Sandy Carmany Calls $750k Taken From Willow Oaks A “Small Reduction”
Posted by ryan on November 29, 2007
Sandy Carmany has written a response (see below) on her blog to questions about why she voted to reallocate $750,000 from the Willow Oaks Project to the International Civil Rights Museum.
“The city council voted 5-4 on a NON-BINDING resolution to direct the Housing and Community Development staff to include a $250,000 allocation of federal CDBG funds to the International Civil Rights Museum for the three years beginning in the 2008-09 budget. The source of the funds would be a small reduction in the amount allocated for a future phase of the Willow Oaks redevelopment project which has not yet been started. Future councils have the ability to reverse that direction in each of the next three budget cycles.
Greensboro has traditionally spent its CDBG on affordable housing programs, but many other cities routinely use some of their CDBG funding on downtown redevelopment projects (for which the Museum qualifies). When Councilmember Tom Phillips made the motion NOT to use city property tax money for this purpose (which I voted for), he cited CDBG funding as a possible future source which I said at the time I could support. My vote Tuesday evening was consistent with what I had said I could support.”
I have made a second attempt to contact the Executive Director of the Project to find out how many people the $750k would affect, but unfortunately she was not available. Hopefully my call will be returned soon so I can share with you the number of residents that will be affected by this “small reduction,” as Sandy Carmany puts it.
Betty Almond said
I believe that most taxpayers would find it very informative to examine the form 990 that this organization has filed. In fact, you can look at several years. Go to http://www.guidestar.org and you will have to register but that is no problem. The name used on the form 990 is Sit-In Movement, Inc. Amelia Parker is listed as the Executive Director and is paid a salary of $100,000.00. You may also see the list of officers, the donations received and who provided same and the expenses.
Once again, I must disagree with Sandy and say that this is more than a small reduction and it is definitely not the intended purpose. I hope the addition of new council members and the deletion of Sandy and others will change the direction of the city council.
Sidney C. Gray said
Proposed Civil Rights Museum:
I would encourage the donation of the Woolworth’s Building to the City of Greensboro as part of our Historical Museum System. The historical importance of what happened on February 1, 1960 warrants recognition that is inclusive for all of Greensboro. The creation of an entirely new museum veers away from the historical event that took place at the lunch counter and siphons off much needed money to bring this building up to current code. While I support applying for grant money with the National Trust Community Investment Corporation and other private sources, I have to respect the voters’ position in the last bond referendum and not allocate additional city revenues for this project. I do not believe that the museum as proposed will be self supporting and in the future the citizens of Greensboro will be asked on an annual basis for money to sustain this project. Sidney C. Gray
Brenda Bowers said
It is a shame that Ms. Carmany can not allow herself to move on with her life. It is very much sadder that she feels compelled to “explain” her past actions. If she felt then and feels now that the actions she took were the right ones for the community then they should need no explanations or excuses or apologies. She as a council member when much was done and many dollars spent on “mistakes” in judgement of city staff under the city council’s direct control she is responsible for. I am looking forward to what Same,Joe and Roch determine when they get their hands on the Project Homestead and David Wray documents. Some past and present council members are without a doubt busy trying to hide their personal assets right about now.
I expect the new council to make this huge mistake and miscalculation of the people’s tolerance for thievery by diverting money from the poor to the civil rights museum project one of their first priorities for correction. The they should immediately move onto the Wray/GPD fiasco. They should also withhold any benefits from Linda Miles as she was instrumental in withholding retirement benefits from others until her part in all this is understood. Then the vast amount of money she has cost (with more costs to come!) the citizens because of her vendetta against Wray should be taken from her retirement pension. It won’t really be enough but at least she will not be rewarded and will not get off scot free fore her hateful behavior. Next we need to look into Mitch Johnson’s liability and pension benefits. BB
Sandy Carmany said
A bit of explanation as to why I referred to the proposed $750,000 ($250,000 over three years) reduction in funding to Willow Oaks as ’small’ — the city has dedicated $12+ million in city funding to this project. Simple math — 750,000 divided by 12,000,000 = 6.25%. To me, that is a small percentage.
G.P. said
Sandy,
No matter how small or large the percentage is, you are dealing with a person’s ability to have a home. I have placed a 4th call to the folks running the project to see how many individuals this figure will impact, hopefully my call will be returned.
Ryan