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Matthew Marchant
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06/30/05 Too many
issues, too little time to cover.
Not that I'm someone who expects life's dilemmas to
to get solved in an hour or so like a TV sitcom, but I'm telling you that I
would very much like to take a long nap and wake up in a few months. After
waking from my Rip Van Wallingford retreat, I would restfully expect to have the
City Hall corruption issue resolved and our state lawmakers passed legislation
prohibiting municipal abuse of eminent domain laws.
But in the real world, trying to comprehend all this mayhem is just exhausting.
The eminent domain brouhaha may turn out to be a good thing as a wake up call to
all the lethargic people out there who don't vote or get involved in politics.
They suddenly realize that what was just happening to the "other guy" is very
apt to be happening to them. One of the most egregious uses of eminent
domain happened several years ago in Hurst, where the city wiped out an entire
neighborhood to expand a shopping center. DMN's Jessica Leeder interviews
one of the victims of that land theft in her story:
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Eminent domain targeted
Ruling spurs Texas, others
to try to boost property rights
June 29,
2005 by
JESSICA LEEDER / The Dallas Morning News |
Lawmakers
in Austin and across the country are moving to rein in eminent domain
authority after last week's Supreme Court decision that broadened
government's authority to seize property for economic development.
Republican lawmakers in the Texas
House and Senate introduced companion versions of a constitutional amendment
that would prohibit eminent domain seizures purely for economic development.
In Washington, Sen. John Cornyn,
R-Texas, offered federal legislation that also would limit eminent domain.
And officials say at least four other states are considering new
restrictions.
"We need to restore the power of
eminent domain to public use and not private use," Mr. Cornyn said.
... the ruling caused widespread fear that
the table had been tilted too much toward developers who, like the Dallas
Cowboys now acquiring land in Arlington, seek government's help in obtaining
prime real estate for their projects.
That fear might result in a national
movement to limit powers of eminent domain.
... Still, critics of the proposed amendments warn
that they may not sufficiently protect homeowners.
The memory remains vivid for Jeff
Molenburg: sitting helpless and enraged on the curb while a bulldozer razes
the home where he raised his family for 18 years. He's never watched the
videotape he made to document the most frustrating event of his life. He
doesn't have to. "You still dream about it years later," Mr. Molenburg said.
Nearly a decade ago,
he and 125 homeowners in the Richland Park East
subdivision in Hurst were forced to rebuild their lives after their homes
were seized to make room for North East Mall's expansion. Even though
most residents were paid fair market value for their properties, Mr.
Molenburg said, he's still stewing over the process, which felt unjust.
... Dana Berliner, a senior attorney at the
Institute for Justice and one of the lawyers who represented homeowners in
the Supreme Court case, said the language in the proposed Texas
constitutional amendment leaves "wiggle room" and may not stop governments
from invoking eminent domain for economic development.
"Texas certainly has been a place
where there has been some significant abuses of power," Ms. Berliner said,
citing the Hurst case, which she says was one of the worse condemnation
cases she's ever seen. "It's a place that needs more protection than it's
got right now."
... Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio,
introduced the eminent domain measure on Monday. He said such powers should
be used only for projects such as water lines, roads, electricity
development and similar public works.
It's "totally wrong" to take
someone's home from them in order to turn over the land to another private
owner for redevelopment, he said.
"I think that goes against what our
founding fathers fought for in defense of their homes," he said. "I think it
goes against what Sam Houston and Davy Crockett fought for in Texas."
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Arlington voters need to do a
recall on their entire city council. Those jerks not only voted to proceed
with eminent domain against the homeowners who are holding out for a fair price
for their land, but they then turned around and approved a super Wal-Mart over
the objections of more than 140 citizens who appeared at Council in opposition
last January.
One of the homeowners who is holding out against Grandpa Jones' land theft is
asking for a fair price for his land -- NOT HIS HOUSE! His land is now
very valuable to the City of Arlington and to the Arkansas Freak, and he has a
right to want to share in some of the windfall. Since his neighborhood is
now condemned, his house has no value and the condemnation should be based on
the current value of the land -- not what the house and land were worth when the
area was residential.
It's comforting that two Texas lawmakers and our BEST U.S. Senator are already
stepping up to the plate to get the laws changed to protect our property rights.
Sam Houston and Davy Crockett would most certainly approve, and I assure you
this political gadfly absolutely approves.
So, the Dirty Five Supreme Court Justices may have inadvertently started a
movement that will see our property rights restored. I have no confidence
that our local City Hall scandal is going to have any happy ending.
One of my really smart friends who knows everything worth knowing about Dallas
politics has been frantically trying to find ONE political person or consultant
or anyone else who has every heard of Farrington & Assoc. (the front company for
Sheila Farrington). Some people know Sheila Farrington because they have
seen her driving around Councilman Don Hill, but they do not know her to be a
consultant of any kind.
This same really smart friend reviewed Councilman Hill's financial reports and
noted Farrington & Assoc., D'Angelo Lee and Darren Reagan have each contributed
$1000 to the Councilman's campaign. Not a good sign!
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6/30 Michael
Davis:
Right now I really have no comment on all the Southern Dallas/Oak
Cliff stuff.
I don't like phones right now, I don't
know what to do, and I'm damn sure NOT sure if I want any part of this
political process. All my friends are calling me asking "what's up", and I
have no words.
I really believe Mr. Fantroy.
I've spent time with
the man sitting and talking with him. No cameras, no reporters, nothing.
He strikes me as a person who really cares about the community.
I'm not one to be hoodwinked - I
grew up with gang members, mafia people, dope dealers and with all other
kinds of filth in my mix. I can spot a
liar, and Mr. Fantroy doesn't fit the mold. He
cares NOTHING about money. I mean it,
nothing. He has his farm, and that's it. His
wife and son are the same way.
As far as eminent domain,
it really burns me how it's being applied.
Being from Philly, I know when casinos want to build/expand in Atlantic
City the casinos pay people THROUGH THE NOSE for their property.
In one case, they gave a guy $100K more,
a Cadillac, and a condo in the new casino.
You can't do people like this and
not expect your place in hell. They need to march over to 4500 block of
Preston Road and block traffic until they get what they want. If it was
my parent or grandparent, that's what I'd be doing.
I'm glad they didn't build it in
Fair Park. This is one thing Laura Miller did right.
The sad thing, nobody cares but me
you and a few others. The others only care
about the stupid Cowboys. I never liked them and I sure don't now.
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Three linked to FBI inquiry;
Dallas: They had helped revive mall in a part of
city developers ignored
June
28, 2005
by ERNESTO LONDO?
and REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News |
Five years ago, Darren Reagan, Allen
McGill and Gail Terrell were lauded for spearheading the resurrection of a
mall in a southern Dallas neighborhood long overlooked by major developers.
Their names are no longer synonymous
with renewal in the city's southern sector.
The mall, West Cliff Shopping Plaza,
is the subject of a legal fight, and tenants are unhappy. And their names
emerged again after FBI agents last week raided their office and the home of
Mr. McGill and Ms. Terrell, who are spouses, in connection with an
investigation into corruption in City Hall.
Complicating matters for the trio, a
bankruptcy judge ordered the FBI on Friday to give the court a $450,000
check seized last week at the Black State Employees
Association of Texas, their office.
... D. Mark Elliston, a Dallas defense attorney
retained by Mr. Reagan to advise him on the FBI investigation, said it's too
early to tell whether his client is a target or simply a witness in the
case.
... Mr. Reagan, 46, became a well-known figure in
South Dallas during the early 1990s by organizing fiery protests decrying
discrimination in local government and the private sector. In recent years
he has become involved in real estate deals, urging suburban-type amenities
in troubled neighborhoods.
... Mr. Reagan's company has at least one
connection with another target in the investigation ? Southwest Housing
Development Co., which was also searched by the FBI last week.
Mr. Reagan said in an interview last
week that Brian Potashnik, owner of Southwest Housing, asked him eight or
nine months ago to create a proposal for retail stores that could accompany
a South Dallas apartment project.
... Mr. Potashnik has declined repeated requests
for interviews. He issued a written statement Tuesday, saying that Southwest
Housing has "never had a business relationship" with Mr. Reagan.
... Secretary of State records show that the
Black State Employees Association's charter was forfeited in October 2000
for failing to satisfy state tax requirements.
... West Cliff Shopping Plaza, at the intersection
of Ledbetter Drive and Hampton Road, is the largest project with which Mr.
Reagan's group became involved.
... Court documents show Mr. Reagan's group also
obtained $152,703 from the city of Dallas for infrastructure improvements.
The City Council also approved a 90 percent property tax break for a 10-year
period. ... |
Darren Reagan ran against
Sandra Crenshaw when she was elected to the council. He's also tight with
Old Al Lipscomb. His "Black State Employees Association of Texas" is and
always has been a shake down operation. His fiery protests of the 90's
were 4 or 5 thugs marching in front of a business until that business hired one
of his thugs (who might or might not ever show up for the job). The word
at the time was that the newly hired thug would then in turn pay Reagan a
finder's fee for the new job. The business was out a few thousand dollars
and the "fiery protest" was ended and the BSEA went on to shake down the next
business on his list. No one took him seriously then, but apparently he
has risen in power because his recent endeavors have earned him some serious
government dollars.
There is absolutely no end to all this mess. Not only are Potashnik and
his Southwest Housing Development Co. being targeted, but his big rival, Fisher
with Provident Realty, is also under FBI scrutiny. That's really
embarrassing for me because when some of my NW Dallas compadres were backing
Fisher and Provident Realty's plans to convert the old Dallas Hotel on
Mockingbird at Harry Hines to a senior resident complex, I not only supported
him, but I did not connect him back to the Fantroy/Thornton-Reese catastrophe of
last September when she and most of the council blew the cover off his conflict
of interest by admitting the councilman had advised her and the other council
members what he wanted done on the case. There's a reason I call her
"Brain Dead", and she certainly lived down to her nickname that day.
The real lesson to all of this is government dollars should not be used to build
apartment complexes, regardless of who is intended to live there. If a
developer thinks a project can be profitable, he should use his own money.
If he can't get a bank to finance his deal, taxpayers' money should not be
risked on a bad deal.
There is a real connection between the abuse of eminent domain and what's been
happening at City Hall for years. There's too much temptation for many
people to resist taking a bite out of the pie. Once they take that first
little nibble, they are drawn to another and bigger bite as certainly as moths
to a flame.
There's another connection between the abuse of eminent domain and this rush to
build all these apartment complexes for seniors. It's all being done in
the name of "economic development".
When was the last time you heard of a project being done without tax abatements
or tax incentives or government subsidy? Modern developers think
it's foolish to risk their own money when they have so much influence at City
Hall that they can the council to risk our money to do a deal that would not
stand a chance of a getting bank financing. |
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6/30 Rad Field:
I know you like "James" for his council district;
however, I
believe all the contestants in that district think
they have the "right to steal".
Paul Quinn College should have filed
an investigative request with the D.A. some time back, but they are
also at fault for
trusting those who might steal.
We'll see how all this turns out,
but I believe the Grand Jury is going to
come down on some of these folks, very hard. |
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Maybe, there will be some good coming out of our City Hall scandal. Having
the FBI involved and the potential for more than one person going to prison may
just clean things up for awhile at City Hall.
KTVT-11's ace reporter, Sarah Dodd, broke the story Wednesday night that Don
Hill's Administrative Aide and Assistant, Steven Williams and Glenda Aguirre,
have been subpoenaed to testify before a Federal Grand Jury. That would
scare me to death, but then I'm meek and timid. Once again, she scoops the
whole town.
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2 Hill aides called before grand jury;
They turn over records in City Hall corruption inquiry
June 30, 2005
By GROMER JEFFERS JR. and BROOKS EGERTON / The
Dallas Morning News |
Federal authorities have ordered two
of Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill's top aides to appear before a grand jury
next month as part of the City Hall corruption investigation.
The aides, Steven Williams and Glenda
Aguirre, said Wednesday that they have complied with demands for all records
of Mr. Hill's dealings with a long list of people. Some of the people have
not been identified previously as having a connection to the investigation,
including:
Grand Prairie businessman and former
NFL player Kevin Dean, who recently registered the name KDAT Developers with
state officials. His attorney, Larry Jarrett,
said his client would
have no comment.
... Mr. Jarrett, a former federal prosecutor who
is planning to run for Dallas County district attorney, also represents city
Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee in the inquiry.
... Asked why Mr. Lee and
Mr. Hill are driving luxury cars owned by a woman named Sheila Farrington,
he responded: "I guess you ought to ask Ms. Farrington."
... A spokesman for Southwest Housing Development
Co. said Wednesday that Ms. Farrington has worked as a consultant for the
firm, which is one of the leading builders of low-income apartments in the
region. The FBI has searched the firm's office and Ms. Farrington's
University Park apartment as part of its investigation, which focuses on
relations between developers and Dallas officials.
... Ms. Farrington has been paid about $13,000
since 2002 to work on Mr. Hill's political campaigns, records show.
... Mr. Lee's 2005 financial disclosure form
listed one of her businesses, Farrington & Associates, as a source of his
income. No details were provided.
Mr. Lee also has a connection to
Southwest. He told The Dallas Morning News last week that he approached the
Dallas Housing Authority about teaming up with the company on two projects,
which would exempt Southwest from property taxes. The housing authority has
verified his account.
... The subpoena given to Hill aides also sought
records on the council member's dealings with a business formed by Mr. Lee,
called the 825 Company, and its relation to an Oak Cliff shopping center.
... A developer who is not named in the subpoena,
speaking to The News on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Lee and an
associate he remembers only as Ron had pressed him to invest in a deal
involving the center. He said he declined after learning that Mr. Lee did
not own the property or have a contract to buy it.
The subpoena further sought records
on Mr. Hill's dealings with:
? Mr. Potashnik, who has hired several former federal prosecutors to
represent him in the investigation, including the former U.S. attorney in
Dallas, Paul Coggins, and Matt Yarbrough, Tom Melsheimer and Michael Uhl.
They declined to comment on the subpoena.
? Rival developer James R. "Bill" Fisher of Odyssey Residential Holdings.
... Mr. Fisher was a high-ranking Southwest
Housing executive who parted ways and formed his own company. His
developments often compete with Mr. Potashnik's for coveted tax credits and
other economic incentives in southern Dallas. ...
? The Black State Employees Association of Texas.
...
? The Pecan Grove housing development, possibly referring to a 250-unit
project near Paul Quinn College. In November, the Dallas City Council
approved more than $22 million in tax-exempt bonds and tax credits for the
project, whose owners could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.
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| Several reporters in this town are doing some very good work just now.
Fox 4's Paul Adrian really started things down the slippery slope months ago
when he reported on the questions about Councilman Fantroy's possible
misapplication of Paul Quinn federal grant funds. Then Fox 4's Sean Rabb
reported that local FBI people went to Washington, D.C. to get permission to go
after minority office holders in Dallas, which had to have been a reluctant
decision in light of the flack from prosecuting the convicted and confessed
bribe taker, Al Lipscomb. Then KTVT-11's Sarah Dodd exposed the strange
situation regarding who owns the BMW that Don Hill is driving. |
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6/30 Citizen B:
Re: Pecan Grove housing development, possibly referring to a
250-unit project near Paul Quinn College.
In November, the Dallas City Council
approved more than $22 million in tax-exempt bonds and tax credits for the
project, whose owners could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.
I hate it when I'm right. Fisher is
named, but I'm betting they won't find anything on
him. Keep in mind, if the FBI pulls the plug on this development, Provident
Odyssey is going to owe a boat-load in tree mitigation costs to the City of
Dallas for removing the bulk of the 'Pecan Grove', as it is named.
They didn't mind too
much when the state was going to take up the cost of the tree mitigation
with the credits, but let's see what happens when it's their pockets that
get drained.
I hope there'll
be an uproar for council to pursue them legally if necessary. This will be
worth watching. The site shouldn't have been a MF site in the first place.
You covered the debate on the rezoning of this site quite well in your
archives from back in September, 04.
(09/23
Council ignores
Conflict of Interest Restrictions.)
It's amazing how the world just keeps
turning and we keep coming back to the same fiasco. |
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By the way, let's not forget the name
Larry Jarrett.
The DMN story says he's planning to run for County District Attorney.
We absolutely do not need the likes of him prosecuting the bad guys.
Talk about the fox in the hen house. |
As exciting as is all of this mayhem, I am ready for it to go away. If
Don Hill has done something wrong, he should be prosecuted, but it will not be
good for Dallas. If the FBI actually has something on James Fantroy, he
should be treated as leniently as was Old Al. James Fantroy is truly in very bad
health -- not the Fred Sanford act that Old Al perfected during his trial.
Pray for our city, and then call your State Representative and State Senator and
tell them to support legislation protecting our property rights.
sb
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