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Julio Laguarta stood in a busy hallway in the City Hall Annex, looking tense and uneasy. It was early October, but for the squat, burr-headed homebuilder, it was getting uncomfortably late in the game.
For almost two years, Laguarta had been quietly making deals to buy up an 80-block area in the Fourth Ward just west of downtown. By late last summer, he had negotiated earnest money contracts on roughly half the territory, some 1,100,000 square feet of the hardest-looking urban real estate in Houston.
In September, City Council had approved a plan by Houston Renaissance -- a private, nonprofit corporation Laguarta formed in 1994 -- to develop and sell home sites in the area, which happens to encompass land that was first settled by freed slaves. Since 1986, that land has been known as the Freedmen's Town Historic District, and though it's been reduced over the years to a neglected wasteland inhabited by less than 800 people, most of them very poor, it remains sacred ground to many black Houstonians.
Given Houston Renaissance's own history, it really shouldn't surprise anyone that the group has yet to acknowledge that significance. As a result, everything about the men behind Renaissance -- who they are, what they want to do, and how -- haunts their plan to make over one of the most coveted pieces of land in the city and alienates them from the very community they vow to save.
The idea of a private-sector organization rebuilding the urban core was first broached by Laguarta, who was a member of the Houston Planning Commission until it was recently revealed that he actually lived in Bellaire. Also involved in fashioning the initial concept was Billy Burge, a confidant of Mayor Bob Lanier and a suburban developer with a River Oaks address, who, at the time, was the chairman of Metro. In late 1994, Burge pitched Houston Renaissance to Lanier, who was currying favor with U.S. Secretary of Housing Henry Cisneros in anticipation of launching a series of inner-city revitalization projects.
The mayor liked what he heard, and the new organization attracted a wealthy, pedigreed board of directors who, like Laguarta, have business relationships with the local building and banking communities that are at least as solid as their political connections. No less than five of Renaissance's board members are in the real estate business, either as brokers, developers or builders. Two of Houston's most prominent construction companies -- the W.S. Bellows Corporation and P.G. Bell Company -- are represented on the board. The group's secretary and treasurer, Pat Kiley, is executive director of the city's largest association of contractors.
In November 1994, Laguarta announced that Renaissance's first project would be to rebuild an area bounded by Dallas, West Gray, Taft and Heiner streets. Shortly after that, the mayor's Neighborhoods to Standard program finally made it to the Fourth Ward; a whopping $9 million in street, curb and gutter and sewer reconstruction projects are now under way in the area, which hasn't seen any such improvements in at least two decades.
So last October, Julio Laguarta walked into Council chambers confident he would leave with a $3.4 million grant that Houston Renaissance would use to close on the land. But before that could happen, he received a crisp reminder that the Fourth Ward was unlike any real estate venture he or his colleagues had ever pursued.
As luck would have it, the Houston Renaissance grant appeared on Council's agenda a few weeks after the city had given Randall Davis, another politically wired private developer, a generous subsidy for his renovation of the Rice Hotel. That deal, a key project in Lanier's inner-city strategy, was criticized by three African-American councilmembers, Michael Yarbrough, Jew Don Boney and Judson Robinson III. They complained that Davis, who is white, had been given preferential treatment and a handout to build downtown housing for other well-off whites. (It didn't help that Davis gave Council no assurances that he would adhere to the city's minority hiring guidelines.)
Laguarta had to anticipate that his Fourth Ward project, which will include homes priced as high as $150,000, would rile the usual suspects on Council for several reasons -- not the least of which was that the Houston Renaissance plan has a lot more in common with Randall Davis and the Rice Hotel than it does with those who either live in Freedmen's Town or feel an obligation to preserve its African-American history.
Perhaps much more significant, however, is that Renaissance hopes eventually to cram at least 2,000 new homes into the area. That would essentially wipe out any vestige of the past, not to mention displace poor black and Hispanic residents for whom inexpensive housing options are limited. Moreover, the $3.4 million grant would put Houston Renaissance firmly in control of an area that is eligible to receive millions of dollars in various federal housing subsidies.
Given the stakes, Yarbrough, a young second-termer from Pleasantville, didn't hesitate a moment before exercising his right to be a contrarian. He immediately "tagged" consideration of the grant, delaying a vote on the award for one week.
Outside Council chambers, Laguarta commiserated with Jim Tipps, assistant director of the city's Department of Housing and Community Development, over the thankless lot of the urban pioneer. They were standing near a wall, at the end of a short, narrow corridor. At the other end of the hallway were Jew Don Boney; Richard Johnson, chief aide to Yarbrough; and the Reverend D.Z. Coffield, a member of the Fourth Ward Ministers Alliance, which represents the interests of the area's 16 houses of worship. Their conversation was held in hushed tones, but was furiously animated. They were soon joined by Tipps's boss, Margie Bingham, who, as the city's housing director, is responsible for recommending which organizations receive federal economic development funds.
Laguarta checked the gleam on his shoes; Tipps, a mournful-looking man relatively new to the city bureaucracy, put his hands in his pockets and looked around. They were only a few feet away from Boney and the others, but they might as well have been separated by the polar ice cap.
"I don't get it," Laguarta said at one point. "I really don't."
It's probably more troublesome than sad that Julio Laguarta professed to be so clueless, for the simple reason that no one involved in Houston Renaissance could be that ignorant of the political realities of urban redevelopment.
There is, however, more than a little self-righteousness, even arrogance, behind the group's approach to rebuilding the Fourth Ward. And if things go as planned, Renaissance hopes to turn the project into a model for rebuilding other distressed inner-city neighborhoods -- a goal that conjures the unpleasant prospect of a bunch of suburban developers tearing into the city's distinctive urban enclaves. Moreover, Renaissance de- scribes itself as a private, nonprofit corporation, a designation that demands some charitable or civic mission. But it's difficult to see what exactly the organization intends to give -- particularly since it is asking the city of Houston to pay for it.
The plan Council approved last fall was to be funded by a $7.4 million Economic Development Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which would come with another $7.4 million of federal housing loans guaranteed by the city.
According to Houston housing officials, HUD was awash in EDI applications from other cities, which caused an indefinite delay in the funds' arrival. With a number of Renaissance's real estate contracts about to expire, Lanier ordered up $3.4 million in seed money for the group, culled from two separate city housing funds. Despite Yarbrough's tag, Council approved Lanier's request in October so the group could begin assembling land.
Federal regulations stipulate that the money be used in blighted neighborhoods to create large-scale "homeownership zones" for families with a broad range of incomes. Increasing the number of jobs and small-business opportunities is encouraged, and significant contributions are expected from banks, foundations and community-based groups. The feds call it "New Urbanism," and it's worked in places like Boston, Pittsburgh and Richmond, Virginia.
In theory, the program seems almost utopian: the government bringing together the well-off and the poor to live, work and raise their families in harmony. The reality, however, is that prospects for the Fourth Ward seem far less reassuring. For one thing, the private-public partnership between Houston Renaissance, the city and the community is tenuous, at best. While it is still hoped that construction of more than 100 new homes will be under way by year's end, distrust among the partners has tied up contract negotiations on the $3.4 million grant, stalling the evolution of the redevelopment plan.
At the heart of the dispute is, of course, what Houston Renaissance wants to do to the Fourth Ward and how it plans to do it. According to its EDI proposal, the group hopes to "augment" the federal grants and loans with another $85 million, about half of which, Renaissance projects, will come from revenues generated by the sale of land to private builders. Additional public money, in the form of tax credits, mortgage assistance and, perhaps, community development block grants will ultimately be available as well. Renaissance has also begun soliciting contributions from foundations and is negotiating a $7.2 million line of credit with a consortium of banks.
Once the land is purchased, all but a few of Freedmen's Town's old trademark bungalows and shotgun shacks will be demolished. Those worth rehabilitating will be moved to a new "historic district," which will be reduced from 40 blocks to a quaint seven-block theme park. A trolley car route will connect the special district to the rest of the neighborhood, which will be built out to a tightly packed scheme of townhomes, row-house-style structures and commercial space. As many as 25 retail or single-family residences, or a combination of the two, will be constructed on each block, more than double the current density.
The result will render the Fourth Ward unrecognizable from its current state. Although severely depressed, the ward retains a sleepy, small-town feel that is a reasonable approximation of how the neigh- borhood was 100 years ago -- notwithstanding the downtown spires that now hover over its shoulder.
At $5 to $7 a square foot, this is some of the most valuable raw land in the inner city, and developers have long envisioned its potential. A recent study commissioned by Houston Housing Finance Corporation -- the quasi-public city agency headed by Michael Stevens, Lanier's unpaid urban revitalization advisor -- estimates that the Fourth Ward can accommodate as many as 4,000 new housing units over the next ten years.
Houston Renaissance is prepared to develop 2,000 of them in a mix of lofts, condominiums and houses priced from about $75,000 to $150,000. Its plan suggests some apartment units will be built on the east side of the project in the vicinity of I-45. The group also hopes to raise $2 million to acquire land for five parks.
Renaissance is required by law to use the $3.4 million grant from the city for 350 "affordable" single-family homes reserved for households earning 50 to 80 percent of the area median income, which is about $46,000 for a family of four. Prices for those homes will be capped at around $90,000. That's not at all attainable for the people who live in the Fourth Ward now, but it's not supposed to be.
Board member Gilbert Herrera, an investment banker, says Renaissance has identified 100 or so elderly persons living in the neighborhood as a "priority population." The plan is to temporarily relocate them during the redevelopment, then bring them back as the work is completed. Beyond that, however, Herrera says Houston Renaissance is under no further obligation to house the Fourth Ward's residents, or by extension, poor working families that live in cheap, substandard dwellings across the city.
"We'd like to find a way to house that elderly population, either by rehabbing the house or finding a way to convert rent to mortgage payments," Herrera says. "But if it's a group environment where four or five people live there together because it's a cheap place to live, we don't have a duty in my view to homestead [them]. They fall victim to the same economic situation that you and I fall victim to, and that is we'd all like a place where we can pay $150 or $200 a month. But the fact is, no one guarantees us that."
That's irrefutable logic in the private sector, but not what you'd expect to hear from a sincere philanthropic effort -- particularly one supported by the taxpayers.
Stephen Fox, an architectural historian at Rice University who has studied the Fourth Ward, says Houston Renaissance appears intent on exercising what he calls the "total destruction option" -- an approach associated with "a strictly market operation" rather than a nonprofit.
"They want to act like private developers when, in fact, aside from their personal attitudes and orientation about this, they are statutorily a public body because they are a nonprofit," Fox says. "To me, it's fundamentally based on what one's values are. Obviously, if those values are 'how can we make money from a given situation?' then Houston Renaissance makes perfect sense. Of course, if you have other values that say that community stability is a good thing, that historic preservation is a good thing, that conservation of distinctive, long-standing subcultures is a good thing, then their argument doesn't amount to much.
"It's an old, tired, extremely poor neighborhood, and it's not likely, without the leverage of some outside agency, to change. But I find it appalling that so much of this important historic community will be destroyed by people to whom that doesn't matter at all -- and that the city, which should be there, in my opinion, to defend the integrity of this community, is making it possible."
Whether or not Houston Renaissance is a charitable organization is a matter of interpretation. The IRS didn't think so when Laguarta filed an application for tax exemption in February 1995, three months after he announced Renaissance's intent to rebuild the Fourth Ward.
At the time, the group's mission mirrored that of Citizens for a Better Houston, a volunteer organization that came together four years ago to fight the proposed zoning ordinance. Among the group's most active members were its leader, Laguarta; co-founder Billy Burge; Pat Kiley, executive director of the local chapter of the Association of General Contractors; architect Frank Kelly; and Republican consultant Denis Calabrese.
Citizens for a Better Houston launched an aggressive advertising campaign that touted deed restrictions as a better way to protect the city's neighborhoods, and the ordinance was defeated in November 1993. After the election, the organization decided to continue its efforts.
Renaissance board member Holcombe Crosswell, who recently replaced Burge as Metro chairman, sat on Houston Renaissance's first executive committee. Crosswell, the grandson of legendary Houston mayor Oscar Holcombe, recalls the genesis of the new group's formation as "wanting to do something instead of being against something."
"At that time, we didn't know quite which way to go," Crosswell recalls. "As I recall, we floundered around for a year before we got into the idea of inner-city redevelopment."
Indeed, the group's early mission was so vague that, at first, it couldn't qualify as a nonprofit under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. As described in its application, Renaissance proposed to act on a number of ideas, including "a comprehensive city plan" and "long-term strategies and programs" for rebuilding the inner city.
But the IRS envisioned no public benefit resulting from the group's stated intentions and, in a reply to Laguarta, noted that Renaissance "lacks charitable purposes and a targeted charitable class." The feds suggested it might more accurately be called a "civic league."
A month later, Laguarta packed off some additional information to the IRS, outlining Renaissance's goal of "transforming blighted, unproductive tracts of land in inner-city neighborhoods into low to moderate income housing developments ...." At that point, Renaissance was hunkered down at the drawing board, devising a plan for the Fourth Ward. But for the IRS, Laguarta sketched out a scenario that suggested the organization was working closely with the Lanier administration on broader possibilities.
Laguarta told the agency that Renaissance and mayoral advisor Michael Stevens had "identified and utilized municipal programs available to aid housing development" in the Fourth Ward. Laguarta added that he was also having discussions with the board of the Midtown Redevelopment Authority, a special taxing district, "to identify potential development sites."
Like the Fourth Ward, the Midtown district between the Pierce Elevated and U.S. Highway 59 is one of several key, interlocking components in Lanier's urban renewal strategy. The potential for Midtown, which borders the Fourth Ward to the northwest, has been greatly enhanced by property tax breaks that could total as much as $350 million over the next 30 years. Those subsidies were assembled by the Council-appointed board of the Midtown Redevelopment Authority, which is chaired by another close Lanier associate, Doug Williams.
Williams is on the city payroll at $112,000 a year, plus a generous benefits package. As the mayor's special assistant for inner city revitalization, he was hired to advance a series of urban redevelopment projects that include Midtown and the Fourth Ward.
Satisfied by Houston Renaissance's promise to build low-income housing, the IRS finally granted the organization its nonprofit tax exemption in November 1995, by which time the group's board had begun to flex and contract in significant ways. Burge, who was listed as a board member in Renaissance's early promotional literature, stepped back at the request of Lanier, who didn't like the idea of one of his closest friends on the receiving end of public money. He now has an "informal role" as an advisor, according to other board members.
The group also brought three African-Americans onto its board: insurance agent Bill Calhoun, a Republican who is vice chairman of the board of Unity Bank, the only black-owned bank in the state; attorney Jim Lemond, a former lobbyist for the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld; and Third Ward developer Gerald Womack, who was active in Sheila Jackson Lee's 1994 congressional campaign and is now working on the City Council campaign of the Reverend James Dixon.
Two other original board members became paid consultants to the organization: Consultant Denis Calabrese stepped down to handle public relations and fundraising, while Barry Snowden, a member of Renaissance's first executive committee, became its legal counsel.
But the most prominent -- and troubling -- transformation was in Laguarta's role. In a brief document drawn up in 1995 and entitled simply "4th Ward Building Plan," Laguarta -- Houston Renaissance's founder and, at the time, president of its board of directors -- proposed that he and the group form a "joint venture" in which he would become the "operating partner."
In late 1995, Laguarta took over the day-to-day strategy of securing the Fourth Ward land in exchange for a $6,000-a-month fee, plus $3,000 for administrative expenses. He stands to make hundreds of thousands of dollars more in real estate commissions when his Fourth Ward contracts come to fruition.
Laguarta could probably use the money. In fact, his job with Houston Renaissance has been one of his more lucrative undertakings of late. Last July, the homebuilder filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing assets of $1.7 million against liabilities of more than $3 million, including about $30,000 owed to the IRS.
The bankruptcy petition shows that in the last three years Laguarta's annual income -- he owns National Homes Corporation and Laguarta & Company and is involved in a number of real estate partnerships -- has declined to about $40,000. Board president Frank Kelly explains that paying Laguarta was "essential" to Renaissance's ability to carry out its Fourth Ward plan.
"Julio brings to the table both the expertise in real estate development and the knowledge of the city and area," Kelly says. "We needed him to work full time on this thing, and the clear agreement was that he couldn't do that and be a member of the board. So he left the board, and we hired him."
It's probably best that the Lanier administration recently ordered Laguarta to step down from the Planning Commission after it was revealed that he had been violating the commission's by-laws by living in Bellaire. Elected officials and appointees are prohibited from benefiting from city-backed programs, and Renaissance has asked to be reimbursed by the city for more than $300,000 in administrative expenses, including more than $270,000 paid to the three former board members. Had he remained a planning commissioner, Laguarta's fee arrangement may have constituted a conflict of interest under city law.
As it is, Houston Renaissance has enough to worry about from an image standpoint. Even its board members, none of whom have done an iota of business in the Fourth Ward, acknowledge that the involvement of this particular mix of people could lead to some unflattering conclusions.
"Everybody assumes someone's got land or is going to get a contract," says Crosswell. "That's everybody's natural inclination.
"I have zero interests. I don't sell insurance, I don't own land anywhere near the vicinity and I'm not an engineer. There is absolutely zero for me to get out of this, and I don't believe anyone on the board has any financial interest anywhere near the place."
The Renaissance board members are simply "civic minded," Crosswell concludes. "That's the difference. We got a lot of other things we could be doing."
Property tax records support Crosswell's claim, repeated by other board members, that none of them have direct ownership interests in the Fourth Ward. That said, the civic minds alluded to by Holcombe Crosswell are apparently only willing to open so far.
Renaissance is indeed planning 350 houses priced within reach of buyers determined by HUD to be "moderate income" wage earners. That's nice, but it's hardly charity: Taxpayers, not Houston Renaissance, will foot the bill. The city's $3.4 million grant will be used to "buy down" the cost of the land for the 350 low-cost units, savings that will be passed onto homebuyers.
But if Renaissance gets its way, a portion of the grant will be held back and used to buy land for market-rate housing that will generate significant revenues for the nonprofit. Board members maintain that Renaissance will eventually meet its affordable housing obligations, though it's easy to get the sense they'd prefer they didn't have to.
"Our quid pro quo with the city is to ensure that there is a true, mixed-income, diverse community," says board member Gilbert Herrera, who has a significant stake in Renaissance's success, having personally guaranteed a $250,000 bank loan for the project. "The only way the city can ensure that certain units are set aside as affordable is to participate in a meaningful way."
Herrera acknowledges that Houston Renaissance, as a nonprofit, has thus far been able to overcome the kind of obstacles that have thwarted previous efforts to redevelop the Fourth Ward.
"First, it allows us to take advantage of these public-private partnerships with the city," he says. "And two, it removes the very issue that got American General in trouble, which is a bunch of white, for-profit developers coming in and trying to dictate to a black community what they're going to do."
Herrera was referring to Founders Park, a Fourth Ward redevelopment project proposed in the late eighties by American General and the Cullen Center, the corporate legacies of two local civic deities, Gus Wortham and Hugh Roy Cullen, respectively. Founders Park was to be financed in part by property tax subsidies, but the plan dissolved after the administration of then-mayor Kathy Whitmire failed to lend its support.
Another factor in the death of Founders Park was Allen Parkway Village, which lies just north of the Fourth Ward. In opposing the redevelopment, low-income housing advocates rallied around the near-empty housing project to highlight the failure of the proposal to address the needs of poor residents.
"If you reflect back on it," says Frank Kelly, Renaissance board president and an architect who worked on Founders Park, "these were two corporations that had all the bucks necessary to make the thing happen without anybody else doing anything. But in the end, they just concluded that, with the political atmosphere and the lack of support from the city, it just didn't make sense and they quietly let it drop.
"We don't have that sort of corporation. The city's health is pretty doggone important, and I think this is a classic case of folks who care trying to figure out how to make something happen."
What Houston Renaissance came up with was to fashion itself into something called a "community-based development organization," a HUD designation that qualifies the nonprofit group for certain federal subsidies. By definition, a CBDO, as they are known, assumes a grassroots approach to economic development. For-profit corporations, as well as nonprofits, can qualify, as long as 51 percent of their boards of directors are either "low- and moderate-income residents of its geographic area of operation" or active in serving the area, either as, say, the owner of a business or pastor of a church.
Last August, as Renaissance was preparing its EDI grant proposal, Laguarta wrote Jim Tipps, the city's deputy director of housing, asking for "expeditious approval" of the group's CBDO status. Laguarta opined that Renaissance qualified because a "preponderance" of the board were "owners or senior officers" of area establishments that served the community. In case the city didn't agree, Laguarta indicated he was prepared to let HUD make the determination.
However, Laguarta wrote in closing, "We trust the enclosed materials are sufficient for your department to qualify [Houston Renaissance] as a CBDO without doing so." Apparently, Laguarta failed to immediately convince city housing officials. It wasn't until two months later -- during which time Houston Renaissance went ahead and described itself as a CBDO in its grant proposal to the city -- that housing director Margie Bingham notified Laguarta that HUD had agreed to the designation.
Houston Renaissance probably could have skipped the CBDO gyrations if it had simply put a few Fourth Ward residents or ministers on its board of directors. The most obvious choice would have been Gladys House, director of the Freedmen's Town Association, one of the city's oldest community development groups.
A longtime Fourth Ward activist, House is probably the most strident defender of the neighborhood's black heritage, and she was instrumental in getting Freedmen's Town listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Not surprisingly, she was left almost apoplectic when Laguarta announced Houston Renaissance's plan in November 1994, and she has remained pretty much of the same mind since then.
After so many years of neglect, House wondered, why is the Fourth Ward suddenly so popular with private developers? And why is the city so anxious to accommodate this particular group, especially when House has been trying for years to launch a few modest community development projects of her own?
"I've been here for 16 years, trying to do good," says House, who last summer was responsible for the first new home built in Freedmen's Town in 50 years. "But there's been all of these complaints that Gladys House hasn't done anything. Well, the city never would give us the money that they're throwing at Houston Renaissance."
Nonetheless, everyone involved knew better than to ignore Gladys House, who has filed several complaints with HUD alleging bias in the city's awarding of federal housing funds. City housing officials organized meetings with the Freedmen's Town Association and Houston Renaissance, with the hope that the two groups could collaborate.
No one was surprised, however, when, in late summer 1995, Laguarta and House ended their brief affiliation, as philosophically opposed as the day they met. House now accuses Laguarta of stealing her ideas for redeveloping the Fourth Ward, though the homebuilder says House really didn't have much to offer.
"It became clear to us," says Laguarta, "that there was no compatibility on the basis of her skills and resources. Whether it was management style, experience, whatever, there just weren't the ingredients for a successful relationship."
House submitted her own EDI proposal last summer, a development of traditional single-family houses she envisioned would complement historic homes she hoped to rehabilitate. In December, three months after the city approved Renaissance's plan, she filed another complaint with HUD, alleging racial bias that "assured delivery of money to big developers rather than grass-roots, community-based and minority-run Freedmen's Town Association."
The complaint probably killed any chance that House might have of ever contributing to the Renaissance project, either as a subcontractor or by helping find potential buyers for the group. But in the opinion of Rice University's Stephen Fox, Houston Renaissance, by dismissing House's input, set a dangerous precedent for other neighborhoods the organization may have designs on in the future.
Fox says the revitalization of another inner-city community, the West End, is an example of how the Fourth Ward could be rebuilt. The neighborhood, north of Washington in the Shepherd-Durham area, is made up largely of Hispanic renters, most of them poor. In the past few years, a number of more affluent residents have moved in and rehabilitated old homes or built new ones without disrupting the lives around them. But generally, says Fox, community historic preservation is ignored in Houston.
"We tend to see it in extreme situations, which is either preserving it as a kind of perverse museum of racism and poverty or annihilating it and replacing it with something that is totally unconnected in any respect to what was there before."
Because of its past, fashioning the Fourth Ward's future is a sensitive endeavor that has already wrought considerable conflict. But there is little disagreement that something needs to be done.
A decade ago, the National Historic Register recognized Freedmen's Town as "one of the oldest and most important black communities in Houston," providing the "economic, spiritual and cultural focus" for the city's African-Americans.
Passing through the area today, it's difficult to make that connection. Streets are narrow and rutted and in some cases dead-end at litter-strewn lots or abandoned commercial property. Many of the old shotgun shacks are on the verge of collapse or have already fallen to the ground. And the extreme poverty that burdens Fourth Ward residents has prohibited even the spark of private redevelopment activity that you can now find in other depressed neighborhoods.
The average yearly income in the Fourth Ward is less than $10,000. Rents average about $200. Though Renaissance will be publicly subsidized, the nonprofit's success depends on its ability to operate like a private, for-profit developer. So far, that approach has found few real barriers; Renaissance has been able to do what developers do: assemble land, though the organization has no money to actually buy it.
But that's where life as Renaissance knows it ceases to exist. Before it can begin developing its first 680 home sites, the group has to reach an agreement with the city on the use of the $3.4 million grant. According to sources familiar with the negotiations, that has been anything but an easy process, with current talks essentially a struggle for control of the project.
"A lot of people who've been with the city for a long time and have watched this Fourth Ward thing want to see it done right," says one source. "I don't think they're concerned much with who's going to do it, but there's a real sensitivity to low-income people and minorities.
"I think what you've got now is the city in the middle, saying this is what we do and this is why we're here. They can't just write a contract and give it to Houston Renaissance."
Among the points of contention: How Renaissance wants to spend the grant, and what happens if it defaults and fails to generate 350 affordable homes. Correspondence between the group and the city's Legal Department indicate that Renaissance is seeking to delay development of some of the affordable housing units in order to proceed with the purchase of land on which market-rate housing will be built.
That strategy would generate revenue that the nonprofit could use to build out the Fourth Ward according to its master plan, which projects as many as 2,000 homes. It might also provide the capital needed to rebuild other neighborhoods, though Renaissance will not be obligated to develop low-cost housing in those places.
But in a December 18 letter to Renaissance attorney Barry Snowden, assistant city attorney Jean White pointed out that such an arrangement for the Fourth Ward does not meet federal regulations, since the affordable housing units are restricted to low-income persons for only five years. Therefore, White wrote, "there is a real likelihood that the agreement will terminate prior to actual completion of 350 homes and the sales thereof to 350 qualified homebuyers."
Snowden, whose expertise as a real estate attorney has been largely for the benefit of private developers of master-planned communities, disagrees with that interpretation.
"If you look at the regulations, you can see that HUD doesn't look at housing development as a bigger scheme," Snowden says. "It's a government program to the builder, rather than a government program to developer, then to builder. The regs are intended to include both, but they haven't been applied that way."
City attorneys and housing officials refused to comment on the contract negotiations, other than to say they are "ongoing." But how Houston Renaissance agrees to spend the grant is of no small concern, given that the group is also looking to secure some generous terms should it default and fail to build the requisite number of affordable homes.
In her letter to Snowden, White took issue with Renaissance's insistence that it not be required to repay the grant if low-income housing requirements are not met. She reminded Snowden that HUD would demand that the city repay the $3.4 million subsidy if the project produces anything less than 350 affordable homes for the Fourth Ward.
Even if some city officials are wary of Houston Renaissance's ultimate intentions, Michael Stevens isn't. Since he was tapped by Lanier in early 1995 to be the mayor's "special assistant for housing and inner-city revitalization," Stevens's responsibility has been to screen each urban redevelopment project brought before the administration.
Some credit him for the resolution of the Allen Parkway saga, which ended after 15 years last spring when HUD finally approved the project's demolition. Others believe Stevens possesses a power that borders on sinister: When the city's housing authority recently missed the deadline for an application to build 400 units of subsidized apartments in the Fourth Ward, Stevens was blamed in some circles for orchestrating the snafu.
Though improbable, it's not such a stretch. Stevens's bottom line is, well, the bottom line, and Houston Renaissance board members say the city capped affordable housing in the Fourth Ward at 350 because that's all the market could handle. Yet even Stevens, an apartment developer with millions in real estate holdings, professes to understand the political implications of what Renaissance is trying to accomplish.
"They have no alternative but to provide those 350 affordable houses," says Stevens. "That contract is a legal obligation for them to deliver something, and if the contract is breached, those board members have a liability. This is a well-aware group of people who, I think, would fairly cringe at the prospect of being in noncompliance."
Stevens has already demonstrated that he can step in and close a deal, if that's what Lanier decides is necessary. His behind-the-scenes involvement in the Rice Hotel negotiations turned the tide and delivered the coveted project for the Lanier administration. It's probably only a matter of time before the mayor grows impatient with the pace of the Renaissance project and asks Stevens to settle the issue.
To do that, however, Stevens will have to somehow appease Jew Don Boney, or risk what could become a public confrontation. The freshman representative from District D, which includes portions of the Fourth Ward and Freedmen's Town, has kept tabs on the Renaissance project on behalf of the Fourth Ward Ministers Alliance.
Boney and the dozen or so ministers who make up the alliance have been attempting to secure a guarantee that they will have some influence on the redevelopment. Initially, the group asked Renaissance to enter into a joint venture and "share ... as full and equal partners" in the Fourth Ward project. That suggestion was quickly rejected by Renaissance, whose board members say the ministers still haven't identified what they might contribute.
At Boney's urging, however, city officials put in its EDI application last fall that Renaissance would work specifically with members of the ministers' alliance, as well as other community groups such as the Freedmen's Town Association. But when the city tried to include the same requirement in its contract with Renaissance, the nonprofit balked. Instead, Renaissance says it will put forth its "best efforts" to include "qualified community development corporations ... with the ability" to build or sell the low-income units.
Renaissance board president Frank Kelly says negotiations with the Fourth Ward's community groups, including the ministers, are not dead by any stretch. But the discussions are "sort of comatose right now, just hanging in the air with a zillion other things," he adds.
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Stevens, however, says the nonprofit is concerned that any "partners" taken on by Renaissance will damage the delicate "economics" of the project. "They will have the opportunity to participate, even in the construction, as long it doesn't end up costing the buyer any more money," says Stevens. "That's the test, because the person who ends up paying for inefficiencies in the system is the homebuyer."
Boney says he understands that argument and even agrees with it. Still, his primary concern is the community's "indigenous people," the current Fourth Ward residents, who, like previous generations, have been so marginalized that the common perception is that they cannot save themselves.
The councilman seems intent on disproving that image.
"I don't see any way around it," Boney says. "Everyone who has tried to ignore the political realities and go into the Fourth Ward, take it over and change it has failed. So it seems to me fruitless to even try it that way because it's not going to happen.
"I think it would be just smart business sense to realize that. Otherwise, it's just going to be a fight.
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App Description
The rat on the skateboard is just dying to get the yummy fruits and the cheese pieces, but our ratty has to move fast enough to grab those. Doesn't seem too easy for the rat, but you can surely help him. Be ready to pay constant attention as the speed of the game increases with the time. Also, it has easy controls for playing the game. Just tilt your device left and right to move the rat and catch all the fruits and the cheese pieces.
********** Features **********
1) Unlimited gameplay..play as long as you can survive.
2) Exciting power-ups such as speed-up/speed down.
3) Play using joystick/accelerometer as you are comfortable with.
4) Challenge your friends and post the highest score on the Gamecenter.
- Do not catch the red bottle or the red chilly.
- Keep an eye on the health meter or you may loose your energy.
You are definitely gonna like it, it's exciting and no doubt a good one to kill time
For any suggestion/feedback, please write to us at [email protected]
App Changes
- May 11, 2013 Initial release

subset: commoncrawl


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Your collaboration :
GenTeam plans further projects which only can realized as a team because of the amount of records involved.
If you are interested
I invite you to bring your knowledge to GenTeam. Work is to be done on your PC so that it will not necessary to travel here.
GenTeam also offers to integrate your indices or databases into this collection under the protection of your copyright. The geographical centre should be present Austria along with it neighbouring lands.
Ing. Felix Gundacker


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On an early summer night
Under trees and soft light
The thought came to me
"I am where I wish to be."
Continued below
Some moments are best said in poetry. This was my impression after the recent premiere of Shelley Roger's documentary film, "What's Organic About Organic?". The event was held in a precious, private Brooklyn backyard. On a wide plank table, the hostess offered high notes from local farmers, bakers, and cheese mongers. Shelley and her "characters" — the people interviewed in the film — along with journalists and bloggers, gathered in front of the screen centered between two trees.
Her beautiful film digs deep into what organic means. Told through personal stories and official decrees, the word organic can be used many ways. But this film isn't interested in what it means to poseurs. At its core, it's about the farmers and consumers who vigilantly ensure the integrity of organic.
For example, the wording on grazing pastures for organic cows was once vague. Some operations were stamping a hoof on grass occasionally, rather than having days in open pasture. The truly organic dairy farmers were outraged. As a result of their protests, the USDA strengthened its wording on these practices. Now the organic label means something again.
Farmers go to these measures for "organic" because they are the stewards of their land and animals. They serve a community they know. To explain why they care, Andy Grant, of Grant Family Farms, tells a tough story from his childhood: He lost his family dog to pesticide exposure. His little boy perception saw then that something was fundamentally wrong. Once an adult, he became an organic farmer.
Organic also has cultural importance — in the name of social justice. To many, the principles also include fair wages and treatment for farm workers. Wende Elliot of Wholesome Harvest, a co-op of family farms in Iowa, explains that she and her husband go beyond the U.S. organic standards and adhere to international codes. In doing so, they promise their customers that the workers make a living wage in good conditions. Similarly, Andy Grant shows his respect for his team as he inspects a box of lettuce packed by his field workers. Gently handling the lettuce heads, he says, "These guys are artists."
Back under the moonlight in Brooklyn, the crowd around the table talked late. In addition to making a film, Shelley and her conspirators, are building a coalition. These are kindred minds coming together. It's not enough to just say organic and go home. Those who care remain watchful, promising integrity in word and process.
Now our table gets bigger. If you are in NYC, then pull up a seat. The team behind "What's Organic?" has a wonderful series of events coming in June. Shelley and many of the people interviewed in the film will be ready for questions. And together, with Shelley, her characters, and our expanding community for delicious, fair and safe food, we'll find the answers.


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SANDY, Utah — When Real Salt Lake's Tony Beltran took the field for the US Men's National Team's friendly against Canada last Tuesday it was "a dream come true" for the 25-year-old defender.
"It was what every football player dreams about," said Beltran to MLSsoccer.com by telephone from Irvine, Calif., where he rejoined his teammates for training on Sunday. "Growing up you work for a chance to represent your country at the top level, and to have that happen, to get my first cap just topped everything off I have worked so hard for."
The start was Beltran's first cap with the men's senior team after being a big part of the youth sides for the Americans.
"It is a little bit different," said Beltran of playing at the top level. "Not to say you aren't still developing and trying to get better with that team, but the youth side is all about development and this team is all about performance and getting the job done. If you want to be out there, you have to perform."
Beltran felt the three-week camp was a great chance for him to show that he can play at that level.
"I know it was a lot of MLS guys, but I definitely felt like I held my own. I thought I performed really well and even if it was just a January camp, it was a big honor to be there and to get a chance to show the coaches what I can do."
Beltran was very complimentary to the entire camp run by U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann and his staff. But then again, he felt right at home with it as well.
"One thing I noticed was that both Jurgen and (Real Salt Lake coach) Jason (Kreis) are very organized with their trainings and things are very fluid," he said. "There are definite purposes to the drills they both run and the specifics of how things flow from one thing to the next.
"Of course there are a few differences," Beltran continued, "like some of the mental parts of the game Jurgen talks about. He has a very holistic approach and you have to be very committed to your sport at all times.
Jason's approach is just a little different, but I think their trainings are very similar in purpose."
Beltran is happy to be back with his RSL teammates, but he also said even that is a little different.
"It was a little strange today (Sunday) going out there and realizing I didn't know the names to half the guys out there," he said.
Beltran also wants to take a little different approach this season for the club.
"This is my sixth season now with the team, and I know I need to take on a little bit more of a leadership role," Beltran said, adding it is especially important right now as veterans Nat Borchers and Chris Wingert are still healing from injuries. "I know I need to be more vocal, help out some of the younger guys like Nat and Robbie Russell did with me when I was a young guy just joining the team. I need to help them learn our system and not only worry about how I'm doing, but help them out along the way."


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As you all know, I'm a huge fan of up-cycling, so when I came across Melody Rose' designs I must say I got very excited! The Canadian born designer, Melanie Roseveare, lives and works in West London, re-vamping various china with quirky images from humming birds and skulls to 50's pin-up girls.
My favorite pieces from her collection are the skull tea cups and plates. I just adore how Melanie has fused the eerie skull image with dainty bone china. Her designs are available to buy from www.notonthehighstreet.com or you can go direct to her website for personalised commissions and enjoy the array of rather splendid designs.


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Blog Archives
Patrick Brown's Neighbour Spawns New #MeToo Complaint At CTV And Liberals
I make no comment about the guilt or innocence of Patrick Brown. Instead I'm addressing the issue of political bias in Canadian media that his controversy has recently highlighted. Included is a new #MeToo allegation involving the Liberal Party of Canada and CTV News, from the adjacent riding.
Mr. Brown occupies the Simcoe-North landscape and these allegations arise from Simcoe-Grey. Although they're extremely different in nature, what they do share is a deep concern with the way CTV is impacting various #MeToo complaints in the political arena. Through personal experience as a reporter, I believe this relates to management at CTV News and not necessarily the journalists.
Exactly one year ago, I approached the outlet to amend and expand its story about an alleged child sex predator who's been criminally charged. They covered the matter of Jared Nolan, abusing his access to patient data at the Alliston hospital to lure children and distribute child pornography. The case is so serious that a special police task force was established to investigate further. I believe Nolan's charges are still winding through the courts and the last news available noted new child complainants coming forward.
The problem is that I knew Mr. Nolan personally, as a political colleague. I had information that was incredibly relevant to his case, as well as the Liberal Party of Canada. We worked together on the riding's board of directors when he was criminally charged and I was aware he had access to thousands more children through the party and its Liberalist database. He had the highest level of access to every child volunteer and member of the Young Liberals across the entire country. He also led groups of youth volunteers during the last federal election (details here).
That alone was good enough reason to investigate Nolan's use of child data within the LPC, to see if any young volunteers were part of the sexual complaints that were being investigated criminally. But more disconcerting were the circumstances between the Alliston hospital (Stevenson Memorial) and the Simcoe-Grey Federal Liberal Riding Association (SGFLRA).
Mr. Nolan had no experience in healthcare before taking a senior position at the hospital, that reported to the board of directors. He wasn't known to the local riding association before taking an executive position with the SGFLRA either. Nolan began both these positions at the same time, after dropping off the political radar for at least a decade. He was once a senior staffer in Ottawa, with no explanation why he went from a high-profile job in a minister's office, to complete obscurity and menial employment for a period of ten years.
Nolan only had two connections that anyone could cite. He was close with our LPC candidate, who sat on the hospital board of directions. He was close with the candidate's campaign director who also sat on the hospital board of directors. Otherwise Nolan had no connection to this region and he was not known to anyone else. He basically appeared from nowhere and became a big-wig overnight, at the side of these two gentlemen. All of a sudden the Liberal riding association and the Alliston hospital were being run by the same three people.
Neither of the other two men were charged and my comments do not impugn them. But the investigation remains ongoing and they both oversaw Nolan's work at the hospital, in addition to the SGFLRA. The patient data that Nolan is alleged to abuse as a hunting ground for child sex victims was additionally managed by one of these very colleagues, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
My first concern was that police didn't question anyone in the Liberal riding association. They weren't aware that connection existed, or that Nolan had access to more sensitive information about a much greater number of children through the party. The Liberalist is an extensive database that can track them in real-time. In some cases it knows if the kids are dating, what their schedules look like, what their home situation is like, and if they have emotional vulnerabilities. Hospital patient data doesn't contain sensitive details like this and if Nolan is found guilty, his access to the Liberalist poses a tremendous threat (details here).
The hospital set out to conduct an internal investigation, in parallel with the police. But I believe they were also unaware of these professional-political connections, because no one can name the executives on any riding association board, aside from the advertised candidate. I have evidence that indicated the three men never disclosed their political conflict-of-interest to the hospital as well. It complicated matters that the riding exec who oversaw patient data at the hospital departed for a different region of health care facilities upon the charges being laid against Nolan. It's not clear if that relationship was ever investigated, even from the hospital's perspective. (I reiterate this person was never accused of wrongdoing, but he was the most knowledgeable witness in the Nolan case that no one was questioning.)
Moreover, unsettling photos and deeper connection between that campaign exec and Nolan began appearing on social media. This is despite the fact that Nolan was banned from using the internet as a condition of his bail and house arrest. It was unclear if these posts constituted an accusation against the Liberal colleague, a threat to the Liberal colleague's daughter, or if it was a cry for help. Whatever it was, it definitely violated the terms of bail.
In the meantime a forensic warrant was executed and at that very moment, someone tampered with the evidence. All of Jared Nolan's connections to the Liberal Party of Canada were altered or outright deleted. I have proof of that as well. It caused so much concern that I contacted Anna Gainey as an LPC official, to have the party intervene for the sake of protecting due process. It surely wouldn't help if another individual was charged for obstructing a forensic warrant and the LPC sincerely needed to protect the children in our riding.
It was astonishing, but there was proof of receiving my letters and the LPC refused to respond. Instead they supported the campaign exec who oversaw patient data, in threatening me with defamation to obstruct my police report. The party actively covered-up its relationship with Jared Nolan and declined to intervene to prohibit this evidence from being destroyed. It declined to let anyone know an election campaign official was criminally charged with heinous sex crimes against children, that are alleged to happen over the course of that campaign. It prevented the parents of children who volunteered with Nolan during that time from knowing, so they could ask if their own kids were okay (details here).
A year ago there was no #MeToo movement to help get this message out. I sought to strike a middle ground between victim rights and Charter rights by asking the party to establish Vulnerable Sector background checks for anyone seeking to work with our riding executive. That would have prevented anyone criminally charged or under investigation from working with sensitive children's data in the Liberalist and in our community. It's non-judgmental, from either perspective, and it's already a norm in the volunteer industry.
But the LPC refused to do this too. They refused to protect youths in the Liberal Party of Canada, as well as youths in our riding where an executive was already charged with multiple complaints of child luring and child pornography. The party's reaction to cover this up made them behave so badly that they didn't even remove Jared Nolan as the Simcoe-Grey Federal Liberal Riding Association's Executive Vice President. While incarcerated awaiting bail and under house arrest, Nolan maintained access to the Liberalist database for another two months, before he willingly stepped down. It was during that time disturbing photos of children connecting him to the other campaign executive began appearing on social media.
I was so concerned, unsure if another child was in danger, that I contacted the police, the news, and the Liberal Party of Canada, again.
In no uncertain terms I warned Anna Gainey and the LPC about its fiduciary duty, legal liability, and to stop intimidating me from reporting what I know to the authorities. I attempted to exercise the party's constitution for emergency intervention by LPC brass, but that was met with LPC officials shutting down the procedure and revoking the party's constitution entirely. They did that on camera in front of CTV News and ordered the reporter to stop recording. They threatened to remove CTV for trespassing if they filmed me saying anything about Jared Nolan. I was banned from saying his name or anything about him. This happened at the riding's Annual General Meeting and no one was allowed to discuss or inform parents that our vice president was arrested for child sex crimes (details here).
After this happened, the CTV reporter was reassigned and not allowed to pursue this story. He wished to proceed and continued working with me to obtain more information, however. Another executive came forward as a witness to help convince the producers. Still, CTV wouldn't tell the world that their story about a child sex predator was also about a Liberal executive. They blatantly censored Jared Nolan's position with the riding and that he was working with youths during the election campaign at the time of these allegations. The only news CTV producers would allow to be reported is that Nolan worked at the Alliston hospital.
The next development defies common sense or any shred of human dignity. Because it's such a bizarre decision, it will oddly strengthen Patrick Brown's allegations against the broadcaster. I don't mean to conflate the two issues, the two parties, or the adjacent ridings, but a pattern is emerging at CTV News that is equally harmful to the complainants and the accused(s). In my humble opinion, there's a lapse in ethical direction and this management style is quite predatory.
I know in my example the CTV reporter didn't wish to censor Jared Nolan's status with the Liberals. He was trying to overturn the executive producer's decision by supplying more evidence. In the case of ex-Conservative leader, Patrick Brown, it appears CTV management censored a third complainant because of her ties to the Liberal party as well. According to CANADALAND, the director of communications at CTV News said,
"In fact, we can confirm there was at least one other woman who came forward who made allegations of a sexual nature against Patrick Brown. We did not pursue her story due to her public support of the provincial Liberal party."
It's not likely that journalist Glen McGregor killed a third of his own exclusive about Patrick Brown. The management at CTV News needs to explain who keeps censoring Liberal sex allegations, whether it's from an alleged perpetrator or a victim's perspective. They say they don't want to make the #MeToo movement a partisan political brawl, but they have no problem concealing the information when a Liberal is criminally charged, or when a Liberal is making the accusation. In contrast, anything seems like fair game if it's about a Conservative politician, by another Conservative.
This situation is so unfortunate that I gave CTV News an earful last year. When the reporter in my example pushed to complete the story, he was told to cultivate children from our riding to interview as prospective victims. This is the only way CTV would release the information about Jared Nolan's status with the Liberals. It didn't matter that he was already under house arrest for prosecution as a child predator. Management required that a small flock of kids be located to canvass for new allegations, before they would alert the public about the danger that was already thoroughly established. They wished to create their own 'exclusive' by blindsiding local children and prodding them for salacious tips.
If you find this hard to believe, then please see all the evidence. I still have the text messages, emails, screencaps, video, and record of phone calls to prove everything I've said.
At that point I refused to work with CTV News due to its lacking ethics. I was so stunned by the outrageous plot to interfere with potentially vulnerable children that we didn't get to argue about the network's refusal to reference Nolan's Liberal affiliation whatsoever. I lambasted CTV, this is how the innocent get incarcerated and the guilty go free.
I regret that my account will likely be used to discredit the complainants against Patrick Brown. That is not my agenda and I have no personal knowledge of that situation to comment on either side. But it behooves me to speak up when I know children are still in danger, a cover-up is still in progress, and the behaviour of CTV management is destroying everyone's access to justice. CTV executives need to learn that they're not the judge, jury, executioner, or a Crown representative to offer selective pardons. When both sides of the #MeToo movement are complaining there's a political problem at CTV News, can we not agree there must be some issue? The accused are citing political interference. The victims are citing political interference. And witnesses are citing political interference.
In Simcoe-Grey, the political interference is so great that it crossed over between the news and police. There are conflict-of-interest issues affecting the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Simcoe-Grey Federal Liberal Riding Association. The candidate who oversaw Jared Nolan's work at the hospital, as well as the election campaign, also sat on the OPP's board of directors. The Liberal candidate publicly stated that he exercises influence over this particular police agency (details here).
Coincidentally, the OPP now refuses to accept evidence of Nolan's access to children through the Liberal Party of Canada. They've charged him with luring children from the hospital and subsequent child pornography, but the lead investigator is refusing to investigate possible victims from the Liberalist and youth volunteering program.
In fact, the police took a 2-hour statement from me prior to LPC brass getting involved. After evidence was deleted and the party censored its business with Nolan, the OPP changed its tune and aggressively refused to take official statements anymore. They refused to provide a report number from the one I already submitted. They became unable to locate the officer who took my initial report. They declined to inform the crown attorney about this new evidence and scoffed at investigating Nolan's relationship with children in the Liberal Party of Canada. This man is being painted as the most dangerous predator to children anywhere outside the Liberal party, but not within it. They believe Nolan was safe to manage sensitive children's data within the Liberalist and spend intimate time with young volunteers for the past few years. He was not however safe to work with children's data at the hospital, or be near young patients during the identical time period in the same neighbourhood (details here).
An open letter to the prime minister, justice minister, chiefs of police, crown attorney, all political parties, and the provincial youth advocate, was further ignored. The provincial advocate was the only entity to respond and he was sorry the agency couldn't get involved. They didn't feel they had a mandate to support children if sexual allegations involved a political party.
For an added bonus, the Globe and Mail responded from the Twilight Zone. Not only did they decline to report about Jared Nolan's criminal charges and his executive position with the Liberals, but they also broke from journalism ethics by deleting a relevant speech from the prime minister that was inflammatory to the situation. The public editor responded to my complaint by saying she couldn't accept the complaint at all. She accused me of trying to hack her computer because I didn't type in the Globe and Mail's preferred font. I couldn't make this up if I tried and that email exchange is documented in the open letter as well. The Globe and Mail claims it can't investigate ethical breaches from evidence outside the Globe and Mail publication. Their computers can't access the internet, apparently (details here).
This experience was particularly devastating because the Globe and Mail reporter and public editor are females. The Liberal party official is female. The provincial advocate's investigator is female. The Conservative member of parliament for our riding is also female and this group of women actively silenced the #MeToo movement before it had a name in the case of Jared Nolan. They hung female children out to dry for their own political advantage, as CTV News was seeking to exploit them from a male-dominated perspective. The sickness was so overwhelming and there was nowhere left to go, until the controversy with Patrick Brown provided an opportunity to try again. The irony isn't lost on me and I hope it's not lost on you. No matter anyone's guilt or innocence or the veracity of complaints, this is indicative of political interference to retard sexual allegations within the Canadian political arena from everyone's point of view.
Even the NDP's white knight, in charge of ethical oversight, wouldn't lift a finger to protect Liberal children in Simcoe County. It won't help them to grandstand now, because they declined to care as the Official Opposition holding the government party to account. The Conservatives won't benefit by crowing about an alleged child predator in the Liberal party either, because Kellie Leitch declined to speak for these kids despite being their MP, when she was too busy running for party leadership. (That too is documented.)
These events caused me to have to see the disgusting underbelly of our politics and media. It's the reason I backed away from both, because I couldn't be one of these willfully silent people. I was born with a voice and I'm tired of being gagged when my job is to be the messenger. It's also impossible to overcome the censorship in Canadian media when it comes to reporting about politics and the government. Everyone has an agenda. It may change from month to month, but rest assured that our news is based on the whims of executive editors and producers, who don't know the first thing about due process or the safety of women and children.
Another gem I've had to digest is that our police won't act on political sex issues unless the political news decides it can be reported and potential victims consent to being publicly exploited. In this experience regarding Jared Nolan, it seems the LPC determines what CTV can report, then CTV decides if it will cajole the police to investigate.
Maybe if we confront this circle-jerk we can begin to sort it out. Goodness knows the #MeToo movement depends on our collective honesty and anything short of this is political lip service. If we continue at this rate, Gen Y will never vote, download a news app, or fund a police budget. At least the children in Simcoe-Grey and Simcoe-North won't, because they have no reason to trust any of us. Here, they can't safely tell their stories on either side of the equation, without someone seeking to exploit or silence them. I remain worried that because all parties are rife with sex allegations that they'll continue silencing the children in Simcoe-Grey, if it doesn't benefit their political agendas. The response to this statement will help me decide if the #MeToo movement is real in Canada, or just a tool to weaponize our women and children.
Full disclosure: For the record, I resigned from the Liberal riding association at the onset of these events. I never worked in media at the same time I engaged with local politics, and I'm not employed by any mainstream media currently. My only agenda is protecting these kids (full details here, including the letter of resignation).
Yours truly,


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Filter events
Amblers walking group
Monday, 27 June 2016, 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Join this lunchtime low intensity walking group through the Auckland Domain and surrounding areas.
When: Every Monday from 12:30pm to 1:30pm.
Where: Meet at Blind Foundation Awhina House Reception, 4 Maunsell Road, Parnell for a walk around the Auckland Domain and surrounding areas.
Contact Lisa McCallum by phoning 09 355 6900 or Benny Foar on 022 079 3527 to register your interest and for more information.
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4 Maunsell Road
4 Maunsell Road


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Healthy Diamond set to compete for rotation spot
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Unlike last season, when he came into camp rehabbing from elbow surgery, left-hander Scott Diamond is healthy heading into Spring Training and ready to compete for the final spot in the rotation.
Diamond, who started last season on the 15-day disabled list after undergoing offseason surgery to remove a bone chip from his left elbow, threw his first official bullpen session of the spring on Tuesday and was pleased with how it went.
"Everything went really well, actually," Diamond said. "The curveball was a lot farther along than I thought it would be and the changeup was good. So it was definitely big progress today."
But unlike last season, when he was guaranteed a spot in the rotation after a solid rookie season in 2011, Diamond is fighting for the last spot in the rotation along with Samuel Deduno, Vance Worley and Kyle Gibson.
Diamond, who like Deduno and Worley is out of Minor League options, said he's doing his best not to worry about the competition just yet. But he said he feels much more like the pitcher who posted a 3.54 ERA as a rookie than the one who had a 5.43 ERA last year.
"I came in prepared, or at least as prepared as the offseason allowed me," Diamond said. "I'm ready to pitch right out of the gate from Day One. It's going to be competitive and fun because of it. I have to take it one day at a time because the more I think about it, the more I get in my own head."


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Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Preliminary ideas
So this are some drawings and sketches I did before the one featured in my last post. I guess I should have posted them 'before' last then. Anyway, ...here they come nevertheless.
Posted by Marcos Mateu at 4:03 AM 10 comments:
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Going 1700's
Sometimes I wish I had the ability to go back to prior historical periods and see first hand what they -felt- like. In my many years of working as an illustrator and graphic novel artist I had (enjoyed immensely, actually) to dive into reference sources so that I could visualize as accurately as possible how other moments in our history looked like. But that's never enough, it's not only about the visuals but also about being as close as possible to how everything worked, what sort of logistical and circumstantial issues did our ancestors run into not only in their exceptional moments but daily, how things smelled (well, this one might not have been in the top of my list), at what pace things happened, how science, religion, etc influenced the way they lived. All these would have affected how they moved (literally) around regularly.
Anyhow, more on the 'fantasy' side now, here are these two fierce fighters getting down to business and trying to clarify, whatever it is they need to clarify, for good.
Great weekend everyone.
Posted by Marcos Mateu at 10:45 AM 15 comments:
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Face Off
As it happens from time to time (as you also see from time to time in this blog) I feel the sudden need to fill up a page with characters' faces. I guess there is a therapeutic side to it.
I hope all is going fine with everyone.
Posted by Marcos Mateu at 6:21 PM 14 comments:
Monday, January 03, 2011
Voices from the past
So welcome 2011.
And while looking forward to the future, here are some images evocative of other past times. The first three are out of a design job I did in 2004 for 'Ghost' Studios in Denmark, one general view of a ghostly hall and two magnified details. The other one, a 'two character' quick inspirational sketch for 'El Pacifico'.
All the best for this New Year!
Posted by Marcos Mateu at 5:34 AM 11 comments:
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Universal Pictures' action thriller has become the fastest film to reach $500m worldwide in the studio's history and should reach $600m within the week.
Studio top brass announced on Thursday [6] that the film had crossed the $500m marker as the action thriller climbed to $522.5m, of which $342.2m comes from international markets and $180.3m from North America.
Fast & Furious 6 scored Universal's biggest international, North American and global opening weekend recently and raced to number one in all 60 territories as it secured top berth at the global box office for two weeks.
Universal set a new company speed record when it crossed $1bn at the international box office on May 31, the seventh consecutive year it has accomplished the feat.


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Continuing investigations and charges against a China-based company and its executive and a Hawaii resident and the firms he used, as well as charges against a New Jersey man in a fraudulent Ponzi-type real estate scheme, were among the enforcement activities reported by the SEC during the week.
Real Estate Ponzi Scheme in New Jersey
Charges were filed by the SEC on Thursday, in parallel with a criminal indictment announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, against a Watchung, N.J., man.
The SEC charged that David M. Connolly operated a Ponzi-like scheme involving a series of investment vehicles formed for the purported purpose of purchasing and managing rental apartment buildings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Connolly, according to the complaint, induced investors to buy shares in real estate investment vehicles he created through his firm, Connolly Properties Inc. He promised investors monthly dividends based on cash flow profits from rental income at the apartment buildings, as well as the growth of their principal from the appreciation of the property.
However, none of Connolly's securities offerings in the investment vehicles were registered with the SEC as required under the federal securities laws. The real estate investments did not produce the projected dividends, and Connolly instead made Ponzi-like dividend payments to earlier investors using money from new investors.
Connolly ultimately raised in excess of $50 million from more than 200 investors in more than 25 investment vehicles, and also siphoned off at least $2 million in investor funds for his personal use. The whole scheme collapsed in 2009, with the properties going into foreclosure and total losses for the investors of their equity.
The SEC seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, and financial penalties from Connolly, who was charged with violating Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Connolly was also indicted for one count of securities fraud, in addition to other charges.
More than $14 Million in Secret Loans
The SEC filed charges Monday and is seeking a final judgment with penalties against a China-based natural gas company and an executive for defrauding investors by secretly loaning company funds totaling more than $14 million to benefit the executive's son and nephew while failing to disclose the true nature of the loans.
Investigation is continuing into the case of Qinan Ji, the former CEO who remains chairman of China Natural Gas Inc., and who was alleged by the SEC to have coordinated two short-term loans totaling more than $14 million in January 2010. Ji approved both loans without obtaining prior authorization from the board or informing the CFO.One of the loans, for $9.9 million and wired directly into a Demaoxing bank account with a note stating that the amount was for "raw material expenses," went to a real estate firm co-owned by Ji's son and nephew through a sham borrower. The other, for $4.4 million, went to Shaanxi Juntai Housing Purchase Co., a business partner of the real estate firm. Ji signed the company's SEC filings that falsely stated the loans were made to third parties, and then lied about the true borrower to China Natural Gas' board, investors and auditors as well as during the company's internal investigation.
The SEC also alleged that in Q4 2008, China Natural Gas paid $19.6 million to acquire a natural gas company but did not properly report the transaction in its SEC filings. Ji also approved the acquisition, as he had the loans, without obtaining prior authorization from the board.
In its complaint, the SEC seeks a final judgment that imposes financial penalties, bars Ji from acting as an officer or director of a public company, and permanently enjoins Ji and China Natural Gas from future violations of these provisions.
Hawaiian Boiler Room Charges
Under a continuing investigation, the SEC filed charges and is seeking financial penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, penny stock bars, and permanent injunctions against all of the defendants in a $35 million international boiler room scheme.
On Wednesday, the SEC charged Nicholas Louis Geranio, a Hawaii resident, and two firms he used to orchestrate a scheme in which he covertly founded small companies, installed management, and recruited overseas boiler rooms that pressured investors into buying their stock while he pocketed more than $2 million in consulting fees from proceeds of the fraudulent stock sales.
Teams of telemarketers working in boiler room operations in primarily in Spain were recruited by Geranio, the subject of a previous SEC enforcement action in 2000. Through the use of high-pressure sales tactics and false statements about the companies Geranio founded, they raised some $35 million from investors outside the U.S., according to the allegations.
Geranio worked behind the scenes to create eight U.S.-based companies used to raise money through the sale of Regulation S stock, which is exempt from SEC registration under the securities laws because it is offered solely to investors located outside the U.S.
Geranio hand-picked the management for the companies, primarily Keith Michael Field of Sherman Oaks, Calif., who served as an officer, director, or investor relations representative for each company and also is charged in the SEC's complaint. Then Geranio set up consulting arrangements through his firms—The Good One Inc. and Kaleidoscope Real Estate Inc.—so he could instruct management on how to run the companies and raise money offshore. He then extracted consulting fees from the companies, which generally had few or no employees, little or no office space, and no sales or customers.
He also instructed Field and others to buy and sell shares in some of the companies to create an illusion of trading activity and manipulate upward the price of the publicly-traded stock.
In addition, the SEC alleged that Geranio also assisted in diverting $240,000 in investor funds toward an undisclosed down payment on a property to start a Hawaiian wedding planning company.
In addition to the penalties listed above, the SEC is also seeking officer and director bars against both Geranio and Field, and disgorgement and prejudgment interest against relief defendant BWRE Hawaii LLC based on its alleged receipt of investor funds.


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One of the hitchhikers attacked after being picked up on the West Coast tried to fight off the driver with a small pocket knife, APNZ understands.
Michaela Brandl, 28, was stabbed three times in the carotid artery on the side of her neck, and her Japanese-Dutch companion, Niki Honda, suffered pelvic injuries.
Ms Brandl has told a friend from her hospital bed of how she struggled to open the locked doors of the SUV of her attacker who police believe had already killed Christchurch woman Amy Farrall, 24, the day before.
It's believed that the driver then tried to run over Ms Honda who had escaped from the moving vehicle.
"They're both very lucky. Things could've been a lot worse," a source told APNZ.
"One of the women used a small travel knife, with just a small blade, to try and fight the guy off. She was pretty desperate."
Read more:
• Stabbed hitch-hiker tells of her desperate fight for life
Sina Saffari spoke to his friend Ms Brandl from her Christchurch Hospital bed where she is recovering and is now in a stable condition.
"[Ms Honda] had to jump out of the car that was moving, and then all of a sudden the driver stopped and turned around,'' said Mr Saffari.
"Michaela thought maybe he was trying to run her [Ms Honda] over.
"She [Ms Brandl] was locked in the car, and she was screaming and asking him to unlock the doors so she could get out."
Watch: Bedside court appearance for alleged killer
Mr Saffari said Ms Brandl was traumatised and broke down in tears as she talked - but remarkably, the health-care worker expressed concern and compassion for her attacker.
"We were talking about what someone must be going through to be able to do something like that," said Mr Saffari.
"That person who assaulted her must be in a lot of pain, and I guess she was in a position of feeling compassion for him, that someone was living in such a state where they can actually bring themselves to hurt other people on that level."
The women were hitchhiking down the West Coast when they were picked up in Whataroa by a man driving a blue Nissan Terrano on Sunday.
Aucklander Mr Saffari, 28, met Ms Brandl backpacking in Malaysia in November. She stayed with him when she arrived in New Zealand around three weeks ago.
She spoke to Mr Saffari on the phone from her hospital bed, but her injuries made it difficult for her to speak for long periods, he said.
"She was just traumatised. It sounded like she was in tears. [But] she felt really lucky to be alive."
Michaela Brandl
During the phone call, they didn't dwell much on her injuries or what had happened, Mr Saffari said, because he wanted her to focus on getting better.
"I tried to let her know that there are people who still care for her, and that it may be something that will strengthen her as a human in the future, to have gone through something like that," he said.
"Just the fact she escaped that situation is quite incredible."
He described Ms Brandl as a "beautiful person" who always tried to look at the positive aspect of any situation.
She had been in touch with her sister in Germany, he believed, but was unsure if any members of her family were planning to fly to New Zealand to be with her.
Mr Saffari said he was "quite shocked" by the attack.
"She had gone through Malaysia and Southeast Asia. You'd think that New Zealand would be the last place in the world that you'd expect to encounter something like this.
"For me, it's a real big wake-up call that you never know what's going to happen each day.
"If that can happen in New Zealand to someone who's travelling here, it can happen to anyone, really."
Ms Honda, 27, is said to be recovering well in hospital but needs rest, an official from the Japanese Embassy said in Christchurch yesterday.
The official would not discuss details of the assistance being provided to Ms Honda here, but said the embassy was in touch with her and ready to help with "whatever she needs".
A 38-year-old Otaki man, who has been in police custody since early on Monday morning after he was arrested for allegedly attacking the hitchhikers, has been charged with murdering community support worker Miss Farrall.
In a bedside court appearance, which took place in a Christchurch Hospital ward room yesterday, the man was also charged with the sexual violation of Miss Farrall, aggravated robbery, one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and charges of failing to stop and reckless driving.
He was granted interim name suppression.


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Aria Club's ski conditioning program begins Oct. 8 in Vail
VAIL CO, Colorado
VAIL – Winter pastimes like skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing are high-intensity activities that demand a lot from your body. While many associate getting fit with summer, winter demands an equal if not greater level of fitness preparation to avoid injury and minimize muscle soreness and fatigue. On Oct. 8, Aria Club will launch its 25th annual ski conditioning program, a six-week fitness series that incorporates plyometrics, agility, leg and core strengthening, and dynamic stability exercises to tone and prepare the body for outdoor winter fitness. This year, the program will also include a youth conditioning program for children 9-14. Participants 15 or older can register by email for the full six-week session, morning or afternoon programs or sign up for single classes. Each session is limited to 50 participants.
Six accredited coaches will direct the ski conditioning program, which includes a morning and/or afternoon option Monday-Thursday, starting Oct. 8 through Nov. 15. Each session will begin with a warm-up, followed by movement preparation exercises involving stretching and muscle activation techniques. Attendees will then be split into groups and rotate through four stations, each designed to focus on 1. plyometrics and agility; 2. leg strengthening; 3. core strengthening; and 4. dynamic stability.
This year, Aria Club has added two new offerings to enhance the program:
• A youth conditioning program for participants ages 9-14 will run concurrently with the afternoon adult sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Aria Club. A certified personal trainer will lead the program and instruct participants through a modified version of the adult ski conditioning program. The price is $7 drop-in fee or $60 for a six-week session.
• Coaches will incorporate the technology and versatility of two new fitness systems the club added earlier this year. TRX suspension training is a bodyweight exercise that develops strength, balance, flexibility and core stability simultaneously. FitWall is a vertical wall system that uses body weight for resistance, engaging and challenging all muscle groups to increase functional strength.
All participants will also receive exclusive promotions courtesy of this year's program sponsors, including companies such as Gorusch, New Belgium Brewing, Life Fitness, and Atwater on Gore Creek. Participants will have a chance to win a new, high-end pair of skis, dining certificates, product giveaways and lodging packages.
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I'm in a small software company and getting ready to begin supporting 7 remote sales guys out on the road. They all have recent ultrabooks and most of the tools they will be using are in in the "cloud" (SaaS tools such as Salesforce, Box.com, Office365 etc.). They all currently have Microsoft Security Essentials installed, but I'd like to be able to centrally manage things including updates and alerts.
I'm looking at Webroot's SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection since it is centrally managed and "cloud-based" meaning that I don't have to manage the server that manages the clients.
Webroot claims to have a tiny footprint, but I'm wondering what their reputation is for effectiveness.


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April 30th, 2009 issue #0817
April 30th, 2009
Now what? As the Landmark lies dormant, what's next?The Big Sleep: Workers began boarding up the Landmark Hotel in April, which the city is now treating as an "abandoned structure." PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIRread more
Real Estate - On the Block
On Architecture
Take a village: Old Trail on the block?In 2006, Old Trail Village in Crozet played host to director Tom Shadyac and his movie Evan Almighty, which called for building an ark on the development. PHOTO BY DON


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One Big Bottle: Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA
The brews we're sipping, one by one.
Editor's Note: So many beers, so little time. One Big Bottle spotlights the brews we're sipping, one by one.
I've never expected subtlety from the brewers at Stone Brewing Co. The San Diego stalwarts have always seemed to be more comfortable leaning on the big, bold, and sometimes brash side of the craft beer spectrum. Their latest creation, Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA, is no exception. It's a mouthful on paper and in the glass.
Nelson Sauvin hops open the aroma with a rush of white wine juiciness. Citrus peel and pith are close behind, along with pine. The beer is completely opaque with a dark tan head. Lacing clings to the glass in thick rings.
Stone 15th Anniversary is devastatingly bitter. If this isn't your last beer of the evening, it'll most certainly be the last one you taste. Piney hops and bitter black malt show up first. Midway through there's bittersweet chocolate and a tinge of roast. Underneath it all is a layer of smooth full-bodied malt with a sweetness that intensifies almost until the end. It's viscous, thick even considering it's a 10.8% ABV imperial IPA. The beer finishes with a mix of anise, blackstrap molasses, and warming alcohol. A lingering bitterness hangs on the tongue long after swallowing.
If you're looking to pair it, you'll want to choose something bold. Try smoked pork ribs, chili, or a porterhouse.
Sample provided for review.
About the Author: Jonathan Moxey is a Harlem-based homebrewer, BJCP beer judge, and Cicerone Certified Beer Server. He hosts private beer tastings for Tapped Craft Beer Events.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Video noise can appear in video clips recorded in low-light conditions, or in clips recorded with small image-sensor devices such as smartphones or small portable cameras. Video noise resembles static, or a snow flurry-like random dot pattern superimposed on the video image, similar to the grainy texture visible in low-light or underexposed photographic film.
To reduce video noise in a video clip, add the Noise Reduction effect, then adjust its settings.
Add the Noise Reduction clip effect
You can add the Noise Reduction effect to standard or 360° video clips in your project timeline.
- To open the Effects Browser, choose Window > Show in Workspace > Effects (or press Command–5).
- In the Video category of the Effects browser, click Basics to display effects for standard video clips, or click 360° to display effects for 360° video clips. You can also type in "Noise Reduction" in the search field at the bottom of the Effects browser.
- To preview the Noise Reduction effect on the clip in your timeline, skim the Noise Reduction (or 360° Noise Reduction) effect thumbnail in the Effects browser.
- Drag the effect to the clip in the timeline. The first time you add the effect, Final Cut Pro analyzes the clip for noise. You can see the results in a second or two after Final Cut Pro has completed the analysis."
If you're adding multiple effects to a clip, add Noise Reduction as the first effect, so that it appears at the top of the effects list. You can also drag the Noise Reduction effect to the top of the list to rearrange the order of processing. This ensures the best performance and results.
Adjust Noise Reduction clip effect settings
You can adjust the Noise Reduction effect after you add it to a clip in the timeline.
- Select the clip in the timeline with the effect.
- Choose Window > Show in Workspace > Inspector (or press Command–4), then click to show the Video inspector.
- Select the Noise Reduction effect in the inspector, then adjust its settings:
- To choose the amount of noise reduction to apply, click the Amount pop-up menu and choose the amount.
- To choose the amount of sharpness to apply, click the Sharpness pop-up menu and choose the amount.
- To examine the effect closely, set the Zoom pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the viewer to 100%. When you're finished, choose Fit from the same menu (or press Shift-Z).


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Do you ever see social media posts of magnificent wildlife photos from someone's trip to Alaska and think: This just can't be real?
But it is. BestTrip.TV cruised from Vancouver to Seward (near Anchorage) on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, hoping Nature would be kind and we'd encounter at least a couple of the animals and birds Alaska is famous for:
- Whales
- Salmon
- Crab
- Bald eagles
- Puffins
- Brown (grizzly) bears
- Sitka deer
- Sea otters
- Sea lions
Like you, we were skeptical of shore excursion guides who jokingly promised guests 3 out of 5 of a list of iconic Alaska wildlife 'or your money back'. For Regent guests, this is truly a joke, because Regent has included shore excursions, so you can take wildlife tours in every port of call without going over your vacation budget. If you don't see the animal your heart is set on, another day, another port, another excursion just might bring you luck.
The truth is, our shore excursion guides and boat captains really know their corners of an enormous state; where whales feed or sea lions congregate. Plus we got lucky with weather and time of day...
In the end, over the course of a week-long cruise, we ended up seeing all of these creatures and others we didn't expect, and capturing them on video to share with you.
We think this video is the next best thing to actually being there watching whales come up for air or puffins fly past or a bald eagle swoop down into the water to capture a fish to feed her young in the nest.
But don't take our word for it. Add an Alaska cruise to your travel bucket list.