Posted on 12/18/2006 6:49:09 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Monday December 18, 2006
By BRETT ZONGKER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The NAACP is close to making a deal to move its headquarters from Baltimore to the nation's capital, District of Columbia officials and the civil rights group's president said Monday.
Terms of the agreement, which are still being negotiated, call for the city to contribute $3.5 million to help the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People acquire property along a historic stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast Washington.
Mayor Anthony A. Williams and the group are focusing on a site as part of the Anacostia Gateway Project, a development that could bring more than 150 jobs to the area almost overnight to one of Washington's bleakest areas.
``There is no more appropriate place for the NAACP headquarters than Washington, D.C.,'' Williams said in a news release.
Bruce Gordon, the NAACP's president and CEO, confirmed negotiations are in their final stages.
``We're pretty close to 'yes,''' he said, adding that the nation's capital ``is where we do our work. It's where the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization should be.''
Richard McIntire, an NAACP spokesman in Baltimore, said Monday he had no information on the move and would not comment. Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, declined comment.
A new building is under construction at the proposed site and would be available in the fall of 2007, said Stan Jackson, the district's deputy mayor for economic development. He said a formal announcement could come this week, with the deal completed by the end of the year.
The City Council would have to approve funding for the NAACP deal, said Sharon Gang, a spokeswoman for the mayor. The council was expected to consider the proposal at its meeting Tuesday.
City officials have been negotiating with NAACP leaders and searching for a location for more than a year.
NAACP Chairman Julian Bond has said the organization wanted to move its headquarters to be closer to Congress, government agencies and the many news media outlets in Washington. He said the NAACP loved everything about Baltimore, except its location.
If it's the area I'm thinking about.....they better bring a self-defense militia.
My vote was to move it to Cape Towne
Why not New Orleans??
Anacostia ! To quote Winston Zeddmore, they're gonna see $hit that'll turn them white.
Baltimore to DC now.
And don't forget the Motor City.
All you need is music...
There goes the neighborhood...
I wouldnt pay 3.5 million dollars for the property fronting on MLK street if it ran from one end to the other.
The only part that is even half way safe is St. Elizabeths Hospital.
Wait unitl the NAACP workers going to work are robbed ,beaten, solicited by drug dealers, raped, their cars stolen. gawd awmighty they know not what they do.
Land in Anacostia should be condemned from the bridge to South Capitol street.
If they think being NAACP will give them protection they are having a pipe dream.
All those buildings they see with bars on the windows down there . Those bars arent to keep white people out LOL.
Does that mean that Washington, DC will be renamed Washington, NAACP???????
Good Move!!!
Not to worry. The NAACP will never occupy a new building in that neighborhood. The copper, aluminum, and steel will disappear faster than they can fasten it down.
Oh joy. I suppose this will go down as one of the mayor's major accomplishments.
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