Charleston city officials say they won't hold public meetings about the progress of a 2008 plan to improve the city's West Side, despite a request from some of the city's black leaders this week.
Representatives of the Charleston branch of the NAACP and the Tuesday Morning Group, sent a letter Monday to City Council President Tom Lane asking for meetings on the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority's West Side Community Renewal Plan, which they argue CURA is not following, in violation of state law.
"The request for this Plan performance update is both modest, reasonable and in the interest of the public, especially, those citizens residing in the 'footprint' covered by the Plan and given the recent admission by CURA that most of the commissioners have little knowledge about the contents of the Plan or the performance of projects originally made a part of the approved Plan," the letter states, in part. "Additionally, it is reasonable to expect that the type of Plan performance report outlined in this request would be prepared and submitted by CURA to City Council on an annual basis. After all, City Council is the 'Governing Body' over the CURA."
Lane said Wednesday the letter caught him by surprise. "City Council simply has no jurisdiction to oversee it," he said. "We have no control over how they [CURA] spend money or how they do projects."
Lane said town hall meetings are an unusual request to make of city council. Town hall meetings are used when adopting a new plan or adjusting a plan, but those would likely be held by the city's planning department, not the city council, he said.
Mayor Danny Jones' response Tuesday was more personal, calling local NAACP President Ricardo Martin a "front man" for Rev. Matthew Watts, a Charleston pastor and West Side community leader who has a somewhat contentious history with Jones.
"This group has interrupted me when I was speaking at CURA, and Watts called me a liar," Jones wrote in an email. "If these folks want to help the west side, perhaps they can persuade Hope Development Corp. to pay its back fees and tear down the several dozen junk houses it owns which, by the way, definitely fall into the category of slum and blight.
"This same group had a meeting at Mary C Snow which was completely unproductive and ended with Watts suggesting that CURA is somehow involved in a 'reign of terror,'" Jones said. "I think attendees will find this to be an effort in bad faith with a very narrow goal of helping one particular group when many others are actually doing more and shouting less."
The city is suing Watts' nonprofit, HOPE Community Development Corporation, alleging the agency owes more than $42,000 in fire and refuse fees.
Watts said he didn't want to get into a "juvenile" argument with Jones, but he did defend his nonprofit organization, which he said has raised and spent $6 million in the community.
Watts said the organization has 12 vacant structures, not the "dozens" that Jones referenced.
Martin, the NAACP president, called Jones' response "discouraging."
"Beyond that, it sort of demonstrates the attitude of the mayor, in some respects, I think, to African Americans and perhaps a lack of respect for an organization and an initiative led by African Americans," Martin said.
Martin said the response showed a lack of respect to the NAACP, and to Watts, whom he called a minister of the gospel with an impeccable reputation.
"It's typical Danny Jones as far as I'm concerned," Martin said.
The request from the NAACP and the Tuesday Morning Group comes as its leaders have criticized CURA, saying it has not followed its own 2008 plan. Martin said Wednesday he remains focused on getting CURA to do more to improve the slum and blight on the West Side. Martin said the request for public meetings about the matter is reasonable.
"All things considered, the main issue is adherence to the law, chapter 16 - the urban renewal law and adherence to the 2008 West Side Renewal Plan, and the need for a current vetting of that plan as it relates [to spending]," Martin said.
Watts said that they believe that CURA and the city of Charleston are in violation of the law because they're not following their plan. The blight on the West Side has an adverse effect on residents' health and safety, he said.
"We believe we have exhausted our administrative remedies to address issues presented. We have tried very hard to avoid pursuing more formal action," the letter states. "Again, we ask that this request be given immediate attention and further ask that a written response fulfilling these requests be issued to us within the next 10 working days."
In the letter, the leaders asked that at the meetings, officials provide a written performance report of CURA's projects and the meetings be held before or in conjunction with the CURA board's recent assignment to director Ron Butlin that he identify three housing priorities from the plan.
Lane said, that housing aside, parts of the plan are being implemented on the West Side, including the addition of bike lanes on Kanawha Boulevard and Project West Invest, a program that offers housing to police officers on the West Side. With the city user fee rising, the city will be able to beef up police presence in the city, too, Lane said.
"If you look at the 2008 plan from my perspective, there's been a lot accomplished - whether council is interested in some kind of formal presentation to detail it, I'd have to do an inquiry on that," he said.
Butlin was not available for comment Wednesday.
Reach Lori Kersey at lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.