Stepping up to the mic, Nickels stuck with the same message. "Some folks came here tonight to talk about CASA Latina," he said, prompting enthusiastic nods and shouts of agreement in the audience. "It's an important issue we're working on, but it's not the focus tonight." Nickels went on to outline the "agenda"--a plan for economic, development, education, and arts boosts in Rainier Valley.
Unfortunately for Nickels, any talk about Rainier Valley's economic agenda comes squarely back to CASA Latina [see "CASA Latina Causes Political Storm," Amy Jenniges, Dec 23, 2004]. Residents found out in late December that the migrant workers' organization--including its day-laborer headquarters--wants to move into a prime vacant Rainier Avenue property that used to house the Chubby & Tubby garden center. While the agency has strong supporters in the neighborhood, opponents of the plan--who say that, among other concerns, it's a bad economic move for the fragile neighborhood--quickly took Monday night's meeting hostage and threw down their own agenda.
"I want to stress to you, Mayor, that there are very strong concerns," said Karen Bardarson, a woman who lives near the Chubby & Tubby site, eliciting cheers from the crowd. Opponents have been outlining their main concerns for months: They're worried about safety around the site, and they want retail or commercial development there, not a social-service organization. In the past few weeks, issues have emerged that highlight those concerns. Neighbors near the site, as well as a coalition of black pastors, are irate that CASA Latina still isn't doing much community outreach to gain neighbors' support for the move. Opponents also allege that CASA Latina has ulterior motives, like accessing the neighborhood's $50 million light-rail mitigation money in the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund (CDF). And lastly, further frustrating neighbors, CASA Latina's director and board, plus neighborhood leaders who initially raised community concerns, are under orders from the mayor's office to keep mum about mediation talks. Neighbors say the mayor's office instituted a "gag order."
That gag came off on Monday night. Pastors were still angry after a meeting with CASA Latina's executive director last week. "She couldn't answer any questions," Pat Wright, of Cherry Street's Oneness Christian Center, said of CASA's executive director Hilary Stern. The pastors now want a seat at the mediation table.
CASA supporters, however, point out that the nonprofit's real estate negotiations may have precluded early outreach. Moreover, they say, community meetings wouldn't necessarily have stemmed the "xenophobic" complaints opponents have trotted out, such as fears that migrant workers loiter, drink, and urinate on the sidewalks. Stern hasn't been savvy enough to bring her clients to any neighborhood gatherings to meet the neighbors, one supporter points out. CASA Latina has reportedly hired a consultant from Pyramid Communications to begin outreach, but opponents say it's too little, too late.
Opponents' second issue is money: They complain that while CASA Latina hasn't knocked on neighbors' doors, the organization did knock on one door, the Community Development Fund (CDF)--keeper of Rainier Valley's pot of light-rail mitigation gold. "The only outreach they did on their own initiative was to the Community Development Fund," says neighbor Marietta Zintak. "This neighborhood worked so hard to get that money. And to have them not come to us but to come to the money is infuriating." Stern's pitch to the CDF board in January stirred rumors that CASA Latina is intent on moving to Rainier Valley--as opposed to neighborhoods like White Center, where many of the group's clients reside, or SoDo, near a Home Depot where migrant workers frequently seek work on their own--in order to be eligible for the mitigation money. Of the theory, CDF Executive Director Jaime Garcia says Stern simply asked for "our support," though the board ultimately declined to take a position to avoid a possible conflict of interest down the road if they endorsed CASA Latina and the agency later applied to the fund. "There was no conversation about a loan," Garcia emphasizes. Unfortunately, it doesn't help matters that Garcia's wife, Dorry Elias, heads up the Minority Executive Director's Coalition [MEDC], of which Garcia is a member. Antsy opponents cite MEDC's recent endorsement of the CASA's move as conspiracy-theory "proof" that CASA Latina is ultimately after CDF money. Elias says the endorsement is simply about CASA Latina's "right of self-determination" to relocate where they'd like.
Lastly, neighbors on both sides are frustrated that those in mediation aren't allowed to talk publicly about the issue. "The mayor put a gag order on them," Wright said on Monday night, aghast. That means CASA Latina board members in the Cultural Center's basement that night--along with a very quiet Stern--weren't allowed to discuss the issue. "We can't give out any information about what's happening right now," Stern said, citing the mediation.
