Said Agency Was Straying From Its Core Mission
posted May 22, 2008
Mayor Ron Littlefield two years ago warned the Chattanooga Housing Authority that it was straying from its core mission and urged it not to move its headquarters to Holtzclaw Avenue rather than on the Westside in the old James A. Henry School.
Mayor Littlefield told CHA Executive Director Bob Dull in the March 29, 2006, letter, "In Chattanooga today there are too many examples of organizations that have strayed from their original purpose and gotten themselves into trouble."
CHA this week announced it was facing deep financial troubles and had a second round of employee layoffs - including the departure of Mr. Dull.
CHA is also discussing selling several properties to help with the fiscal crunch. Those include the Henry School that Mayor Littlefield felt would be a better and less expensive headquarters site.
Mayor Littlefield said in the letter, "I am very unsatisfied with plans by the Chattanooga Housing Authority to move away from the Westside to an office in their renovated warehouse on Holtzclaw Avenue. I am not convinced that your cost estimates are objectively based. In my opinion, the proposed move is financially unwise and inappropriate in terms of your larger mission."
Here are the CHA properties being discussed for possible sale:
James A. Henry Resource Center, 1300 Grove Street. This would require HUD-approval because the College Hill Courts management office is located here.
Grove Street Center, which is located across the street from the James A. Henry Resource Center on the Westside. Negotiations have already begun and the sale could be finalized in the very near future.
Vacant Lots on:
Olive Street near the Harriet Tubman Development
Cleveland Avenue on the corner of Willow and Cleveland
Chandler Avenue in the Alton Park area
Here is the Littlefield letter:
March 29, 2006
Mr. Bob Dull, Exec. Director
Chattanooga Housing Authority
West M. L. King Boulevard
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Mr. Bob Dull:
In Chattanooga today there are too many examples of organizations that have strayed from their original purpose and gotten themselves into trouble. The magnetic attraction of exotic development initiatives has resulted in the creation of numerous corporate structures to serve as a means to deliver creatively crafted financing schemes. We are wrestling with a number of residual problem cases at the present time.
I am very unsatisfied with plans by the Chattanooga Housing Authority to move away from the Westside to an office in their renovated warehouse on Holtzclaw Avenue. I am not convinced that your cost estimates are objectively based. In my opinion, the proposed move is financially unwise and inappropriate in terms of your larger mission. The Holtzclaw Avenue location is within a developing corridor trending toward medical offices near Third Street and toward warehouses near Wilcox Boulevard. I have been advised by professional realtors that the site should be highly marketable.
The alternate site originally considered by CHA was the James A. Henry / Grove Street Center property located within College Hill Courts and very near other CHA properties.
Your proposed budget for renovating both properties as offices for CHA was slightly less than one million dollars. The original development of the Henry / Grove properties during the 1990’s was the result of a joint effort by the City of Chattanooga, Chattanooga Neighborhoods Enterprise, and Chattanooga Housing Authority. Unfortunately, the demise of the Westside Community Development Corporation has left these properties orphaned and largely vacant. We are acutely aware of the central role that this location plays in the societal health of the neighborhood and I am very concerned that the buildings not be allowed to deteriorate and become derelict.
In short, it appears that CHA is moving away from an area where its presence is sorely needed and relocating to a developing corridor where your offices really bring nothing that might be substantially energizing to the surroundings. It also must be noted that the Henry / Grove properties are financed by one of those creative corporate structures and Chattanooga Neighborhoods Enterprise, Chattanooga Housing Authority and (ultimately) the City of Chattanooga are on the hook to make them work from an economic standpoint. Both the Henry building and the Grove development are in financial distress. It has been suggested that the largely empty Grove Street Center might be sold to a private investor, but realistically it is unlikely that the property will be marketable for anything like a reasonable price. Further, even if sold to a private investor, we will not be relieved from worry regarding how the property might be managed.
Having said all that, let me now reluctantly admit that I am convinced that you and your CHA staff will be unhappy if forced to remain in the Westside. I know from experience that unless a solution is embraced with at least some small measure of enthusiasm it will be doomed to fail. Accordingly, I do not plan to try and force you to grudgingly accept my recommendations. However, I do expect CHA to remain committed to the viability of the Westside community. In this regard, I welcome your willingness to move the College Hill Courts management office into the James A. Henry Building. Perhaps this will help shore up the use of the property. Also, I am holding CHA responsible for the ultimate utilization of the Grove Street Center. Simply handing the property back to Chattanooga Neighborhoods Enterprise does not make the problem go away. Once again, it must be noted that these properties in question are located in the middle of a CHA development. Any decline of the affected neighborhood will be a CHA problem (and a city problem) whether or not the housing authority is holding title to Grove Street Center.
I know that your board plans to meet tomorrow night to vote on the Holtzclaw remodeling contract. Before that happens, please provide me with a memorandum of understanding regarding just what CHA is willing to do to accommodate the needs of the Westside community.
Thank you for the many meetings and conversations as this issue has been debated and examined.
Cordially,
Ron Littlefield,
Mayor
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