{"id":464,"date":"2012-09-27T14:18:43","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T18:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/our-honest-responses-to-hud-george-rhynes-and-john-robinson.html"},"modified":"2012-09-27T14:18:43","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T18:18:43","slug":"our-honest-responses-to-hud-george-rhynes-and-john-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/our-honest-responses-to-hud-george-rhynes-and-john-robinson.html","title":{"rendered":"Our honest responses to HUD &mdash;George Rhynes and John Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Received today. -jsq<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<table style=\"width:100%;\" >\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\nSeptember 26, 2012\n<br \/>\nGeorge Boston Rhynes\n<br \/>\n5004 Oak Street\n<br \/>\nValdosta, Georgia 31605\n<\/td>\n<td>\nTO:<\/td>\n<td>U.S. Department of Housing<br> and Urban Development\n<br \/>\nValdosta City Government\n<br \/>\nValdosta Housing Authority\n<br \/>\nValdosta Industrial Authority\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\nThe following is our honest responses to HUD and in response to the\nCity of Valdosta&#8217;s 8th Year of responding to HUD CPMP\nConsolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report. This includes\nNarrative Responses to CAPER questions in relations to and with the\nConsolidated Planning Regulations and questions from the general\npublic as highlighted on page 5, paragraph 1.\n<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\n<strong>\nCITIZENS VIEW POINT\nAND RESPONSES: {GEORGE BOSTON RHYNES AND JOHN ROBNISON}\n<\/strong>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bostongbr?feature=CBAQwRs%3D\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" class=\"at-xid-6a0120a58214e4970b017c322de6d3970b\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/6a0120a58214e4970b017c322de6d3970b-pi.jpg\"    \/><\/a>\nafter reviewing all previous CAPTER&#8217;S and the city&#8217;s\nresponses to them, I commend the City of Valdosta for responding to\nHUD in an extremely professional manner on paper. One can see and\nfeel the professional prowess involved in providing these answers\nthe City of Valdosta has placed on paper over the city&#8217;s\n(long) historic past. However, when one looks deeper into the\nproblems facing our beloved community, one will find the following\nto be as Paul Harvey would say the rest of\u2014\u2014-the story!\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>\nGENERAL QUESTIONS:<\/strong> The City of Valdosta&#8217;s response on the\nissues remains the same as reported in many other CAPERS such as:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>City attained the goal of:\n<\/li>\n<li># of homes was brought up to code.\n<\/li>\n<li>Worked in conjunction with\u2014\u2014\n<\/li>\n<li>to train, resident\ninformation sessions were held that yielded nearly 30 attendees etc.\n<\/li>\n<li>Staff continues to&#8230;., Overall, the city is pleased with\nthe second Consolidated Plan Submission.\n<\/li>\n<li>(3.a) The city hosted\nseveral Section 3 Information Sessions and will continue to provide\nmore information to&#8230;. Work with local community and\nfaith-based organizations to identify and address.\n<\/li>\n<li>\nI could go\non and on with these highly professional lines of what some see as\nsolutions to the real problems in the City of Valdosta, Georgia.\nHowever there is another side and forgive me for not going through\nthe complete CAPER in the above manner. I am sure your time is\nvaluable; therefore I will cut through the chase and provide the\nfollowing in response to the City of Valdosta RESPONSES. Not only to\nthis CAPER but others we have read and taken into consideration:\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nA recent meeting held in the Valdosta City Annex about Community\nHousing etc. perhaps exemplifies\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<!--more-->\n<blockquote>\n<p>\nhow local citizens are treated;\nmistreated or overlooked throughout all levels of local governments\nplease see the video of this meeting wherein citizens barely got a\nchance to say anything at this public meeting.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAt present the head coordinator over the housing problem does not\nhave a track record of working with any Metro City Housing Problems\ntherefore citizens of concern have little to no confidence in the\nprogram from the top to the bottom, or from the onset it seems that\nthe entire system is rigged because citizens have NOT been actual\nparticipants (community) in the process or received benefits from\nthe federal program. We know this because all the people put in\nplace have been removed from office. I (GEORGE BOSTON RHYNES) along\nwith Mr. JOHN ROBINSON) was told by all involved that they\nthemselves were inexperienced in the job. Mr. Harper Hunter told us\nrepeatedly that he was inexperienced although he was given the\nposition in the Metropolitan City of Valdosta, Georgia, and now the\ncity seems to put VSEB with impediments problems that they have now.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<em>\nOver a six month period we were constantly told that employees for\nthe City of Valdosta did not have the experience or expertise to do\nthe job for which they were assigned. Even Myra Register said that\nshe was inexperienced in the area of making the necessary decisions\nand doing what was required to resolve the problems that we\npresented to the City of Valdosta. Moreover Ms. Ruby Resinger did\nnot have the experience that was needed to get the job done for the\ngood of the city and the low economically oppressed citizens. After\nMr. Harper had departed for whatever reason Ms Ruby Resenger was\nplaced in his position and the VSEB Program became a flop as seen by\ncontractors and community that met on several occasions only to be\nlet down.\n<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>\nValdosta low income contractors and community leaders along with\ncivil and human rights organizations were jerked around and led to\nbelieve that the City of Valdosta would include them into the\neconomic pie of opportunity only to be let down in what has become a\npart of the local historic archival record of total failure. Former\nMayor John Fretti brought a dark shadow over the city of Valdosta\nthat involved issues that we will not mention here but this dark\ncloud overshadowed the city and Ms. Ruby Resinger was removed from\nthe position and received a job at Valdosta State University. Many\nbelieve the normal process of applications; advertisement and\ngetting the best qualified personnel for the position was avoided to\naccommodate someone that was in the circle of power\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen Ruby was removed from the position the city put Sidney Graham\nin the position and this was another inexperienced person. It must\nbe noted that all these people that were assigned to this position\nwere removed and now Sidney Graham was assigned. Even more\nimportantly and amazing is that no qualified Black could be given\nthe opportunity to try and deal with the problems in this Metro City\nwherein Blacks are the majority. Even the city annex complex jobs\nand positions must be looked into and questioned along the lines of\ndiversity and fairness during these hard economic times. This\nmentioned only because we see a pattern and practice of the city\nplacing inexperienced people over major city programs, apparently to\nmaintain the same old power structure that has existed from the\nfounding of the City of Valdosta with no end in view.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhile Ms. Vanessa has the respect and confidence of the community\nshe does not have one small town or city that she can show the\nvalidity of her experience in resolving housing problems in a Metro\nCity such as Valdosta. We speak only because for decades Valdosta\nhas had serious problems, omissions and exclusions without solutions\nin dealing with HUD and repeated community impediments. This is not\nused as a negative reflection of Ms Vanessa but this question was\nasked for information purposes and Ms. Vanessa responded truthfully.\nTherefore this is the guessing game the City of Valdosta seems to be\nplaying all over again although we met in good faith with all\ngovernmental officials on equal and fair access to the federal\ndollars coming into our beloved community. We met honestly and\nrepeatedly with the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Former\nMayor, all Members of the City Council, Valdosta Housing Authority,\nHUD Offices in Atlanta; Lowndes County Industrial Authority, Lowndes\nCounty Board of Commissioners Chairman, Board of Commissioners and\nspoken with leaders over HUD in both Atlanta and in Washington DC.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\nWe now believe that the federal government has been pouring money\ndown into a deep hole that does little to nothing to help the people\nfor which these federal funds were designed to help!<\/span>\nAs a result of\nthe City of Valdosta Leaders feeding the HUD Office and the general\npublic with the same responses (CAPER Responses) just resubmitting a\ndifferent sheet of paper with the same letterhead says that the\nFederal Government have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, with little to\nno input; inclusion; say or income from the (very) people that these\nfunds were intended to move forward (the game remains the same).\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIn addition, we believe other communities have the same problems but\nhave completely given up on fighting the power of local governments\nand this lack of help and support from HUD allows the same people to\ncontinue getting the bids, jobs, subs and major contracts that were\ndesigned to help empower the impoverished and low economically\noppressed people in these communities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nI have visited the HUD Offices in Atlanta twice, and Mr. John\nRobinson once, and we are in agreement that the leaders in Atlanta,\nGeorgia HUD Offices; have become so bogged down into such a\nquagmire, that it does little to no good to visit them seeking\nanswers to our monstrous problems. It seem that local governments\nare so connected to the HUD Leaders in Atlanta; that their\nrelationship supersedes the valid complaints from the voices in our\nlocal community in relations to directing or redirecting of federal\ncontract dollars in our communities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWe must understand that meetings have taken place due to our\npersistence in getting some of the federal dollars redirected into\nthe low economic communities so our children will not continue to\nfill the jails, prisons and probations rolls\u2014\u2014 while\nother parents get the federal dollars from bids; contracts and\nfederally funded programs to maintain a good family structure. In\naddition, if HUD cannot get control over federal programs and insure\nfederal dollars are benefitting the people they were intended to\nhelp. Then the entire HUD Program should be dismantled and let those\nworking in those beautiful offices look for other jobs in the\ncommunity. If there are no investigations of valid complaints and\nthe rich continues to benefit while the economically oppress\ncontinues to suffer the HUD deserves to be dismantled.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nI am thankful for people on the Valdosta City Council like\nCouncilman James Wright who took a strong stand on behalf of the low\nincome communities in Valdosta (Stood alone) while others just sat\nand said nothing. It has become apparent that South Georgia News\nMedia are unwilling to publish the complete story of truth from\nlocal contractors about their suffering and it will not be included\nin this CAPER Report. Local contractors do have stories to tell\ndating back decades concerning Section 3, DOT Complaints and other\nfederal subsistent programs that poured into the Valdosta community.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe City of Valdosta allows unrealistic bids to go through to the\ndegree that many contractors of low income feel that there is no\nneed to attend meetings held by Valdosta City Officials because\nnothing have; will or can be changed without the federal government\nstepping in and this has been something that HUD has failed to do\nfor whatever reasons. Small Contractors do not have a voice although\nthey have a story to tell but have no real news media to publish\ntheir complaints.  Moreover if they speak out they fear being\nscrutinized and will not receive any work or loans from banking and\nloan institutions due to a power structure that have been identified\nin a video put together by professors at Valdosta State University\ncalled \u201cA Chorus of Fear. \u201d This video is published on\nline for all to see. Yes! Local contractors are afraid to really\nrespond to CAPERS due to fears that they could be totally LOCKED out\nfrom the process altogether (their Perception).\n<\/p>\n<p>\nLocal Contractors have a history of speaking about change orders\nthat some have mastered and is easily obtained after the bidding\nprocess ends within our beloved community. While I am not a\ncontractor but I am involved to a degree that I listen to\ncontractors that speak openly at meetings that I frequent in our\ncommunity. While at these meetings local contractors speak of bid\nrigging and trickery in the process of winning a bid to total\nexclusion.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWe were presented proof that one small contractor had the lowest bid\nbut according to him did not get the job. He also speaks of a second\nincident that was taken away from him and his workers from the low\nincome community. We have accepted the fact; that Valdosta will ever\nchange without litigation in the courts outside of the Southern\nJurisdiction of the Middle District of Georgia. Then just maybe\nwithin 100 years Blacks and other low income contractor will benefit\nfrom the federal dollars coming into our beloved community that were\ndesigned to help the poor.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nHad the powers that be wanted to do what was right and include the\nlow income contractors all these programs would not be necessary\nsuch as VSEB, but it is because few people in our beloved community\nthat want inclusion and equality wherein Blacks and other low income\ncitizens are treated as equals when it comes to HUD dollars.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>In\nconclusion:<\/strong>\nWith all the words; plans; projections; fluff; puff and\nother stuff, the Valdosta City Leaders are not who they proclaim to\nbe in their responses to HUD; but who thy prove themselves to be\nover a given period of time by respecting the citizens in the low to\nmoderate income communities along with the contractors that receives\nnothing more than words and broken promises. We have the unpublished\nhistoric record on tape, CD, DVD and in writing along with\ncontractors words with their untold stories and how they have been\nlied to over and over without inclusion into federally funded jobs.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe City of Valdosta must be questioned as to which radio stations\ndid they publish the last community meeting. Was it published on\nstations that low income citizens listen to or just on the\nconservative radio stations that our elected governmental offices\nfrequent but ignores the low income citizens and voters in our\ncommunity to no end.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>\nMyra Register said that the committee meeting was publicized on Lee\nHenderson program (see the video of the meeting)<\/strong> but this is a\nconservative radio station and does not reflect a real interest in\nnotifying the low to moderate income citizens in Valdosta. Yet, we\nread in the; CAPERS \u201cCitizens Participation\u201d about\nrequirem ents on page 5 of HUD CAPERS (Public notification).\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOur local city and county government does not address or publicize\ninformation from public meetings equally on radio. Valdosta elected\nofficials ignores the majority of citizens and gives a prelude and\nfollow up on what goes on at governmental meetings but not to the\ntotal population. It seems to show favoritism and this favoritism\napparently exists in the bidding of contracts at the expense of the\nsame low income communities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen we went to review the city answers to HUD Third Program CAPERS\nResponses there were only one copy available for citizens to review\nand Mr. Robinson and I had to share the same copy. We questioned Ms\nVanessa about the need of having more copies available\u2014\u2014\nif more citizens came into the office to review the responses to HUD\nfrom the city. This is what we see throughout the HUD the process.\nTherefore we are asking that HUD Officials; look at the video of the\nlast community meeting wherein citizens were almost TOTALLY IGNORED.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>\nIn addition, we were also told that we had to request copies under\nthe Georgia Open Records Act and this was made known to Ms Theresa\nin the Mayors Office.<\/strong> Again, this is how citizens are treated\nthroughout all levels of local government when it comes to citizens\nhere in Valdosta interacting with local governments.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nEven during public meetings throughout local governments; citizens\nto be heard are at the end of the agendas right before adjournment.\n<strong>(See the Video that will be forth coming to the HUD Office\nconcerning a newly established committee).<\/strong> The committee mentioned\nin the CAPER ignored and excluded the very people from the committee\nthat have been working for the \u201cECONOMICALLY OPPRESSED\u201d\nfor well over thre e years (they selected people who have never said\na word publically about the low to moderate income citizens).\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOnce again not a single person that is called upon by contractors\nabout their mistreatment was put on the committee for whatever\nreasons. It is as if certain people are TOTALLY locked out of the\nprocess concerning federal funded projects ass they relate to the\neconomically oppressed communities as set forth by HUD so all can\nbenefit and get their fair share of the economic pie.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nCONCLUSION: The Valdosta Daily Times published an article on Friday,\nSept 21, 2012 wherein the President of the United States to work\ntogether in a non-partisan partnership to develop a national deficit\nreduction plans. When I read our only news paper, I could not\nbelieve that our city government could take up a political issue\nthat is a major focus point in taking sides in the Presidential\nElection of our beloved nation.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOnce again, we must question if this ACTION is an ethics law concern\nwithin the state of Georgia or simply political grandstanding. Only\nCouncilman James Wright abstained from this political process which\nshould be an embarrassment to our Metro City. Had I been on the\nValdosta City Council I would have voted NO\u2014-period! This is\nmuch like the HUD Funding in our community it serves little no\nuseful purpose along the lines of meeting the needs of the\nEconomically Oppressed citizens in our beloved community.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWe need help and words on paper will end Valdosta&#8217;s problems\nin relationship of excluding the very people that the federal\ngovernment intended to help. Apparently our elected officials are\nworking against the economically oppressed and HUD out of Atlanta\nkeeps receiving the same information that local citizens are\nlaughing at in dismay. A municipality can put anything down on paper\nin these reports that paints false picture of paradise. But I remind\nboth the City of Valdosta and HUD of this one fact. \u201cThat we\nare NOT who we claim to be. But who we prove ourselves to be over a\ngiven period of time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIt must be understood that as long as FEDERAL DOLLARS come into the\nCity of Valdosta, we will not stop our quest to get the United\nStates Government to put some teeth, grit and respectability into a\nfailed HUD Program that was intended for those that continues to be\nlocked out of the process by a power structure that does NOT take\nthe poor and disenfranchised serious. They seem to ignore that we\nhave been working for nearly 4 years for equal rights, justice and\nfairness in the process. The HUD Process must include Black and\nWhite low income people and contractors and local governments must\nSTOP the unfairness, exclusion, ignoring, making people feel\nhopeless concerning the process thereby leaving our children out of\nthe economic pie! While the parents of those that are not in the low\neconomic arena continues to get the majority of funds (through bids,\ncontracts and being politically connected) to provide for their\nchildren and families at the expense of the poor and a failed\nfederal government program.\n<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\nThese are real voices from the heart\nbeat of the Southside of the Railroad Tracks of Social and Economic\nDivide.\n<\/span><\/strong>\nGod bless American and all who will do justly before man and\nour God. Peace, love, and over standing in these hard economic\ntimes!\n<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td align=\"center\">\nGEORGE BOSTON RHYNES\nRetired United States Armed Forces Military Veteran\nA concerned citizen and brother of all humanity\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\">\nJOHN H. ROBINSON\nMinister and Speaker of Truth\nCommunity Activist\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\n*Community Participation from September 10-27 September 2012 as\nlisted on the front page of the HUD CAPERS Package.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Received today. -jsq September 26, 2012 George Boston Rhynes 5004 Oak Street Valdosta, Georgia 31605 TO: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Valdosta City Government Valdosta Housing Authority Valdosta Industrial Authority The following is our honest responses to HUD and in response to the City of Valdosta&#8217;s 8th Year of responding to HUD CPMP [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,731,40,14,2,732,21,22,3,54,914,178,1672],"tags":[8736,8797,8717,8704,407,8701,8699,1190,1674,1673,8798,8702,12,7,8711,8712,8700,6,8726,8809,8749,8837],"class_list":["post-464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-bostongbr","category-community","category-economy","category-government","category-k-v-c-i","category-planning","category-politics","category-transparency","category-valdosta-city-council","category-vlcha","category-vlcia","category-vseb","tag-activism","tag-bostongbr","tag-community","tag-economy","tag-george-boston-rhynes","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-housing","tag-hud","tag-john-robinson","tag-k-v-c-i","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-planning","tag-politics","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-city-council","tag-vlcha","tag-vlcia","tag-vseb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-7u","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}