Back in the late 1990's, the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), with just over $7 million taxpayer dollars and eminent domain powers, obtained the Twin Oaks apartment buildings on Oak Street across from their ever-sprawling campus.
At that time, UMKC promised to "rehabilitate" the very well-built twin, 11-story structures for student housing and the residents that lived there could stay.
Then, UMKC was blinded by dollar signs.
In January 2005 UMKC reneged on that promise and served eviction notices on the nearly 600 students and residents, claiming it was "not economically feasible" to keep Twin Oaks.
The university would spend $5 million to tear down the still quite-servicable buildings and spend another $25 million to build a 500-unit apartment complex there.
UMKC would then "lease" the land to a private developer. The new apartment complex would supposively be bought by the developer, "paid for" by rents from what one can only assume to be affluent students (since tuitions keep rising faster than gas prices after a Gulf hurricane and the Governmint keeps cutting student assistance programs).
All in all- this scheme involves more than $37 million dollars of taxpayer money.
Residents and students had until this past Wednesday to vacate the buildings and, with alleged threats from UMKC, most did.
Two did not and apparently will not anytime soon.
Twin Oaks resident and True American Maverick Paula Fesenmeyer filed a Federal lawsuit against UMKC the very day the eviction notices went out. She contends UMKC didn't maintain the buildings, allowing them to become blighted (sound inner-city familiar?). She wants Twin Oaks returned to the residents, most of whom have already moved out.
Since the court case is still pending, Fesenmeyer claims that if she and her blind son who lives across the hall from her leaves, UMKC will tear down "the evidence" in her suit - the Twin Oaks buildings themselves.
Fesenmeyer has filed a court motion seeking an injunction to halt her and her son's eviction and also asks UMKC to stop their "harassment, threats ... and intimidation." Defendants named in the motion the UMKC curators and Govenor A-Reason-To-Vote-For-Anybody-BUT Matt Blunt.
It's a classic 'David versus Golliath' story here - and I'll keep you posted on it's developments.
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2 comments:
would it make any sense to use the 5-mil that they'd use to tear them down to fix them up instead and then charge the rents to recoup the 12 mil?
Visit "univofindependents.blogspot.com" for day to day (as much as possible) actions of the Tenants Collective and responses of the University.
The Appeal being filed tomorrow to the Federal Appeals Court contains.....perhaps what will become a Landmark for the rights of the Visually Impaired. Other findings to be presented to the Court are stunning.
To Kllinme:....shortly, the Twin Oaks Collective will publish its redevelopment plan, which President Floyd reported the Curators had no interest in seeing, several months ago when it was completed.
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