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Apartment Complex Gets Makeover, Twist [ ! your tax dollars ! ]
myfoxhouston.com ^ | 31 Jan 2011 | Isiah Carey

Posted on 02/02/2011 3:48:49 PM PST by smokingfrog

HOUSTON - From the exterior of Kennedy Place, it looks like any other upscale apartment complex.

Inside you'll find faux granite top counters, a matching refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and an alarm system. Move over to the amenities room and there are flat screens in the lounge area, computer and workout rooms.

The only thing different about this apartment complex: it’s public housing .

Sheila Johnson has lived at Kennedy Place for that last seven years. She remembers when it used to be a 30-year-old building with lots of crime.

But after $11 million in renovations, there are three-story units with balconies. The stimulus package contributed $8 million to those renovations.

The renovation of Kennedy Place is getting mixed reviews from those outside of the complex: mainly a young, mobile crowd. Officials and advocates say the renovated facility is not too good for families hoping get a helping hand in life.

(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxhouston.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: apartment; luxury; publichousing; whywork
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Must see video at link.

1 posted on 02/02/2011 3:48:55 PM PST by smokingfrog
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To: smokingfrog

“She remembers when it used to be a 30-year-old building with lots of crime.”

Now they’re newly renovated buildings with lots of crime.


2 posted on 02/02/2011 3:51:04 PM PST by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
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To: smokingfrog
flat screens in the lounge area

A LOUNGE in public housing? This is a joke, right?

3 posted on 02/02/2011 3:53:17 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
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To: smokingfrog

The article mentions flat screen tv’s.

I would love a flat screen.

I can’t afford a flat screen (a good one would be half of my annual tax bill though).

Why do people on the dole get to have flat screens?

How do I get into Obama’s stash?


4 posted on 02/02/2011 3:54:38 PM PST by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
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To: lacrew

next year it will be a 31 year old refurbished, blighted neighborhood.


5 posted on 02/02/2011 3:54:45 PM PST by Einherjar
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To: smokingfrog

I guess Sheila will never want to better herself and eventually move out now.


6 posted on 02/02/2011 3:59:20 PM PST by antidemoncrat
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To: smokingfrog

Suppose that rent is $500 per month x 100 units x 12 months = $600,000 revenue per year. Subtract 50% per year for operating expenses. That is $300,000 in net income per year.

At a $11,000,000 cost, that would take 37 years to pay off. But of course, that isn’t how it works. The net income of $300,000 per year will disappear and the taxpayers are still out $11,000,000.

What a racket!


7 posted on 02/02/2011 4:00:17 PM PST by whitedog57
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To: LibFreeOrDie
No joke. They even have garages and garage door openers!
8 posted on 02/02/2011 4:01:38 PM PST by smokingfrog ( BORN free - taxed to DEATH (and beyond) ...)
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To: Einherjar

“next year it will be a 31 year old refurbished, blighted neighborhood.”

Perfect! It will be eligible for tax credits.


9 posted on 02/02/2011 4:02:00 PM PST by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
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To: smokingfrog

I grew up literally around the corner from subsidized housing in a Pittsburgh neighborhood. The house my parents owned, was a ‘shotgun’ style row house (3 rooms on each of two floors, one bathroom). It was build in the 1890s (mill housing). In the 1970s our kitchen sink (no dishwasher or clothes dryer) was still the original iron, with legs. Storage was in shelves hung above the sink and a pantry closet (orginal). No wooden cabinetry or anything ‘built in.’

Every three or four years we would see the dumpsters being dropped at the high rise around the corner. All kitchens, bathrooms and vinyl flooring were ripped out and replaced. And the heartbreak (to my mom who wanted a ‘nice kitchen’) was the cabinets were damaged (like kicked in and obviously not well cared for). But they got ‘new’ on welfare and we had what we could afford and what still ‘worked’ even if it was 80 plus years old at the time.

This story makes me nuts.


10 posted on 02/02/2011 4:02:23 PM PST by PennsylvaniaMom (Newt Gingrich, he would rather sit on a couch with Nancy Pelosi, than stand with Sarah Palin.)
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To: whitedog57

A Valerie Jarrett production, without any question whatsoever.


11 posted on 02/02/2011 4:03:15 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder ("Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking" - Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: smokingfrog

They are rewarding bad, destructive behavior. The place will revert to pit status in fewer than five years. Money borrowed from China down the drain.


12 posted on 02/02/2011 4:03:24 PM PST by La Lydia
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To: smokingfrog

I nearly vomited while watching the video. If you make poverty comfortable, there is never a benefit to work your way out. What a load of Bulls*&%.


13 posted on 02/02/2011 4:07:43 PM PST by RobertClark
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To: LibFreeOrDie

They will end up like New York.

Because of the housing shortage, they can get middle-class people in a most of the public housing. They don’t wreck the place, and in fact help keep it up.

I would think that for this nice a building, they could be very picky and get higher-class low-income people, who would respect the building.....if they wanted to.


14 posted on 02/02/2011 4:14:07 PM PST by proxy_user
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To: La Lydia

Fiction Housing authority person telling the news man how this would inspire people get up and realize the possibilities in the world....

Fact Ms. Jackson renter, “Well hopefully THEY will help us keep this up and nice for everyone. Ms. Jackson didn’t get up and do anything when it was crappy, and he damn sure isn’t gonna get up now thats its nice.

Comming from Detroit, this nice building has about 4 years of nice left in it...then its Obama stash time again.


15 posted on 02/02/2011 4:16:20 PM PST by JohnD9207 (John McCain is a proud Ted Kennedy conservative!)
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To: lacrew

they need flat screens to go with their free welfare cell phones..


16 posted on 02/02/2011 4:23:28 PM PST by rolling_stone ( *this makes Watergate look like a kiddie pool*)
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To: smokingfrog

bookmark


17 posted on 02/02/2011 4:40:48 PM PST by manic4organic (We won. Get over it.)
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To: smokingfrog
It makes me wonder why I work so hard to keep my property. It requires upkeep, taxes and insurance. It is home but does not have all the amenities.
18 posted on 02/02/2011 4:43:38 PM PST by Bronzy (We Remembered In November.)
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To: Bronzy

Not to mention homeowner’s association “dues” for the playground and pool I never use.


19 posted on 02/02/2011 5:07:51 PM PST by smokingfrog ( BORN free - taxed to DEATH (and beyond) ...)
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To: PennsylvaniaMom

What are you complaining about?

You had real cast iron plumbing.

None of that faux granite stuff.

< sarc >


20 posted on 02/02/2011 5:10:58 PM PST by smokingfrog ( BORN free - taxed to DEATH (and beyond) ...)
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