The Charleston Urban Renewal Authority has decided to review its West Side Community Renewal plan within the coming weeks after a tense meeting Wednesday morning.
The decision comes after a request from black leaders in the Tuesday Morning Group - including the Rev. Matthew Watts and NAACP President Rick Martin - to designate the group as the lead advocacy group within the West Side Homeownership Zone.
In an hour-long presentation, Watts and other community members said the renewal authority has not done enough to improve the neighborhood, especially at the West Side Flats near Mary C. Snow Elementary. He urged commissioners to consider a contract with Tuesday Morning Group, with HOPE Community Development Corporation - Watt's nonprofit that rehabilitates homes in the area - serving as a lead consultant on development plans in the West Side.
Commissioners tabled the request, but did decide to schedule a special meeting within the next two or three weeks to sit down to look at the plan page by page, and determine what should be changed.
"Nothing has been done in the West Side of Charleston," Watts said during the presentation.
At that point Charleston Mayor Danny Jones stood up from his chair and began approaching Watts, while citing "900" home demolitions on the West Side.
After Watts questioned Jones' figures, the mayor began to raise his voice.
"Don't tell me it's not been 900 houses, we've been doing it," Jones said. "We're the real deal."
The city has demolished 849 houses on the West Side since 1997, Charleston Building Commissioner Tony Harmon said.
Jones said in an interview he only raised his voice because he was upset Watts implied that he was a "liar."
During the public comment session of the meeting, Martin said CURA tabling the Tuesday Morning Group's request won't stop them from fighting for more CURA involvement in the West Side.
"We are here. We are not going to wait. We want accountability," Martin said. "We want transparency and we want to know what your intentions and plans are when it comes to moving a plan that's nine years old."
The West Side Urban Renewal Plan was adopted in 2008. Part of the plan outlines implementation strategies, including identifying advocacy groups to "market the business retention and expansion effort." Hope CDC is one of four groups mentioned by name in the plan as a suggested advocacy group to assist
"If this would have been done sometime shortly after this plan was written we would have made a lot more progress than what we have made at this point," Bob Hardy, who was involved in founding Charleston Area Community Development Corporation in 1994, said during the meeting.
This isn't the first time Watts and other community leaders have urged CURA to become more involved in redeveloping the West Side.
In an article written after a 2013 meeting, Watts said CURA making the West Side Urban Renewal Plan a top priority would also serve as an opportunity to make up for the dismantling of the Triangle District in the 1970s.
The Triangle District was a predominantly black neighborhood bordered by the Elk River, Donnally, Laidley and Lee streets that was razed for commercial redevelopment, including the Charleston Town Center mall.
CURA also voted to adopt a budget for the 2018 fiscal year Wednesday. There are no large changes from the current fiscal year to next except for a nearly $5,000 boost in salaries for CURA's employees, but that comes with expected decreases in the renewal authority's expenses.
Reach Ali Schmitz at ali.schmitz@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @SchmitzMedia on Twitter.