Several West Side residents told Charleston Urban Renewal Authority members they aren't doing enough to improve blighted areas of the West Side during a special CURA meeting today.
The meeting, attended by dozens of West Side residents and activists, was a chance for residents to share concerns with how CURA commissioners have implemented the West Side Community Renewal Plan.
CURA has spent about $6 million on projects on the West Side since the plan was implemented in 2008, CURA Executive Director Ron Butlin said during the meeting. About $400,000 has gone toward housing plans, he said.
Early in the meeting, Lew Tyree, a CURA commissioner who has spoken in favor of updating the plan, asked residents to raise their hands if they felt like CURA was doing enough to improve the West Side's homeownership zone.
No one in the room raised their hand.
CURA Vice-Chair Karen Haddad said CURA can only fund projects that come before them. Tyree said commissioners should stop waiting for proposals and start reaching out to them.
Kitty Dooley, an attorney who has an office on the West Side, said the plan has not been well-implemented in the last nine years. She said CURA could have done more for real estate, but has been too lax. She said a new plan should focus on removing blighted areas in the neighborhood.
"When you know better, you do better," Dooley said. "This community is demanding that you do what you said needed to be done in this community eight years ago."
Kenneth Hale, the former NAACP state president, referred to the requests as a cycle. He said he's watched for several years as West Side residents demanded changes for their community - whether it was to CURA or to Kanawha County Schools.
"People talk and they say, 'We need to start this project,'" Hale said.
He believes he and many of the other people who attended the meeting won't live to see it happen, because similar projects have been proposed then put off.
"I have 17 grandkids that I hope when they get to my age don't have to come to these meetings and say, 'When are you going to do something for the West Side?'" Hale said.
The special meeting came after the Tuesday Morning Group, a faith-based group of nonprofits aimed at addressing issues affecting black community members, requested that the group designated as the lead advocacy group within the West Side Homeownership Zone during a meeting earlier this month. Commissioners tabled the request, but decided to review the plan.
Reach Ali Schmitz at ali.schmitz@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @SchmitzMedia on Twitter.