Obama's Real Record: Public Housing
Obama helps rich friends but hurts communities
By Kevin Holtsberry Posted in 2008 | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Barack Obama | Obamafiles — Comments (17) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Need proof that Obama's Hope and Change rhetoric is all symbolism and no substance? Look no farther than this devastating Boston Globe investigation:
As a state senator, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee coauthored an Illinois law creating a new pool of tax credits for developers. As a US senator, he pressed for increased federal subsidies. And as a presidential candidate, he has campaigned on a promise to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that could give developers an estimated $500 million a year.
But a Globe review found that thousands of apartments across Chicago that had been built with local, state, and federal subsidies - including several hundred in Obama's former district - deteriorated so completely that they were no longer habitable.
Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and managed by Obama's close friends and political supporters. Those people profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama's constituents suffered. Tenants lost their homes; surrounding neighborhoods were blighted.
Shockingly it all comes back to friends and money. Read on.
Guess who benefited from this scam:
Among those tied to Obama politically, personally, or professionally are:
Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama's presidential campaign and a member of his finance committee. Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems.
Allison Davis, a major fund-raiser for Obama's US Senate campaign and a former lead partner at Obama's former law firm. Davis, a developer, was involved in the creation of Grove Parc and has used government subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,500 units in Chicago, including a North Side building cited by city inspectors last year after chronic plumbing failures resulted in raw sewage spilling into several apartments.
Antoin "Tony" Rezko, perhaps the most important fund-raiser for Obama's early political campaigns and a friend who helped the Obamas buy a home in 2005. Rezko's company used subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,000 apartments, mostly in and around Obama's district, then refused to manage the units, leaving the buildings to decay to the point where many no longer were habitable.
Campaign finance records show that six prominent developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively contributed more than $175,000 to Obama's campaigns over the last decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other donors. Rezko alone raised at least $200,000, by Obama's own accounting.
One of those contributors, Cecil Butler, controlled Lawndale Restoration, the largest subsidized complex in Chicago, which was seized by the government in 2006 after city inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations.
[. . .]
And although he has distanced himself from Rezko, Obama has remained close to others in the development community. Jarrett participates in the campaign's senior staff meetings. And Obama chose another close friend, Martin Nesbitt, as his campaign treasurer. Nesbitt is chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority, one of the key overseers of the shift toward private management and development.
Read the whole article. It is damning. Close friends, critical campaign fundraisers, and important supporters make a bunch of money off of government subsidized housing projects while the projects themselves fall into disrepair and the tenants suffer. Obama claims to know nothing about all this money being wasted and his friends bilking the system.
Instead of development and growth it is just another story of Chicago politics where the powerful and connected make money and poor people are left to suffer; where the government pours more and more money into projects with the same results. This is hope and change? This is Obama's home turf. This is supposedly one of his passions.
And yet look what the people working on this issue are left to say:
Jamie Kalven, a longtime Chicago housing activist, put it this way: "I hope there is not much predictive value in his history and in his involvement with that community."
They are left to hope that Obama's rhetoric has more meaning than his actual actions and history. This is a recipe for disappointment and disaster.
Ignore his words and look at his record. That is the only way we can avoid a repeat at the national level where the stakes are even higher.
Cross posted at the Stop Him Now blog.
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Or maybe an Obama Annex
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
"Jamie Kalven, a longtime Chicago housing activist, put it this way: "I hope there is not much predictive value in his history and in his involvement with that community."
Excuse me? Whats wrong with the people in Chicago? I bet this joker is still going to vote for Barry.
Ive said it once, Ill say it again. The fact Barry Obama even has a shot at becoming president shows the decay that has taken hold of America.
The Department of Education.....;^)...We're doomed....lol
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
that we don't hear doodly squat about this on CNN, PMSNBC, or any of the other MSM broadcast outlets? And I won't be terribly surprised if the lefty newspapers conveniently miss it also...
The Unofficial RedState FAQ
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. ” - Martin Luther
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
I meant "picked up by OTHER MSM newspapers" outside the BG.
The Unofficial RedState FAQ
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. ” - Martin Luther
In that they start in a stable configuration occasional. They remain in that configuration. Sometimes a wayward cell will disrupt the configuration but the overall configuration will eliminate the disruption and return the configuration to its original state.
My guess is that this news story will be like a glider slamming into an eater. 8 generations and you won't be able to tell it happened.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
No wonder Obama has taken to padding his resume in ads. Ties to slum lords are a key indicator of whether to trust this naif.
The free exchange of ideas inevitably yields both heat and light.
From the same Globe article:
Chicago's struggles with the deterioration of its subsidized private developments seemed to reach a new height in 2006, when the federal government foreclosed on Lawndale Restoration, the city's largest subsidized-housing complex. City inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations, including roof leaks, exposed wiring, and pools of sewage.
(Snip…)
Nonetheless, the buildings deteriorated badly. The problems came to public attention in a dramatic way in 2004, after a sport utility vehicle driven by a suburban woman trying to buy drugs struck one of the buildings, causing it to collapse. City inspectors arrived in the ensuing glare, finding a long list of code violations, leading city officials to urge the federal government to seize the complex.
In the midst of the uproar, a small group of Lawndale residents gathered to rally against the Democratic candidate for the US Senate, Barack Obama.
(Snip…)
Paul Johnson, who helped to organize the protest, said Obama must have known about the problems.
"How didn't he know?" said Johnson. "Of course he knew. He just didn't care."
(emphasis mine)
First and foremost, Obama is a politician. Despite his empty rhetoric to the contrary, he’s neither new, nor different.
Clearly, he's just another modern liberal.
***
“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.” – Ronald Reagan
Freedom of Religion NOT Freedom from Religion
The paragraph that caught my attention was:
"That's an example of a smart policy," the paper quoted Obama as saying. "The developers were thinking in market terms and operating under the rules of the marketplace; but at the same time, we had government supporting and subsidizing those efforts."
This man thinks that government subsidies are in the rules of the marketplace. Liberals truly do not understand private enterprise. That's why they can think in no other terms than to empower government toward the solution of all ills.
"And [critics] noted that privately managed projects had a history of deteriorating because guaranteed government rent subsidies left companies with little incentive to spend money on maintenance." [emphasis mine]
30 years ago I was working in Germany, a state already well on its sojourn to socialism. We saw it 'up close and personal' that, when the State guarantees your existence, there is no incentive to produce.
concerning some of the words they throw at us when they feel like calling us names. This kind of public/private partnership risks opening doors for real fascism, where a supreme state directs the marketplace with central planning.
it was the headlines it made in doing a good deed. Hoping that the wires don't pick up the downfall until he's crowned the savior of the poor. Notice how long it took for this to be an issue if only on the GOP blogs and papers. He is indeed been made untouchable on his so called record until recently. Too bad more such facts are not common knowledge.
It fosters corruption. Why not give the money to the people who supposedly need it, and let them spend it on housing (or lotto tickets)? Then you can control who gets the money, and get them off of it eventually. Condemn and raze sub-standard housing developments, preventing slumlords from using them. Rezko and Davis and the rest were simply slumlords, taking money and providing nothing in return, just a bunch of leeches and vipers. As a native Chicagoan, it makes me sick. Mayor Daley has maintained this great facade, but he seems to be a significant participant in this affair.
-- A true evolutionist would let endangered species die off. That's the basic tenet of the religion, isn't it?
-- Can't Feed 'em? Don't Breed 'em! --
I live in Illinois, and it is a political cesspool here. No surprise to me, but we need to get the word out.