And we wonder why the housing stock struggles to keep up with demand. By all means… let’s reject an investment in the community, more homes, more business, and more growth to keep some dilapidated old buildings. There is a way to honor our past while still investing in our future.
EATONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A developer on Friday ended plans to purchase a 100-acre (39-hectare) property from the local school system in a historically Black town in Florida following a public outcry that the deal threatened the cultural heritage of the community made famous by Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston.
Derek Bruce said in a letter to Orange County Public Schools in Orlando that he had terminated the deal to purchase the land where a former school for Black students stood in the town of Eatonville. The school system said in a statement that it wouldn’t consider any further bids for the land.
[…]
An association dedicated to preserving Eatonville’s cultural history last week sued to stop the $14.6 million deal, claiming it threatened the cultural heritage of the town. The developer had plans to build 350 homes, as well as business spaces, raising fears the project would increase traffic and price out longtime residents of the town.
Looks like a case of ‘local control’ to me.
Indeed. And as long as I’m not being asked to pay for historic preservation or subsidized housing through my tax dollars, then good on ’em.
Sounds as if the land is already owned by a local public school system. Maintaining black history relics check a lot of boxes regardless of cost. Keeping an expensive budget line item like that around is likely to not be all that difficult. Might even find some temporary private funding to massage the short attention spans of the local fiscal hawks.
pay for historic preservation or subsidized housing through my tax dollars
Yah, well, maybe some Congressional Republicans will cancel out those programs, eh?
Or maybe not. Those subsidies go to developer/contractors who, ah, *donate* to both sides of the aisle.
An association dedicated to preserving Eatonville’s cultural history last week sued to stop the $14.6 million deal, claiming it threatened the cultural heritage of the town
The cultural heritage of….. dirt. Not to mention cracked asphalt and concrete.
The area in question is nothing but a blighted field of crap, the dilapidated “Famous Black School” having been torn down three years ago after being closed in 2009 due to lack of enrollment and sitting empty for a decade.