Heard in the Hall

No mention in the budget as to how much money is going to be blown on bogus "housing?" That's interesting.

It's only yesterday that a historic moment in Ink history presented itself, and only after one of the victims sued the do no wrong Kenny Gamble and his kick back operation known as Universal.

Those of us who've been complaining that Universal acquires land at below market cost, and holds most of it as vacant lots or blighted property, driving down equity, then generously contributes to local politicians only got the interest of the Ink when a parallel article on the dark side of Kenny's record ran in the NYT.

Hmmm.

Wonder why the press here has such a hard time evaluating the record (online deed records show row after row of vacant Universal and Gamble properties dating from the inception of their "redevelopment") or looking at the RDA's redevelopment agreements which show how far Universal and Gamble are in violation of their deadlines for completion.

We don't need NTI -- borrow to cosmetically enhance vacant lots until "something" happens.

We need a press that can get the legal information on the status of a promised project, and go beyond the ballyhoo of the identity politics.

Looks like Gamble muscled the wrong victim in Carl Greene. Will the press continue to refer to Gamble as only a local celebrity while conveniently ignoring his troubling record of partially complete development, huge block grant waste, missing deadlines, and obvious pay to play? Isn't this enough of a violation of the Hobbes Act, that the money for Gamble's forgotten low income housing goes right into NUR-PAC?

Thanks, Ink, for being a party hack fest. Leave it to the NYT to write better about Philly local issues than the local Philly papers.

Don't forget that Universal gets its property undervalued by the BRT a la Fumo style. Just check Hallwatch, and confirm it on the BRT website.

Oh, too much research work. Just keep writing about television shows then. LAME.

www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/us...in&oref=slogin

Gamble/Universal vs. PHA article with more detail, more concisely, than the local coverage on 2-5-08.

Compare that with coverage in Ink entitled "City Agency: HUD Angered by Gamble Snub"

www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/15305152.html

Is PHA (the city agency) really alleging that HUD is "angry" about a "snub" of Kenny Gamble? Did Carl Greene not say hello at lunch one day?

Or, is Greene saying that his agency is being bullied and coerced by the paper's pet to give up valuable property for pennies on the dollar by HUD?

When the paper sits back to let this unfold, it misses out on the chance to understand and inform. Meanwhile, the paper bangs one note on the need for affordable housing.

Introspection and investigation on why affordable housing resources are wasted or misused never seems to be something the paper wants to work on.

Why is that? When are you guys going to stop just printing press releases to keep up with the NYT, and start being an investigative, rigorous journalism forum again? I get more info about local housing controversy from the local blogs than I can from the Ink, until someone sues someone and the affidavit is spelled out for you.

Hint: The Royal Theater is a royal mess, 10 years in the making. It's not an "anchor" for an "entertainment district" for the Philly Sound. House of Blues is more a venue for the Philly Sound -- you just have to drive to AC.

Lot after vacant lot conveyed to Universal or Gamble by the RDA or others are still vacant. Only a small percentage has been turned over into viable housing after hundreds of millions in block grants for housing and urban renewal. Check Guidestar.

Gamble wants still more property to do nothing with, no questions asked. This creates more blight than it solves.

When is it going to be a good day to treat Universal with the same scrutiny as anyone else of any color? Isn't the soft bigotry of low expectations just as much racism? This property could go right into the hands of high performing, open, transparent groups -- RHD, Habitat for Humanity, etc. -- except that the press is too timid to see that if you want affordable housing, you have to be willing to go after the low performing sacred cows.

What's all this about afflicting the comfortable? King Kenny is sitting pretty, while the rest of us are asking for that audit, or an annual report to get SOME idea of when the empty properties and vacant lots in South Philly will stop killing equity.

Best outcome: The RDA takes back all Universal/Gamble property in violation of original redevelopment agreements and the FBI investigates the pay to play that got us here.

Are you in?

Oh, and uh, the Commerce Dept. took back all those grants for business development and economic/jobs training from Universal. Years ago.

Any interest in covering that?

No?

How about how low performing the Universal education management company run schools are, and how bad, relatively speaking, is the Universal charter school?

Hint: no good parent would send their house cat to them.

No interest?

The reason the black community suffers is because white liberals are too timid to stand up and demand that the agencies funded by our tax dollars perform to standard.

All corrupt black agencies on the take have to do is play the card, and you guys crumble. You can't claim to be a minority, disadvantaged advocate, though, if you can't address the OBVIOUS problems in the groups paid to address those problems.

You can elect Obama. You can elect Hillary. But you are still going to have a system that funnels money into low performers who hide behind their identity politics while doing very little for the groups who need them.

You can write about the new budget. You can evaluate the priorities. But the money that gets into the hands of the groups like Universal will still be wasted in exactly the same way, to exactly the same degree, as it has always been.

Is that a "win?"

Philly won't change until you writers raise your own expectations and demand better. Just pretend that Universal is composed of Republicans. Since they're allied with the Bush HUD, that shouldn't even be much of a stretch.

wow, right on brother! nicely done

You can elect Obama. You can elect Hillary. But you are still going to have a system that funnels money into low performers who hide behind their identity politics while doing very little for the groups who need them.

you have just defined the reason I am a conservative. Its not that I am in favor of lower taxes because i want to give rich people a break. The reality is...private charities attack social issues WAY more efficiently than government agencies do. So i would rather see people keep more of their own money so they can give more to attack these problems.

funneling those funds to governmen is a HUGE waste of $ and resources and lines the pockets of people who truly add no value.

but it is very hard to explain that to big government liberals