N.P.A. 2009–Together We Rise

Wow. We’re exhausted. Many of us have blisters on our feet and hoarse voices . . . but the smile just will not leave our faces. Yep, SUN is back from another power-packed National People’s Action conference in Washington, DC with 600 of our organizing brothers and sisters, from 24 neighborhood groups from across the country.

NPA was created to fight the redlining of home mortgages by financial institutions, aided and abetted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. NPA has expanded over the years to include issues such as education, immigration and access to health care–the issues that residents of poor neighborhoods face every day.

The conference is equal parts leadership training, strategic planning, accountability meetings, legislative briefings and direct action protest. No time for sightseeing, the work starts when you sign in at 4 PM on Friday and isn’t over until you pull out of DC at 4 PM on Monday (although there is a party on Sunday night.)

This year, a leadership team of residents met with Ben Bernanke and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Last year we protested at his home and office. This year we were at the table. He agreed to a series of meetings in our cities to discuss plans to ease the burden of mortgage foreclosures. We’ll let you know when he comes to Syracuse!

NPA also released a report on the discriminatory lending practices of Wells Fargo, a company that targets African-Americans for high interest, high fee loans. For example, 41% of African-American borrowers in Syracuse who received a loan from Wells Fargo received one of these sub-prime loans.

The direct action protests were high energy and always a highlight of the trip. Check out some footage taken by SUN member (and chair of our Board) Dick Breland. These videos were in the lobby of the building housing Wells Fargo’s top DC lobbyist, Ted Doremus. The firm agreed to receive a copy of the NPA report on Wells Fargo’s lending discrimination. We are still working to get a meeting with top Wells Fargo officials–this was just the first step.

Then we moved on to the American Banking Association and its president Edward Yingling. The A.B.A. is lobbying furiously to gut all the programs proposed by President Obama to help rescue families in danger of foreclosure, while pushing for ever increasing amounts of money for bailouts of bankers. As The Hill newspaper reported on its website, NPA’s protest forced a lockdown of the entire office building housing their offices. A leadership team met with top officials and are working to schedule a formal negotiation meeting in the near future.

After the actions on Monday, we went up to Capitol Hill to participate in meetings with agency and Congressional staff. SUN member Amanda Pascall was a part of the leadership team that met with the chief advisor to the new HUD secretary to discuss both mortgage foreclosure prevention and more funding for programs such as the Community Development Block Grant. SUN member Maria Johnson was part of the team that briefed Congressional staff about a proposed bill that would fund a pilot program for rust-belt cities with populations under 150,000 struggling with economic decline and increases in vacant housing.

Our intrepid band of SUN folks are back home, energized to continue our mission of improving our neighborhoods.

SUN And The New Media

SUN gets social . . . social media that is.

Check out videos taken at the most recent National People’s Action conference by our Board Chair Dick Breland at our
YouTube users page

Also, you can follow us on Twitter and check out information about upcoming meetings, articles and videos of interest and all kinds of stuff.

SUN Testimony at Common Council Hearing on CDBG Budget

My name is Maria Johnson and I am a member of the Board of Directors of Syracuse United Neighbors (SUN). SUN’s members are families living on the south, southwest and near-west sides of Syracuse. SUN’s concern is for our neighborhoods, for the crisis in housing that everyone sees when they look out their doors: the increasing number of abandoned houses, the fact that few of these vacant houses are ever rehabbed and the near impossibility for low and moderate income families to receive financial assistance to repair their own homes. These are the struggles the CDBG program was created to address.

We are at a crossroads in this country–the economy and credit markets have collapsed and the government has had to step in and provide the capital needed to keep our economy from grinding to a halt. Our new administration is asking us to believe again–to have hope. But it is also asking us to be accountable, to use the money the government provides in as efficient a manner as possible.

Let’s face it. This budget that you are approving today doesn’t meet the high standards set by the Obama administration. $2.8 million out of the $6 million of CDBG entitlement funds given to the city by HUD is going right into the pockets of City Hall bean-counters. Why should homeowners give up the chance at a home improvement loan to fund a Department of Economic Development that does nothing while the only grocery store on the Southside disappears? Why should neighbors give up hope of dangerous vacant houses being demolished because the city wants to create a slush fund called Special Housing programs that it refuses to describe in any detail whatsoever? Why should low-income neighborhoods plan for rehabilitation of vacant houses for new owner-occupants? The money will instead go to the administrative costs that eat up 46% of the CDBG budget–despite the fact that these costs are supposed to be capped at 20%.

We will be back here shortly to discuss how to use an additional $1.6 million in CDBG funds added to the budget in the Obama stimulus package. Administrative costs for that money is limited to 1%–or $16,000. SUN urges the Council to demand that the city take not one dime out of this additional money for overhead and apply the entire amount to actual housing projects–like the demolition of 170 W. Brighton and repurposing of the land to benefit the adjoining Cannon St. community center. But we’ll be back to talk about that.

SUN has three recommendations: for the current budget:

1) City departments must release detailed budgets and program descriptions for all money it receives from the CDBG budget–just like everyone else.

2) Eliminate all technical service lines, using the money to fund housing programs.

3) Create a program to help displaced renters and homeowners find new housing.

Update: A Victory On 133 South Ave.

On Monday March 16th, the Syracuse Common Council voted unanimously NOT to declare 133 South Ave. a historic house, overturning the recommendations of the city’s Preservation Board and its Planning Commission. At two prior hearings, neither board would allow SUN to discuss the conditions of the house that plagues the neighborhood: physical deterioration of the house, trash, drug dealing etc. In fact, the Preservation Board threatened to have SUN’s director arrested.

As you may recall, SUN staged a protest at the law office of the absentee landlord of the property, Mr. James Medcraf. The owner, has kept the property vacant for 17 years and ignored a State Supreme Court order to demolish the property since 2006. SUN’s protest prompted the city to pressure Mr. Medcraf to apply for a demolition permit. The two city boards put a hold on the demolition, citing the historic nature of the house. But Mr. Medcraf can no longer hide behind the city’s arcane historic property regulations. Pony up Mr. Medcraf. 133 South is comin’ down. Stay Tuned!