Newsletter - December 3rd 2012

Fillmore Neighborhood Association
Newsletter - December 3rd 2012
www.FLFNA.blogspot.com

 In this edition:

1. Justice Denied at Fillmore Park Townhomes (Editorial by Jed Crawford)
2. How to Manage Debt and Proactively Avoid Foreclosure (Guest Contributor)
3. The Public School System is Constantly Losing Its Funds and Value (Local Contributor)

1. Justice Denied at Fillmore Park Townhomes
Editorial by Jed Crawford

The land laid vacant for more than 20 years before ground broke in 2010 to build 32 affordable townhomes.  For many people this was a long time coming and seen as a new opportunity for people who lost their homes from “eminent domain” and to have something to pass down to their loved ones.  But through a technicality, money going unused and a Mayor’s Office of Housing program that favors outsiders, “Urban Renewal” is alive and well at Fillmore Park Townhomes. 

The Mayor’s Office of Housing through a technicality is determining which children can receive redress from the acquisition of their parent’s property and defining what it means to be displaced using the Property Owner and Occupant Preference Program (Certificate of Preference Program), as stated in a resolution by the Redevelopment Agency, which leaves out thousands of people.  During the 60’s and 70’s if a child was born after the parents homes were taken by the “Agency” their “Certificate of Preference” could not be passed down.  This doesn’t take into account people who were denied the right to buy a home, or were forced out of their apartments and businesses.

Another unfortunate situation is the City is sitting on 4 million dollars set aside to assist Certificate of Preference holders with purchasing a home.  The townhomes only cost $200K-$300K and 4 million dollars can purchase twelve townhomes, why isn’t the City loaning “Certificate of Preference” holders the money needed to get in?  At a meeting in July of 2012, Michael Simmons (developer of Fillmore Park Townhomes) explained “about 1000 people registered online at our website for Fillmore Park Townhomes and 32 are Certificate of Preference Holders.”   He continued, “Six of the 32 applied.  Three could not secure a loan and dropped out.  One dropped out because... only wanted a three bedroom… and didn’t have the house hold size to meet the program.  One dropped out because… felt the units were too small.   One is still active.”

In conclusion, the program of the Mayor’s Office of Housing is working against Certificate of Preference holders by not setting aside all or a portion of the townhomes for them which is in line with the very aim of the development to bring justice and healing to the community.  Instead the Mayor’s Office of Housing is using the same “debt” strategy that the SFRA used and creating a false sense of pressure and urgency to sell townhomes while ignoring the needs of Certificate of Preference holders and not taking the appropriate steps to define the meaning of “displaced”.   The Mayor’s Office’s is requiring the developer to borrow the City’s own money, borrow from a bank and then sell townhomes to pay everyone back; rather than using the City’s land and money to leverage and find grants to raise the small amount of money needed to build and sell.

Pamela Sims of the Mayor’s Office of Housing is the current contact person for the monitoring of this program.  According to Ms. Sims as of October 26, 2012
twenty-one of the units have closed, 9 are in contract and two units are remaining.  I sent an email to Ms. Sims last week Nov. 28^th and asked how many of the people that moved in our Certificate of Preference holders and requested a meeting with her to discuss setting aside the remaining two townhomes for Certificate of Preference holders. 

2. How to Manage Debt and Proactively Avoid Foreclosure
(Guest Contributor)

More than 100 homes in and around the Fillmore area are in foreclosure, as homeowners here and across the country continue to struggle with mortgage debt. Since 2007, more than 4 million American homes have been foreclosed upon, with millions more homeowners teetering on the edge of default.

Losing one's home can be a devastating blow to families that, for one reason or another – job loss, medical emergency, other debts – are finding it difficult to meet their monthly mortgage payments.

However, being proactive can help avoid foreclosure, and there are steps delinquent mortgagees can take in order to either remain in their homes and communities.

(Read Entire Post)

The Public School System is Constantly Losing Its Funds and Value
By Elgin Rose (Local Contributing Writer)

“I am very curious about how Teaching first fell from its upper most prestigious position, because it had to have one. That’s when they should have gone on strike, some special moment was missed. If you look at doctors, lawyers, policeman, or fireman.  Comparatively, what could you take away from giving a lifetimes worth of essentials to many parent’s prize possessions daily, it should seem priceless.”

It takes a real query eye to restrain from passively passing judgment when explaining why our American public school system is in so much disarray. The most quintessential excuse behind every categorically deteriorating facet of this failing public education system is money. The bureaucrats will acknowledge this theory; then when it comes to supporting it with an intellectual Harvard style government research order in place; they’ve somehow managed to convince the main population that they’ve got some soul searching to do.( it’s usually said we as a nation) The bottom line is our fore founders, the system developers, with a twist of good and bad intention, built a greed based government that won’t ever allow us to fix this mess .I have three things that I think would change our American school system in a real hurry.

1. Develop laws making education more sacred.
2. Create a more unified global fund-raising for the school system.
3. Have more appreciation for our teachers. 

(Read Entire Post)