Neighbors,
Following the e-mail I posted here on Dec 11, to Victory & City Council, the truthfulness of my statement with regard to what happened in the HCDRC hearing was questioned.
The integrity of Mid-City Neighborhood Organization, and my personal integrity, as we move through the rebuilding process is of the upmost importance. Therefore, we have posted a video to YouTube showing the entire 6 minutes and 57 seconds of the portion of the HCDRC hearing Monday, which pertained to Victory. This video is also being sent to the Victory reps, City Council members, and Dr. Blakely, so they can see for themselves what took place.
Some key points (the audio is a bit rough due to the number of people in the room )
- 00:10 Johnny Odum, acting HCDRC chair, re-states Mr. Cortizas request so the audience can hear, “The applicant is requesting a 2-week deferral of this matter so he can work with Mr. Blakely to determine a development plan for the site.”
- 00:25 – 01:25 Veda Eubanks (in peach shirt), Mid-City resident, requests that during the time of meeting with Dr. Blakely, that residents also be included in these discussions.
- 01:28 Stephanie Bruno, HCDRC member, poses question to Mr. Cortizas regarding HCDRC’s deferral of 11/26 being specifically for the purpose of meeting with the neighborhood. She asks whether he was contacted and pushes him to answer a yes/no question about whether he responded to our requests.
- 02:00 Mr. Cortizas responds to Ms. Bruno.
- 02:27 Ms. Bruno – “and was it returned… did you return their message? That’s all I’m trying to find out”
- 02:32 Mr. Cortizas. “No”
- Some more exchange between Bruno/Cortizas where she asks that in the next two weeks he include the neighborhood in his meeting.
- 03:05 Jennifer Weishaupt, VP of Mid-City Neighborhood Organization, makes statement on behalf of the organization, requesting the committee to vote to deny the permit, so the applicant can go through the appeal process to City Council.
- 06:00 Committee Member makes a motion to defer. Vote is taken. Deferral is approved 4-2.
I hope you can take 7 minutes to view the video and see for yourself what took place.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Weishaupt