brianvt

Development going on at the east end of the Upper 3rd Ward.   www.leelandpark.com

OK, so can somebody tell me why Midtown would want the l-i housing in the TIRZ rather than elsewhere adjacent? I don't recall many places with ideas of their own future glory actually cultivating l-i housing as part of its growth plan.

As for homeownership for those who can't afford it, great idea. We could package those loans as structured investment vehicles ...

Yes, it seems this society equates low income = thieves = black/hispanic etc. Do you really think that the low income people are going to stay locked-up in third ward when all the "rich" people live next door in mid-town? (Hmmm, through what neighborhoods will the University rail line run?)

If you do a search on HCAD using MIDTOWN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY you will see they own a lot of third ward land. By buying land in this quantity the unintended consequences is that the land is going up in value and therefore taxes are going up. Third Ward developers are probably sending Coleman a big "thank you" since he is accelerating the gentrification process.

Yes, apparently it's all legal but it is clear that Coleman's focus is not on Midtown but to use the TIRZ as a means to fuel his personal vendetta against those who want to gentrify "his" neighborhood. Any idea if they're working on affordable housing in Midtown? And I wonder what percentage of their money they're using for the 3rd Ward land banking scheme......10, 50, 90? I also saw in the minutes of their Oct 2007 meeting discussion about an "affordable housing grant" for Row House CDC. I don't know the specifics but it appears that the TIRZ might be giving money to Row House CDC, which sounds like a good project but again, it appears to be more syphoning from Midtown to fight gentrification nearby.

The link is to their Agenda not the minutes. For the life of me, I have not been able to find where they post the minutes to the meetings. Does someone have to request the minutes via the Freedom of Information Act?

If the residents of the Mid-town TIRZ want their TIRZ money to fund low-income housing in mid-town then they better start talking to to the Board and the people who nominate the people to the Board becuase that is just not happpening today.

I agree with you. Trying to keep his own pond well stocked is human and forgiveable and no one wants to see the place obliterated culture-wise. The TIRZ deal is what amazes me, that he's able to get away with it, that is.

A TIRZ is required to set-aside 10% of their "revenue" for low-income housing. It also allows for using those 10% funds in an adjacent area to the TIRZ as long as it is in the same county. So legally, the board is able to do what they are doing in third ward. Socially/economically I don't think their plan is going to work, since they cannot use race to determine who lives in their housing. There are probably more white and hispanic low income people who would be eligible than african-american. The Board really needs to work with the civic associations to make sure their plans are aligned with the community.