Tenant group
City Council Pre ident
Maryann Mahaffey opened
the meeting by ddressing the
Conference's intentions to
better the living conditions of
the people in Detroit' public
ho ing.
The conference offered a
ie of workshops where in-
s ted organiza tions,
leaders and concerned tenants
were able to obtain inform -
tion to improve their situa­
tions.
The workshop topics were:
-Organizing for Tenants
Rights , headed by DOT's
Vicky Kovari
-Preserving Public Hous­
ing with Washington D.C.'s
Greg Brown, Public Housing
Specialist for the Center for
Community Change,
-Special concerns of
Seniors in subsidized housing
by Attorney Marilyn Mullane.
-Tenants and the Welfare
Sy tern with Marian Kramer.
Brown, also the Keynote
Speaker for the Conference,
spoke to an udience of ap­
proximately' 50 per ons.
He aid "All the
poli ticians, legal ervice at­
torney , housing technicians,
and community organizers in
the world cannot chieve the
kinds of things necess ry to
win the victories you ask for
without a large support
group."
BROW SAID IT is im­
perative that there be dedi­
cated per ons actively
working for the tenants,
omeone who will participate
in prote ts, attend city council'
meetings and workshops:
He said the search for these
"someones" begin by building
a network of people from in
and around the city.
Finding which organiza­
tion and individuals within
the City share a common in­
terest in housing is what
Brown specified to the group.
like the mi management of
public housi ng projects.
Brown concluded his talk
emphasizing tenant . need to
continue ccaseles y to
develop and participate in or­
ganizations that will enhance
their opportunities to he heard
and helped.
He aid ci ty officials know
that the heat of a demonstra­
tion or new story will soon
die dow n be ca use a few
tenants and organizations are
not c pable of maintaining the
essary pressure to ustain
heat on a long term ba is.
effries occupants are
refu ing to relocate on the
promi e of renovation, only to
watch a repeat of the putting
up of bo rds and fences as ha
happened at the Brew­
ter/Douglass project, while
thousands remain homeless. .
Protesters joined an earlier
c II by U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Renewal
JUNE 17.23. 1990 MICHIGAN CITIZEN
PAGE
INE
chief Jack Kemp for the
ou ter of Detroit Housing
Director Tom Lewis.
Detroit public hou ing
re idents feel betrayed by
Lewi , contending that he
con tantly eludes answering
tenant questions, mis­
manage hou ing funds, is in­
competent, and are calling for
hi firing.
Jeffries tenants :maintain
that on May 8, Lewis met with
tenant leaders to discu s their
concerns but said the meeting
"dissolved into a platform for
Lewi to mouth off out­
rageous remarks that had "lit­
tle or no basis to the reality of
the Jeffries si tuation.·
Jeffries residents have
been granted a hearing regard­
ing tbe termination of Lewis
by the Detroi t Ci ty Council
scheduled for Thursday June
14 on the 13th floor of the
City' County Building at
2:30pm.
DOT President Cleotha
Odom ended the rally and dis­
bursed the cheerina crowd as
she said, "We at DOT support
all public hou ing including
the firing of Tom Lewis, and
we hope that everyone here
will be someone to support
our fight to right this wrong."
Senio force
. hou In9' '.
Improvement
By Oem c. Lewis
It took a p-otest by thirty-five
senior citizens, some in wheel­
chairs, to force the band of Win­
gate Management Services to
puvide services in their apart-
ments. .
The protest on JUDe 6, by the
Housing Coalition Core Group
(HCCG), made up of seniors
residing in apartment buildings
managed by the service, was
against unfair management
practices. These included
deterio� buildings, unsafe
elevators, unauthorized tenants,
.and rats, according to Allen
Gamer, president of HCCG .
According to the HCCG
. '
semors who have physical cis-
abilities have been repeatedly
stuck on elevators for up to four
hours, and that the elevators
have been cited for Building
Code vio ations by the city of
Detroit.
Several tenants have found
rodents in their beds and in their
kitchen cupboards. Ceilings are
leaking due to unattended roof­
iog problems and one tenant .
recently uffered a fire ap­
parently caused by faulty
wiring.
The HCCG also stated Win­
gate allows unauthorized people
Continued on P 8
HOME COURT ADi
Where Legends
As a junior high .ch tudent in Baltimore,
Maryland, Dominique Wilkin learned all
about the law of gravity. After chool, on
the concrete ba ketball c urt of the
Patter. 'on Park city playground,
he defied it.
S anng, coring hi' way into the
history ks, first in the Coli eum
�t th University f Georgia and
n w in the Omni with the Atlanta
Hawk" of the SA D minque i
a maj r s urce of inspiration for th
super 'tars f tom rr w.
At Reebok, we.are als enc uraging
y ung athlete' to b the be t th y can
be thr ugh ur neighborh ourt
Renewal Program. We are refurbi hing
high-u s , rundown playground c urts all
acr ss the country, becau .e w kn w
that even for upe ta like Dominique
there' nothing like a h me
c urt_ advantag
