UPDATE FULL VIDEO AVAILABLE
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL MEETING VIDEO
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Although I didn't enjoy the outcome, this hour long meeting was great. Due to technical diffuculties I only have the first 12 mins so far. I will update this later today.
I am thrilled at the amount of people that showed up and hopefully this increased scrutiny of FROED/RDA will continue because I think they need it.
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42 comments:
Please name all those sitting at the table and their positions.
I'll start closest to the camera and work my way to the end.
Ken Fiola (white shirt)- Executive VP FROED
Peter Bogle (suit)- RDA attorney
Nick Christ (can't see him too well in the video) - RDA board member
John Almeida (short guy white hair) - RDA Chairman
Dave Raymundo (light blue shirt) - RDA board member
The next women is the new RDA board member, I can't remember her name but she had recused herself from the vote because her company worked with E A Fish/Peabody.
The last women is the secretary I think. I don't know her name.
Why is Fiola sitting up there with the board if he has only been giving his opinion and not on the
RDA ??? Cozy
Maybe becuase "Kenny tells [them] what to do" - John Almeida
Hi Shamrock,
I have the full meeting on video (1 hour). I tried to uploaded it last night, but the file was too big. I will be uploading it again at noon time. I can email you the link once it uploads.
Should Fiola be sitting at the Boards table? Shouldn't he be at the other table facing the board??
It's like the old joke about hte 800 pound gorilla....Where does Ken Fiola sit? Anywhere he damn well pleases! And don't you forget it, tough guy!
BREAKING NEWS AT 4 OCLOCK ON HURRICANES HIGHWAY HOME YOU DONT WANT TO MISS>>>
I'm not listening unless it is good news and legitimate and not more of the same bullshit.
By the way 50 cops are getting laid off and many fireman, stay tuned for more breaking news.
This just in, Hurricaine sucker punches someone so hard, the force of the blow cause a shockwave that blows up homes all the way in Somerset. Film at 11...
No mention in the Hearld News about FR losing 2 million in funds, it made the front page of the SouthCoast times see it here http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090225/NEWS/90225011
Alright, it's after 6, what was the Earth-Shattering Hurricaine exclusive. Dang it, he hooked me, I'm actually curious in a morbid sort of way...I still can't bring myself to listen, but I'll read the Cliff Notes.
BREAKING NEWS? WHAT A JOKE!!! mike you are so blinded by your friendship with these people you will never see any wrong doing by them. if you have any credibility it won't last long
mike thinks he caught a politition lying!! STOP THE PRESSES
I thought Mike Herren didn't play 'gotcha politics.'
Will someone please tell me what exactly GOOD things that FROED/RDA has done for the city of Fall River in the past 10 years? Please, will someone do a policy analysis on it?
It was sad... I was roped into listening... It is a couple hours that I will never ever get back and that makes me sad.
He was using info from 2003 in an attempt to make Steve Camara look like a liar. Unfortunately for Mike, all he has is his big mouth. The information is old, outdated and no longer viable.
It was like a train wreck, I wanted to turn off the radio but wanted to hear what BS would come next. I will not make THAT mistake again.
Uh Oh, look out Steve Camara, looks you just made "The List". Watch out for flying Sucker Punches!
...and I was really hoping the "Breaking News" was that The Hurricaine was going run for some public office. Not for Mayor mind you, but does anyone else see the intrinsic comedic value in a Hurricaine campaign? Pure comedy gold!!!
I read the "smoking gun" someone (read: fiola/amaral)delivered to Herren. It says, in a nutshell, that in consideration of the low interest loans, Camara has to keep NO MORE THAN 9 units at a certain lower income level. This does NOTHING to prove how many Camara currently has filled but rather caps how many he can have. Poor guy probably does only have 3 of these filled - can't compete with the low income warehousing (and we are about to get 2 more!). I look forward to seeing you in that fool costume at the next rally as promised.
Allowed 9 but when you tke the money from affordable housing you are required to meet a minimum number .He has the 9 certs thats for sure.
What you said is false "you are required to meet a minimum number"
He cannot FORCE people to live there. He said he has 3 Sec. 8 units currently filled. Because his loan indicated he has to have a maximum of 9 AVAILABLE for lower incomes, DOES NOT MEAN, again, that he can demand or force people to come live in his units.
Like I said, the more low income warehouses we build the less likely these private landlords are going to be able to fill their units.
Just finished watching the whole meeting ... What I found interesting is that Almeida mentioned that the 20 artists lofts might actually only be 14 units .... Then later in the video he again states that it might be 20, 14 or even 10. How did he come to that conlusion? Does he know something we don't know ???
I wish I could've attended this meeting, but I work until 5 pm. Why was this meeting at 3:30 pm? I believe these meetings should all be at a time so that the working stiff can attend ...
I've read the documents and listened to both on the radio today. Mike played tape (15 times) of Camara saying he had 3 "section 8" tenants living in his 27 apartments. Camara reasserted this again today during the show.
I think what Mike missed is that the community development agreement calls for Camara to have "low income" occupants. Rents must be low as well. Camara may well be in compliance with the agreement by renting to poor people. Perhaps it's true that only 3 of the tenants have "certificates." Camara was very specific about that phrase. The other tenants may just be ordinary working poor.
The only subsidy is a $540,000 low interest loan (4%) that he was required to invest in the apartments. Is that such a great deal considering that he is restricted from charging substantial rent?
For perspective, in 2004 I obtained a standard 30 year mortgage for my house in Fall River for 5% (with a very good credit score.)
I don't see the big deal. I'll bet that many property owners in Fall River with that amount of properties have "low income" loans/tenants and accept section 8.
Doesn't the Mayor own rentals?
the point here is that Steve Camara has been profitting from government assistance and sees Durfee Street as competition. If he's so against subdized housing then he should stop making money off of it. What's his deal? I want to like him but can't trust him.
STEVE CAMARA IS NOT AGAINST SUBSIDIZED HOUSING
He IS AGAINST cutting off the waterfront nexus to downtown by turning it into another heritage heights.
well seeing that heritage heights isnt going anywhere anytime soon what good will come out of that battle?
Steve Camara is not now, nor has he ever been, against subsidized housing.
Do your research. Clearly Herren did NOT do his own research here, he couldn't argue the point at all.
But hey, whatever, it got him good ratings today, so whatever.
how come camara didnt call in today?
He did.
I hate to say it guys, but Steve Camara and some of you have fallen for the bait. Here is what Ken F. Alan A and Mikey did.
Your argument was that we need to do something with 64 Durfee St. so that it is an economic engine. Plus, it is situated in a prime location and can be used not only to help revitalize the downtown area, but serve as a bridge to the waterfront. You were spot on.
Your argument was on very solid ground when you talked about the nonesense of placing subsidized units at the location. Any businessman worth a dime knows that subsidized housing will not serve as an economic engine, so you do not place many of those units in your downtown area. (We are already loaded with them in the downtown area)
But, you allowed Ken, Alan and Mickey to make this into a personnel thing and your main points are now off to the side.
Actually there were things that Alan said that you could be hitting him off the side of the head. For example:
On WSAR he used this rational - since we already have a project abbuting the property there is no problem placing more subsidized housing.
MMM?? Here is a so-called businessman saying since you have it here - you can place it there.
With his thinking, now that we have it at 64 Durfee St. we can now place subsidized housing at the Amory.
Now let us look at what Nick Christ said on January 8, 2001:
“Recommend to the Mayor of the City of Fall River the development of a cap and a reduction of total housing units allocated for rental assistance (i.e., project based and tenant vouchers) from the current 17.3% to a range of 12% - 15% through a reduction of tenant vouchers and a reduction of density in Pleasant View, Sunset Hill, Heritage Heights and Maple Gardens.”
That is a direct quote from a report Nick Christ produced and gave to the city. Nick actually said we have to reduce subsidized units.
What you need to do is show that we need to strengthen our downtown, not weaken it as they are doing. You have to show their shortsightedness. Look at Ken Fiola, he was the Waterfront Director in 1988 for FROED. What the hell has he done in 21 year?
An amusing but sad little poem posted by southender in HN Comments (I made her/his suggested edits):
Fall River, my hometown is drowning in waste
With spending of surplus that cannot be traced
The leaders have stuck their heads in the sand
While thugs and opportunists take over the land
I yearn for the days when things weren’t so bad
And the days when the people did not seem so sad
The glimmer of hope we had in November
Is merely a feeling that’s hard to remember
Low-income housing is all we can do
But what we’ll end up is nothing that’s new
Teen mothers will refuse to make the right choice
Then provide their offspring with hardly a voice
Our children will continue to drop out of school
Then complain that the job market is heartless and cruel
The residents have ruined their once beautiful homes
And the streets are now where only the rodent class roams
We’ve paved our back yards and removed all the green
And the proliferation of poor taste borders the obscene
What we are suffering is a permanent loss
We must blame ourselves since we’re really the boss
You are absolutely right Tom!
This is an obvious attempt, and an inaccurate one, to distract people from the actual point.
In their own words :
From my perspective, all constructive comment has long ceased to be civil,” authority member Nicholas A. Christ, president of Citizen Union Bank, said at the outset. The authority adopted a motion he made to not allow citizen input, which had been allowed at the prior Redevelopment Authority meetings.
.
“The last two months have been a one-sided conversation,” Almeida said.
Shouts of “we’re not leaving” and “we didn’t come here for nothing” rang out.
No one has affected my decision except the facts,” Raymondo said.
Alan A. Amaral, president of FROED and a catalyst for creating the arts overlay district, sounded positive but regretful.
“I think it was a good process. I have no reason to think otherwise,” he said.
He criticized the “confrontational stances” opponents took saying they came “with guns blazing, trying to bully somebody. That is not going to fly.”
It should not fly here either- let them talk to themselves at govt ctr extension 1480 or write letters to the editor to make their points. It is a one-sided oonversation on the radio don't call in or listen for that matter.
Start charging advertising for every hook/hijack of your blog.
Tom Paine is 100% correct. Steve Camara lost that day he got into a shouting match with Alan Amaral on the radio. It didn't look mayoral. Also not mayoral,accusing Amaral of self interest when he had nothing to gain personally from this project. I agreed with everything the artists were saying but when the personal attacks started that is when I got totally disgusted. Steve attacking them personally opened things up for them to attack him personally and/or to get sidetracked and talk about how he was so awful because he was attacking people personally. Now we are totally off of the issue of how to properly get rid of properties like Durfee Tech and to make sure they are revitalized in the way that is best and on to bologna instead.
We will probably not get back on track and focus on this issue until the next fight over some school for sale. Nothing has been solved or will be solved. Welcome to politics in Fall River. Bob Correia isn't fit to be Mayor and unfortunately Steve Camara isn't the answer either. Old school guys, Steve less than the Mayor but old school political people aren't about to be the ones that are going to be able to get this city back on track.
Scamrock...wow we didnt think you would quit that easy..censoring your blog ,deleting posts what a hyporcrite what a coward..and you have the balls to accuse others for the same sins SHAME
I'm disappointed in Steve Camara's unprofessional behavior. Is there a chance Jacome would make another run?
Jacome won't make another run and did he ever locate his degree in music? Seriously, anybody know?
Scamrock...wow we didnt think you would quit that easy..censoring your blog ,deleting posts what a hyporcrite what a coward..and you have the balls to accuse others for the same sins SHAME
buy some ads or start your own blog. how long are you live off others?
Well it looks like the bloggers/commentors finally agree with you anon and will have to start acting exactly the way you do- it's only right after all:
"be careful what you wish for...
you just may get it "
Scamrock...wow we didnt think you would quit that easy..censoring your blog ,deleting posts what a hyporcrite what a coward..and you have the balls to accuse others for the same sins SHAME
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