Sunday, November 18, 2018

Cocktails & Popcorn: Detroit & Israel - Past Proves Prologue In Election Interference

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You can't improve on the original source.
I am not even going to go into the spirit of fuchsia for the simple fact that the initial acquisition of the properties in question was a fraudulent scam, ran out Detroit City Council, City Clerk, Mayor and Wayne Country Prosecutor's Offices surrounding the bankruptcies of Detroit and the Big 3 Auto industry.

When you lose your home to foreclosure, there is no vote at that address for quite some time, resulting in a forced migration of voters, leading to redistricting which produced, in this particular instance, fraudulent mortgage and tax foreclosures, gerrymandering, or rather, more succinctly, election interference.

Sam Riddle trial: Developer testifies he gave Monica Conyers money for kid's tuition, shopping


Ladies and Gentlemen, take your seats, the show is about to begin, shortly.

Land on Detroit's lower east side in limbo after developer's broken promises

https://www.zeklaw.com/attorney/mark-w-schlussel
An overturned, decomposing piano, a discarded wooden pallet and black bags of trash serve as streetside reminders of the repercussions of years of broken development promises in Detroit.
In 2004, a group of investors made what was to be a reported $258 million bet on the city's lower east side, and the Kilpatrick administration and City Council spent millions priming the area for redevelopment.

More than a decade later, and with New Far East Side Development Co. LLC still controlling at least 45 acres of the area abutting Grosse Pointe Park, the city has few options for getting back the property it sold to the investment group the Duggan administration says broke its promises of redevelopment. Today it still sits largely fallow, with nary a sign of the roughly 3,000 homes that were proposed for the area.




Order certified copies Name of filingYear filedDate filedFiling No.View PDF
CERTIFICATE OF RESTORATION OF GOOD STANDING08/27/2018201880414680201880414680.pdf, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201408/27/2018201880383760201880383760.pdf, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201508/27/2018201880386310201880386310.pdf, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201608/27/2018201880387290201880387290.pdf, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201708/27/2018201880388800201880388800.pdf, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201808/27/2018201880393110201880393110.pdf, 2 pgs
CERTIFICATE OF RESTORATION OF GOOD STANDING06/10/2013E0092955.TIF, 6 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201006/10/2013E0093029.TIF, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201106/10/2013E0093023.TIF, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201206/10/2013E0093017.TIF, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT201306/10/2013E0093011.TIF, 2 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT200802/23/2009E0960982.tif, 1 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT200902/23/2009E0961075.tif, 1 pgs
ANNUAL STATEMENT200702/13/2007E0954981.tif, 1 pgs
CERTIFICATE OF AMENDMENT TO THE ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION07/22/2005E0142148.TIF, 2 pgs
CERTIFICATE OF AMENDMENT TO THE ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION06/16/2004E0133408.TIF, 3 pgs
ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION05/19/2004E0162651.TIF, 3 pgs

It is quite odd that the Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs just let the New Far East Side Development slide by when it came to filing its annual statements, but, then again, Bill Schuette did "sign off" on anything Detroit Land Bank Authority related, but that is just cyberchatter because he shuttered the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

Right, Bill?

Smooches!

It's one of untold numbers of grandiose redevelopment visions that never got off the ground, for a host of reasons. But it was also one of the largest and most ambitious in recent memory and, to this day, the neighborhood struggles with blight, disinvestment and decay, with nearly 150 violations by New Far East Side Development totaling $41,000 accrued.

The city is still owed $19,300, the city says.

It's quiet title time! You can wipe out any lien with a quiet title and still keep the property as a Corporate Shape Shifter.

The total project area envisioned nearly 15 years ago was bounded by Jefferson Avenue to the south, Alter Road to the east, Warren Avenue to the north and Conner Street to the west.

It was anticipated to be done in phases, with the first Fox Creek phase consisting of properties totaling about 140 acres generally bounded by East Vernor Highway, Alter, East Jefferson and Eastlawn Street. It's Eastlawn where the piano and trash have accumulated, one of the few signs of activity on a largely vacant street.

Melvin Washington, managing member of New Far East Side and president and founder of Detroit-based Phoenix Group Cos., did not return multiple messages seeking comment.

That is because he knows past proves prologue.

Linda Smith, another one-time investor who is the longtime head of Detroit-based housing nonprofit U-SNAP-BAC Inc., deferred most comment to Washington. David Hill, the late head of Kimball Hill Homes, died in 2008. The Chicago-area home developer was liquidated in bankruptcy the following year. And Henry Cisneros, a former Clinton-era cabinet secretary, said he and Smith have long since sold off their interest in the project.

Chitter chatter on the streets is saying someone over there running U-SNAP-BAC was getting all that federal home assistance money to help homeowners with repairs, but decided to focus on the friends and family dole out.  They all got their homes fixed up and ran out of money. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the office was rarely opened.

‘Quadruple whammy'

External factors ultimately doomed the effort, said Cisneros, one of the project's four main investors in 2004-05 and a former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary, in an interview with Crain's last week. He said he and Smith had no knowledge of the blight violations or debt.

I do not know why this writer did not contact the Michigan Israel people, but then again, that would take multiple phone calls to find out the right one.


MICHIGAN ISRAEL BUSINESS ACCELERATOR80091370970221F1001 WOODWARD AVE. SUITE #500
DETROIT, MI 48226 USA
MICHIGAN ISRAEL BUSINESS ACCELERATOR FOUNDATION80092618170909K1001 WOODWARD AVE SUITE #500
DETROIT, MI 48226 USA
MICHIGAN ISRAEL BUSINESS BRIDGE80091370970221F1001 WOODWARD AVE. SUITE #500
DETROIT, MI 48226 USA
MICHIGAN ISRAEL CHAMBER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT80084385676397127777FRANKLIN RD STE 2500 SOUTHFIELD, MI 48034 USA
MICHIGAN-ISRAEL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE80078760270122630700 TELEGRAPH STE 1651 FRANKLIN, MI 48026 USA
MICHIGAN ISRAEL INVESTMENT LLC801631418D7083V2285 S MICHIGAN RD PO BOX 266
EATON RAPIDS, MI 48827 USA
THE MICHIGAN ISRAEL OBSERVER LLC801343020B5516W3909 MICHIGAN UNION 530 SOUTH STATE STREET
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 USA

The investors ran into a series of "buzz saws" they did not anticipate, not the least of which was Hill's death from a brain tumor.

"We got hit by a quadruple whammy," Cisneros said.

That included the city's worsening financial condition, the bankruptcy of General Motors, Hill's death and the downfall of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his administration.

"We had a very well thought-out plan to build housing in the far east side area of Detroit," Cisneros said. "We were well down the road in terms of planning, neighborhood meetings, city administration meetings and design of homes."

Not so fast, said Paul Robertson, chairman of Bloomfield Hills-based homebuilder Robertson Bros.

"In 2004, no friggin' way" would that project have worked, he said. "Single-family on the east side as opposed to something downtown was worthless. There was no way, unless they had gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs of government subsidies."

Wanna know a secret? They were stealin'.

Linda Smith has questions.

"It's still an LLC. I just don't have any update," she said before deferring any remaining comment to Washington. Multiple messages were left and not returned.

FinCEN: The Original Detroit GTO Model Of Corporate Shape Shifting Races For LLC Property Titles


Andre Spivey also has questions.

"I need to know from the city's perspective, what are our options, if any, because it's a large plot of land and I would hate for it to sit there with nothing being done," said the Detroit City Council member whose district encompasses the area.

"The city was promised a large project on this property," said Lawrence Garcia, the city's corporation counsel, in a statement.

"The city expended a lot of resources in conveying the property and making it ready for development.

You may want to speak to the former Mayor Pro Tem on this matter.

However, the developer broke the promise to develop the land. The city is exploring its options for seeking redress of the broken promise, but at this time, but it does not appear to have rights to reversion of ownership under the master agreement for the project."

City's hands tied

For now, the Duggan administration says, its hands are largely tied. Development agreements with New Far East Side Development from 2004 and 2005 don't have reversionary language, meaning the city can't take back the land in spite of the broken agreement.

All they had to do was to go to the U.S. Department of Justice, but, alas, I had to do it for them, again.

In all, the city sold the group about 660 properties between October 2006 and February 2009, according to a memo provided to the City Council last month. Another 481 properties were purchased privately.

Today, city records show the group still owns 530 properties, having spent nearly $3.3 million on them.

The land is valued at just $735,000, according to city data.

I hope they are not relying upon Loveland data.  I believe the purveyor of "that" database has skipped town.

"In 2004, a single-family project on the east side, there was just no way," Robertson said. "There was just no way. Your costs were more than anybody would ever give you in sales price."

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

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