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orr-Reading the daily
mil' teniug to the nightly
news in Detro! t in the wake 0 the
Malice Green beating, the public
ould think the police officers
charged with the beating were the
victims.
major media repol1s focus
I
meeting approved CMJ"
and a Tax Increment F. bel plan
to way for a new Town center
hOUilng and shopping center at
Woodwlld and Manchester.
To, entice developers, the city i
giving away approximately 15 acres
of land in tho heart of the city and
using grant funds to pay the upfront
cos1S for the developers.
The plan approved by the city .
hands control of the $18 million
project over to the nine-member
TIF A board, who will deed tl\e land
for free to the four co-developers.
The e dey topers will then use
primarily a combination of federal
and state money to build 200 housing
units and a 30,000 square foot com­
mercial building.
At a public bearing held prior to
the council meeting. plan proponent
Harriet Saperstein, President. of
DEVCO, had to answer ai�cisms
voiced by some citizens.
And while none said it publicly
some people privately raised ques­
tions about giving away ,and to out- .'
side developers with no guarantees
of jobs going to residents, no local
ownership and little public input
prior to announcement,
The - proposed residential
developer is McCormack Baton and
Associates (MBA) of St. Louis.
DEVCO literature said the company
has developed and managed a
variety of urban housing develop­
men , in such citie St. Louis,
Dayton, Louisville, Cleveland, and
NewYol'k.
Q.
Why do you
think the
'authorlti
delayed
charging
officers In the
Malice Green
DfMmng?
o Ie
IC
UC
Hum n RI h
UEL
I
Inciden like the bea 0 Rodney King in
recent murder of Malice byDe 'tpolice remoreco
m t people think. insists Jac Gravely.
Speaking at I t Sunday' Detroit Branch NAACP meeting, be aid,
"Keep a Camcorder in your car nd loaded, nd you'll be auprised at
what you can catch." -
Gravely is the national director of special projects for the NAACP.
The organization recently launched an in tigation into police '­
conduct in urban are .
vacan
Rosalyn AShford, ACORN member.
Ashford lives across the street
from a house that has been vacant for
over a year. The house, located on a
mer lot with bushes that are over
five feet tall, ba been completely
stripped by vandals. It i on a direct
gear up'
BY JONATHAN MOORE
ASWCIA7ED PRESS WRITER
ever before," Jackson aid Monday.
Nickles, who is chairman of the Republican
Policy Committee, Said last week he would
introduce legislation to turn most of the district
over to Maryland, which along with Virginia,
ceded territory in 1790 to help create a perma­
nent seat of government. Virginia reclaimed its
land in 1846.
President Bush and other Republicans have
"oppo ed making the district a state, because it
would almost certainly add two Democrats to
the Senate and one to the House. President­
elect Clinton favors D.C. statehood.
JACKSON SAID Nickles' suggestion w.
poli tically unworkable and against the best in­
terests of district residents.
CCSenator Nickles' idea is abswd and will
fail, because he will not get the approval of the
Maryland State Legislature. He will not get it
approved by Congress, and it will not be signed
into law by President Bill Clinton," Jackson
said.
"It is more provocative rhetoric to divert
attention away from our fight fur self-determi·
nation," Jackson said ..
Se. DC Stat.hood, Page A·10
DIANE WILUA S: It's a ra­
cial thing and that's wrong.
The police are protecting their
own.·
GWENDOLYN EAVES:
-There have been other situa­
tions like this, But. this one
came out in public � they just
don't know how to handle it·
M.J. MOORE: -I don't know
what they are doing. They are
all of the same klan. They are
gMng us lip service."
POUCE,A10
route to school for at least two dozen
neighborhood children.
"1 am alway watching out my
window. I see the kids go P t that
house, and 1 am afraid that one will
get snatched behind those bushes.
I've also seen people hanging around
there and throwing things into the .
basement," Ashford said.
hi
PRIOR TO devil' night,tbecity
torn down 1,000 of the 4,000 v cant
houses in the city. However,
according to longtime resident
Atline Dobson, the city is not
moving t1 t eno�gh in demoliahing
the rem�ning 3,000 structures.
Dobson live next door to a bouse
that has been vacant for four years.
"The bouse i standing open."
Dobson said. "The door' out, the
windows on the front are out and the
curtain is flying out of the window. I
am ashamed when people bring me
home from church, " she said.
Dobson, like mo t of the residents
SH ACORN, A10
"
on the of erving the inner
city, oommunity leade tep up
calk for reform within the dep -
ment calling for tbe city to ad
police misconduct
News cover ge focused thi
week first on the claIm of'the de­
fe e attorney that they could not
get a fair tri in Detroit.
Officers charged Monday with
the .beating death of Green are
Larry eve d Wal r Budzyn,
who face econd-degree murder
charg ; Officer Robert nau,
ault to do great bodily harm; and
Officer Freddie Douglas, the only
African American officer present
at the beating and the high t rank­
ing officer at the cene, was
charged with involuntary man-
laughter and willful neglect of
duty. .
Mayor Colem n Young d called
their clients "murderers" and Chief
Stanley Kno had prejudiced the
public with hi comm nts on how
erio the crime was, the defens
Dougl i the only officer to
h e made a public tatement, y­
in he w not present and had
nothl to do with Green' beating.
S GREEN, Pa A·10
, Y
either Detroit or Highland Park.
lie d DEVCO checked out
aDd researched approximately 12
dltferent firms, including 0 in the
area, but the city chose MBA be­
cause of its track record in makJng
suece ful projects, the fact that their
reputation and contacts would get
financial backing for the develop­
ment, and their interest in urban
development
Saperstein said the residential
development design would be deter­
mined by the TIF A board.
The city chose First Comrnerical
Reality, a Southfield firm, to handle
the commerical section after check-
•
I
By WANDA F. ROQUEMORE
MIMllI!n CItIz."
Community Organization for
Reform Now (ACORN) rallied last
Saturday in front of a vacant house
to protest the city's delay in the
demolition of vacant buildings.
"These houses are dangerous and
we want them tom down," said
DE'I1tOIT - Fed up wi th vacant
hou e in their ea tside
.neighborhood, approximately 15
. Se. OAVE AWAY, Page A-6 members of The ociation of
JJ: 'D.C. sta ehood foe'
WASHINGTON -. Rev. Jesse Jac son,
"shadow senator" for the Distric! of Colum­
bia, said a recently proposed al temative to D.C.
statehood show that Rhpublicans are worried
the city may become the 51st state under a new
Democratic adminis tration.
A proposal made lest week by Sen. Don
Nickles, R-Okla., to reattach the district to
. Maryland is an indication that statehood foes
are "begilming to dlaw the line now, because
they know statehood is closer to reality than
