BlogWood: MT Archives

More Civitas secrets revealed

Hmmm... a county board that is set up to help poor people buy houses decides to throw over $23 million to Tampa’s Welfare Daddies to better enable them to dislocate the poor. The board is packed with insiders and overflowing with conflicts of interest, but in Hillsborough County, this is business as usual.

Civitas is mostly out of the news these days, but you can bet that they will be back with another secretive plan to steal valuable land from the public while dislocating current residents.

Here’s an idea: why not pump some city and county money into the rehabbing the empty and crumbling downtown buildings such as the Floridan Hotel and the old Kress building? These and tons of other vacant downtown properties could be cut up into apartments and lofts, incorporated as condos, and offered to the working poor as a viable home ownership option.

Downtown would be infused with new energy. Nighttime activities would increase. Vibrant new communities would blossom and grow. The powerless people who we are now talking about dislocating and scattering would suddenly have just a little say in their own future, as they form condo boards and start to practice a little self-determination.

Anyway, lets do the rehab. We will then have plenty of room to relocate residents before we raze their current homes. Once people have a nice place to live that is very close to their old neighborhood, and, indeed, includes most of their old neighbors, then we can talk about fattening up Tampa’s Welfare Daddies at the public trough.

Oh, yeah... about that county board:

A government board that agreed to sell bonds that could have helped the Civitas project has members with ties to the development company.

Hillsborough County commissioners expressed concern Wednesday that members of the county's housing finance authority, appointed by commissioners, don't keep elected leaders in the loop - and may be too close to projects that involve them.

``They've been operating off on their own,'' Commissioner Jan Platt said. ``It's curious that there are so many intertwining relationships. I hope everyone has disclosed those before voting on this board.''

The housing finance authority was created in 1985 to sell tax-free bonds to generate home mortgage money for low- and moderate-income families. The money is made available through local lenders, builders and developers to first-time home buyers.

Last month, the authority gave preliminary approval to $23.4 million in bonds that would have helped Civitas and the Tampa Housing Authority replace the public housing agency's Central Park Village.

If you’re a public housing resident walking through the projects in Tampa, and you find yourself in a dimly lit and out of the way area and you notice a gang of well dressed wealthy looking white folks approaching you, don’t hesitate. Grab your wallet, yell for help, and run for your life. (apologies to Michael Moore)