR Council actually only represents the minority in Springfield and therefore the position SPAR Council takes on issues should not be given the weight it often is.

I would prefer to have a more varied list of invitees to include some of the more vocal proponents of the settlement, like Kim Pryor for the Urban Core CPAC, but it is what it is.

The notice also states that this meeting will be controlled and will be about the zoning issues not the original issue or the merits of the lawsuit and settlement. Public comments will be accepted.

This could be a good thing and it could move this settlement forward and get it passed as it needs to be. Or it could allow the few to make changes that allows the continued discrimination on the part of folks like Jack Meeks and SPAR Council leadership.  Hopefully though folks will listen to Mr Teal and common sense will prevail.

If someone could post it from Facebook or other, it would be great.

[strider]

An article talking about the who and what of the noticed meeting.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/235814-jacksonville-city-councilors-mull-springfield-overlay-zoning-changes

[Bill Hoff]

^ he actually left before the most interesting parts near the end.

In summary, only 15 of 40+ pages were reviewed in the 3 hours allotted. Multiple issues were found that Council members want to address/fix before moving forward. Causes of these various issues, as mentioned at the meeting, range from the Ability Housing attorney basically writing the settlement language himself, to OGC's motivation to settle rather than have a quality document that works for everyone, to the Planning Dept missing items they should have caught while reviewing. A shade meeting was also suggested, due to the nature of the concerns. OGC is going to request an extension from the April 30th deadline.

Hate to say I told you so....but I told you so. It's a flawed document, and the more City Council digs into it, the more they see needed changes prior to approving.

Good to see it receiving the examination it deserves.

[strider]

Hate to say I told you so but since many of us said that the discrimination against Ability Housing's potential residents was going to end up here with a federal lawsuit and a required settlement, there is more of chance that we are right about this settlement than you and yours are.

With hired guns (Paul Harden and Alberta Hipps) there, I am not surprised that "concerns" were raised. I am not surprised that people, and council members are just people after all, are afraid that those people may end up in their communities that "concerns" were raised and that Jack Meeks' paid for "concerns" were given more weight than they deserve.

I'm looking forward to seeing a list of "missing items [the planning department] should have caught while reviewing". And a more detailed reporting of what transpired at the meeting.

[strider]

In case anyone was wondering, this discusses "shade meetings".  I actually think, as long as the meeting is the city and the attorney's for Ability Housing and other plaintiffs and NOT the hired guns like Paul Harden and Alberta Hipps, this would be a good idea.

https://www.floridabar.org/divcom/jn/jnjournal01.nsf/Author/7BFBAA75A047022D85256E5F0073B526

[strider]

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2017-04-21/settlement-housing-suit-hits-snag

It appears our council persons are not as smart as we had hoped. Stop and realize that the only thing this settlement does city wide to our zoning is add language that insures people with disabilities can apply for reasonable accommodation, something that they always have had the right to do. Stop and realize that the vast majority of changes to our zoning code involves the removal of language that was always discriminatory and only found in the Historic Springfield overlay that covers one square mile.  That the changes make opening a high density group care home the same all over Jacksonville (by exception) rather than only impossible in Historic Springfield.  That a private citizen, Jack Meeks, has spent over $100,000.00 to stop 12 disabled persons from living in Historic Springfield and is still spending his money to insure disabled persons continue to have a hard time getting the reasonable accommodations they may need to live anywhere. That some council persons are actually siding with those that wish to continue to discriminate.

Kudos to Ability Housing and their lawyer who have given us the extra time to find our way back to common sense and to this settlement rather than go forward to court where we, as a City, stand to lose much more than the 2 million this settlement would cost us.

And perhaps it is time to truly ask why someone like Jack Meeks would spend that kind of money to prevent 12 disabled persons from living in Historic Springfield when the community has many more pressing issues like drug dealing and double homicides.  Why city elected officials listen to him and his paid lawyer Paul Harden when the city lawyers and expert planners advise them to accept this settlement. Why this City has a past history of gross discrimination and always has paid a price for that but continues to strive to discriminate at will.

[strider]

The settlement has been modified and passed by City Council.  The changes made were mostly wordage changes.  Meaning changes that did not change the intent of the settlement but rather either added a small additional requirement or tried to make it seem like the community of Springfield and Jacks Meeks got something for the money and effort they put forth.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/local/jacksonville/city-council-approves-settlement-over-homeless-housing-in-springfield

and

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/238617-jacksonville-closes-book-disability-rights-dispute-settlement-bills

While under the approved version of the zoning changes and the Historic Springfield overlay it is a bit more complex to ask for and get reasonable accommodations (the planning director now does them and they will require public notifications) the bottom line its this.

If Ability Housing were to try to do Cottage Avenue today, we would have a nicely renovated 12 unit apartment building rented to 12 formerly homeless people and they would not have had to subject themselves to the horrendous public meetings, being called names and being told first they would be legal and then after Jack Meeks began spending his money, being told they could not do it.  Today, it could be done by right.

I wonder if it was truly worth the $ 100,000.00 plus spent by Jack Meeks to stop ability housing to him and his wife?  I know that he could not stop them today so someone will be coming.  And I also know it was not worth all of us taxpayers helping to foot the 2 million dollar cost for this settlement to allow a few people in Springfield and Jacks Meeks to be able to discriminate against Ability Housing.  What a shame as I'm sure something else could have used that 2 million as they have to pull that money from somewhere.

[Bill Hoff]

Good to see a variety of improvements made to the legislation before it passed, like I & others had been urging. The community wanted more changes, but that's life. Can't always get 100% of what you want. What's the saying? What's legal isn't always right, and what's right isn't always legal. And so it goes.

I suspect Ability Housing leadership learned a great deal from their self-initiated disaster: engage the community they would like to work in prior to, not after, making big plans there. Protocol 101. Could have saved themselves a lot of effort, time, bad PR and cash. Glad they survived It, they do good work overall.

[strider]

Good to see a variety of improvements made to the legislation before it passed, like I & others had been urging. The community wanted more changes, but that's life. Can't always get 100% of what you want. What's the saying? What's legal isn't always right, and what's right isn't always legal. And so it goes.

I suspect Ability Housing leadership learned a great deal from their self-initiated disaster: engage the community they would like to work in prior to, not after, making big plans there. Protocol 101. Could have saved themselves a lot of effort, time, bad PR and cash. Glad they survived It, they do good work overall.

First, blaming Ability housing for this fiasco is disingenuous and even laughable. They did do their homework, they were doing nothing but buying and renting an apartment building. The Planning Director at the time said it was legal for them to do that. They had it in writing from the planning department that it was OK.  It was the historic Springfield Community leaders that caused the issues and the lawsuits.  It was the community meetings were Ability Housing was villianized and the crowd whipped up into a frenzy by Jack Meeks and other so called community leaders that caused the City to reverse itself, create a new interpretation of the overlay and made the very renting to the disabled if they needed help from outside services illegal in Historic Springfield. It was the few who could not stand the idea of 12 formerly homeless, disabled, possibly veterans moving into their neighborhood who caused this mess not Ability Housing nor any formerly homeless person. It was Jack Meeks and others just like you, Bill Hoff, who cost all of us tax payers in Jacksonville Florida two million dollars. All because you wished to discriminate against the disabled.

By the way, how do I know it WAS legal?  Read the settlement. They can do it without notifying you today and there would be nothing you could do to stop it. Your post, by the way shows that you did not learn anything and so I'm sure you will try to stop the disabled from moving into your community again.

[strider]

A reasonable article from the editorial page of Jacksonville.com

DISABLED PEOPLE WIN

Good government was in action when City Council approved 16-3 a settlement of a lawsuit that ensures disabled people won't be discriminated against in the city's planning and zoning system.

It's a shame that a lawsuit was necessary, but Ability Housing had no other option when its proposed 12-unit complex in Springfield was denied zoning approval under suspicious circumstances.

Reasons given for opposing the complex flew far afield of usual zoning complaints and focused on the possibility that disabled people would ruin the historic neighborhood. All kinds of "what-if" scenarios were suggested by opponents, the kind that led Disability Rights Florida and the U.S. Justice Department to join the lawsuit.

This was NIMBYISM gone wild. The shame is that many of the neighbors are progressive on many other issues.

Springfield residents have every right to protect their neighborhood. But when it came to opposing a complex because it contains disabled people — that flies in the face of the Americans With Disabilies Act and the Fair Housing Law.

Reasonable amendments were made to the settlement to avoid unintended consequences during about nine hours of deliberations led by City Councilman Danny Becton, chairman of the council's Land Use and Zoning Committee.

Ability Housing will receive $400,000 and Disability Rights Florida $25,000. Jacksonville also will be basically required to replace the lost housing complex with a $1.5 million in supportive housing for people with disabilities.

[ChriswUfGator]

Good to see a variety of improvements made to the legislation before it passed, like I & others had been urging. The community wanted more changes, but that's life. Can't always get 100% of what you want. What's the saying? What's legal isn't always right, and what's right isn't always legal. And so it goes.

I suspect Ability Housing leadership learned a great deal from their self-initiated disaster: engage the community they would like to work in prior to, not after, making big plans there. Protocol 101. Could have saved themselves a lot of effort, time, bad PR and cash. Glad they survived It, they do good work overall.

There is no universe in which discriminating against veterans and the disabled is right. It happens to be both wrong and illegal.

[Bill Hoff]

When crackheads are considered disabled for smoking said crack, the line blurs quite a bit : )

One person's crack house is another person's "house of disabled people", per se.

At any rate, glad the melodrama is over....but the conclusion has put a bunch of amateur zoning, policy, counseling & law advice-givers out of the posting business. We still want to read ill-informed opinions!

[camarocane]

I've followed this off and on for a bit and I guess one question that I may have missed, is there any prerequisite for one to reside here? Drug testing? Criminal background check? Military discharge papers?

[strider]

When crackheads are considered disabled for smoking said crack, the line blurs quite a bit : )

One person's crack house is another person's "house of disabled people", per se.

At any rate, glad the melodrama is over....but the conclusion has put a bunch of amateur zoning, policy, counseling & law advice-givers out of the posting business. We still want to read ill-informed opinions!

Ha, Ha.  Actually those currently using illegal drugs are not protected under ADA and Fair Housing so not disabled and not having anything to do with this settlement.  But you know that, you just thought your comment was cute.  It wasn't.  It just showed your prejudices.

As to crack houses, one persons expensive single family home may be that someone's crack house extraordinaire. I'm sure though this is not the end as you and others of like mind will do something stupid and discriminate again soon.

I've followed this off and on for a bit and I guess one question that I may have missed, is there any prerequisite for one to reside here? Drug testing? Criminal background check? Military discharge papers?

By here, are you talking about Historic Springfield? It sometimes seems that way......