Great! Let’s Spend $1 million of Federal American Rescue Plan Funding To Update Long-Range Plans for Rocky Mount.

After Reviving Me, The Emergency CPR Unit Is Leaving

Because…..In today’s Telegram, a William West article reports on City Manager, Keith Rogers Jr.’s recommendation to spend $1 million of Federal American Rescue Plan funding for the city to update long-range plans for Rocky Mount. Adding up the sum of money already spent on PLANS will have everyone in need of emergency treatment. At least this new proposal has the decency to say they would read the other PLANS and extract the good stuff to save some money. We know there will be no problem finding another company to take our money illustrating all talk and no action.

To remind you: The background on Federal American Rescue Plan funding in Rocky Mount stated:

The city of Rocky Mount is receiving $11,521,180 in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan, which was enacted to respond to challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City Council has authorized the allocation and expenditure of $6,267,958 of these funds for the following purposes:
$1,267,958 for COVID Premium Pay for City Employees (No businesses, mind you.)
$3,000,000 for Affordable Housing (Strike ‘affordable’ and take care of housing, period.)
$2,000,000 for Downtown Development
The City is now evaluating how to best utilize the remaining $5,253,222. This is all the taxpayers get, folks!

The initial purposes have nothing to do with $1 million for more PLANS unless you are manipulating the language to fit your interpretation of the Fund. As the black gentleman said to me at one of the public hearings, “I’ve been coming to these for years and in the end they do what they want anyway.”

After the public hearings I wrote in a blog post…….

After the Public engagement meetings are over and people have been heard, I feel strongly that the residents in each of the 7 Wards can decide how they will prioritize their needs with their share of the pie. My concern is that those who are known to rig the system will use this money on some grand scheme that is profitable to them and has little to do with homes needed for Seniors, Work Force, Singles, Young Professionals, 1st time home owners. (I didn’t anticipate $1 million being redirected like this.)

The residents, through their neighborhood organizations, have a president and representatives, and it is in this setting where each ward can decide how they will spend this opportunity to save their neighborhoods. I know that Ward 1, for instance, looks more rundown than Ward 6. However, it is not equitable to say, therefore Ward 6 will not be given equal funding because they don’t need or deserve it.

Is there no sentiment to speak the obvious? The long seated councilmen who could have, should have acted on behalf of their constituents, rather than for themselves, have let the boarded-up and deteriorating housing continue to decline over 20+years. There is no money to be made in saving a shotgun house by those who know how to rig the system. ‘Others’ are blamed for the decline. The demand for using this money in an equitable way doesn’t mean equitable for everyone, does it? $1 million dollars must be spent on housing, new roofs, homes brought up to code, etc. Not on more PLANS to ignore. It is Shameful!

At issue is who can interpret the PLANS

We do not have enough leadership in place that fills that bill. We have lost our accreditation with The Main Street Program, that we desperately need. A new Downtown Development Manager, has yet to be announced, but this is a huge opportunity to provide Rocky Mount with competent leadership and vision for our on-going downtown development. I’m praying we do not shoot ourselves in the foot again.

We know how to reconnect with the Main Street Program. We already have in place a cattery of experts like Architect Milan Mehta. I propose that these ‘experts’ and a representative from the Historic Preservation Committee, Preservation Rocky Mount and City Housing Department, go down to Savannah GA. to talk to SCAD, a world leader in preservation education. Here is a blurb from their website:

“Across the globe, preservation designers spearhead the adaptive reuse of historically significant buildings, repurposing them to meet contemporary and future needs while honoring their past to create a richer local fabric. As a preservation design student at SCAD, you will develop the skills and strategies to lead the transformation of these burgeoning communities via a studio-based and digital-focused curriculum that draws directly from the university’s international recognition as a model for preservation and design.” Check this out. https://www.scad.edu/academics/programs/preservation-design

We DO NOT NEED MORE PLANS, WE NEED to create a hired position, that is credentialed in the adaptive reuse of historically significant buildings. Go down to SCAD and find a graduate of the program that will take charge of the PLANS we have already paid for that the usual suspects on the Council relegated to a drawer. Not one dime of $1 million gets spent on anything but housing, and historic downtown area commercial property, and some of the wishes of the good people that bother to come to public meeting hoping for some breadcrumbs under the table.

As you can tell, I am plenty worked up about this on behalf of our ‘at risk neighborhoods.’ I’m furious on behalf of the woman that spoke up at Councilman Blackwell’s ward #2 neighborhood meeting. After listening to the developer’s pitch on new housing, she said, “What about us, the people who have been living here and our housing?”

Raise you voice and use your influence to stop this robbery. The ‘what about us’ people already believe nothing ever changes. SHARE this blog post on your social media platforms ASAP. Inform the community of this end run around the $5 million doled out to our housing and Main Street.