Pay your taxes, shut up, and die

Happy birthday Gloria Richardson (5/6/22). “A first-class citizen does not beg for freedom. A first-class citizen does not plead to the white power-structure to give him something that the whites have no power to give or take away. Human rights are human rights, not white rights.” Richardson led the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (a SNCC affiliate) in Cambridge, Maryland to fight against institutional racism.

If you were meant to have a voice you would have been born white.  This is how I feel as I type this post in the wake of HCS superintendent Casey Wardynki's meeting with Southeast Huntsville residents, organized by Huntsville City Councilman Bill Kling and community leaders.   I would describe the atmosphere as....cordial.  Unlike BOE meetings, citizens comments/questions didn't have to be written down and read by the Director of Community Engagement, also, unlike BOE meetings, the superintendent answered their questions.

Several people expressed their love and support to the Superintendent for doing the job he was hired to do.

Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu (sic) types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!

One thing I did learn as a result of the meeting is although they can't disclose who the potential buyers are for Butler High School and some of the other vacant schools in the district, residents in these neighborhoods would be happy if these deals go through.

In addition to the interest in Butler, Wardynski said, there is also a buyer interested in both Stone Middle and West Huntsville Elementary. A portion of the Stone property has already been sold off, and the school itself is being used as a storage facility by the district.
Portions of the West Huntsville building are currently being used by the non-profit Free 2 Teach and The Pinnacle Schools, the outside company that, in 2012, replaced the Seldon Center as the district's alternative school.

The current Grissom High School campus may become the site of a new southeast library and a police substation.  The current J.O. Johnson High school  facility will be used as a public safety training facility when the new school is moved less than half a mile from an active rock quarry.  It's hard to see how a public safety (police and fire) training station slapped right dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood is going to improve the quality of life and property values in north Huntsville.  But hey, it's north Huntsville, who cares?

The superintendent and the councilman did all they could to assure southeast Huntsville residents they would be pleased by the purchasers of the properties in their neighborhood, and promised they would be safe from homeless vagrants, north Huntsville residents not so much.  Speaking of security, the superintendent must have been afraid for his safety because he was there with a full security detail consisting of a HCS and HPD detail.  I thought he was the Governor of the President or something.

So tonight, at a public meeting held in a church, Huntsville leaders claim they want residents to contribute to the cities future plans. Call me cynical, but I believe the plans have already been made, and I have no reason to believe north Huntsville is included in said plans.  We can't even get them to listen to us about  a name change.  Why should they listen to us about anything else?  Seems like to me all they want north Huntsville residents to do is pay taxes, shut up, support the status quo, and die.

I feel like an unwelcome visitor in my own city.  Marginalized, minimized, under estimated and under valued.
Remember when Huntsville was known as the Star of Alabama?  What happened to that bright star?

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

—Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789

About that Second Mile Development Inc./Terry Heights Elementary School deal

West Huntsville Elementary: Appraised for $900,000. Buildings: 45,460 sq. ft. ($19.80 per square foot). Land: 5.42 acres ($166,052 per acre).

For the record, I am not saying the Second Mile Development Inc. in Huntsville, AL is associated or affiliated with the Second Mile Charity (sic) in Pennsylvania. Nor do I have anything personal against the Board of Directors/employees/clients of Second Mile Development, Inc. Again;

I'm just saying if Terry Heights is turned into an after school center it should be a public endeavor, under public control and accountable to the people, not a board of directors. After all, it's our money.

Speaking of our money, let's go inside the offer Second Mile Development, Inc made to the Huntsville City School Board to purchase Terry Heights Elementary School.

Bill McDowell, executive director of Second Mile Development, confirmed Tuesday that the Christian nonprofit has made an offer for the 48,000-square-foot building.
"We're excited about our offer," McDowell said. "We'll be scared and excited if they accept it."
The district seemed to have accepted the offer last week, when approval of the $575,000 contract was placed on the school board's meeting agenda. But the contract was pulled before the meeting.

I wonder if the reason it was pulled before the meeting is because they are not actually offering $575,000 for the 48,000 square foot building and the land it's sitting on.

The contract, as written last week, included a payment of $200,000 upon closing and five years of in-kind services that Second Mile would provide to five of the district's schools.
The services, valued in the contract at $75,000 a year, would be provided at Ridgecrest, McDonnell, Morris and University Place elementaries and Westlawn Middle.

So, Second Mile Development, Inc. is actually paying $200,000 for the 48,000 square foot building and the land it's sitting on. Not a bad deal for Second Mile Development, Inc. but it's stinking deal for we the taxpayers.

Has the property been appraised?If so what is the appraised value? Surely it's more than $575,000 in light of the fact the Downtown Rescue Mission appraised for 3.9 million and nearby West Huntsville, Elementary appraised for $900,000.

Gene Garrett, a private real estate appraiser, valued the newly abandoned West Huntsville Elementary at just $900,000. Four short blocks up Ninth Avenue from the former mission, West Huntsville has less interior space but more land.
"It's a good building," said school board President Doug Martinson Jr., referring to West Huntsville. "Certainly if the rescue mission is worth $3.9 million, then ours should be worth more or closer to it."
"It continues to cause me concern," Russell said this week. "It looks bad that we paid so much."
But Kling, who had long complained of crime near the mission, said that the neighborhood is much improved and that Russell is out of line.

Something is "out of line" all right.