A group of East Ridge residents have mobilized to fight having their houses being included in a blighted area and subject to redevelopment.
Jody Grant, is among a group of folks who have banned together and are building a petition to remove some homes from being included in the East Ridge Housing and Redevelopment Authority (ERHRA) boundary map.
“I quickly became involved once the letters were sent to the citizens,” said Grant, who lives in the Moore Road area and whose home is not subject to redevelopment. “Having read the East Ridge Redevelopment Plan and reviewing the map it was obvious this was more than “adding sidewalks and parks.”
In recent weeks, the ERHRA sent out 5,300 letters to residents and owners of houses and businesses in the city. The letter informed them that their property was subject to a ERHRA redevelopment plan, which could include these homes/businesses being “taken” by the government.
More than 50 concerned residents attended an ERHRA meeting at City Hall last Friday where the five board members discussed how the city would handle an “Open House” scheduled for May 3. The “Open House” will give residents an opportunity to ask questions of housing authority board members and city officials and have their concerns about redevelopment addressed.
Grant said that if the redevelopment plan is approved by a vote of the East Ridge City Council it will put an immense amount of power into hands of the ERHRA board, a body which is not elected by residents of East Ridge.
Grant said that in recent days she has reached out to the Institute for Justice, an Arlington, Va. law firm that fights for individuals’ property rights against government intrusion. She said that IJ senior attorney Robert McNamara will be advocating for the citizens of East Ridge.
“We (Grant and McNamara) have been working together to be a liaison between the local government and the citizens to help explain the documents and letters created by this committee,” she said.
Grant said that she and others have started a petition asking the mayor to permanently remove their homes from the plan’s map, as it “does not reflect the opinions or desires of the community.”
“We started going door to door, focusing on those without internet access or immediate communication for answers to the vague letter,” she said. ” This evolved to online social media correspondence.”
During a telephone interview on Monday, McNamara said that he has reviewed the ERHRA redevelopment plan which includes about a third of the city.
“I’m interested in East Ridge,” he said. “It’s a huge blight area and something that rightly has a lot of citizens up in arms.”
McNamara said the boundary map is very unusual in the sheer number of properties subject to redevelopment and the unusual shape of the boundary; something he said “looks like my four-year-old drew a dragon on the city.”
“This seems to be an extraordinarily large abuse of government power and definitely something the IJ responds to,” he said. “That means me or another member of the team is going to end up in East Ridge sometime soon.”
Grant said the ERHRA letter affects about a third of the city, not just the people getting the letter.
“I implore every one to either continue or start attending all public meetings with our local government and to reach out to Robert McNamara Senior Attorney for the Institute for Justice for more information,” she said.
