Rescue Mission Move: Human Faces, Human Voices

The specific issue was whether the council ought to give the mission more time to move from its 9th Avenue property that the city purchased a couple of months back. But the council wouldn't. And what would be the point?

The mission bought and paid $3.7 million for the old Westminster Christian Academy property and has given no hint that it wants to go elsewhere. Apparently, the mission can't get its money back, and neither can the city.

Maybe if The Huntsville Times had published this before the "perfectly legal real estate transaction transpired the taxpayers could have been informed regarding the specifics and realities of the deal.

For those few who may not know, the proposed relocation has ignited a firestorm of protest from people who live and do business in the Westminster area. Some demand to know what the city knew and when it knew it. Some demand to know why the city didn't hold hearings on the relocation. And so forth.

I'll get to those issues momentarily. To me, though, the catalyst for everything that followed came in the form of the $3.9 million the city paid for the rescue mission's six acres on 9th Avenue. That's $650,000 per acre.

The Huntsville Times even had a problem with how the issue was beomg debated instead of what was being debated.

Folks in the area have every right to try to find a legal way to prevent the move or - better in my opinion - a place that might be more suitable. A pie-in-the-sky answer doesn't present itself at the moment - at least not to me. So this remains a legitimate community debate.

As long as it doesn't get out of bounds.

Which, in at least one instance, I think it has.

I recently saw an e-mail from the Huntsville Islamic Center. It went out to a bunch of folks.

The residents and business owners had to hire an Attorney to prove  t the City/The Downtown Resue Mission/Westminister Christian Academy  were working hand in hand to grease the skids and get the "deal done" before they could protest.

The letter writer in yesterdays Huntsville Times summed up the whole sordid mess:

The "tail" clearly wagged the "dog" when a fourth- or fifth-tier priority road project was used as an excuse to tell the Mission's operators that they had to immediately vacate. However, rather than formally serve the mission with eminent domain, city leaders took the Don Corleone approach.

They made the mission an offer it couldn't refuse, paying $3.9 million for a dump and a nice neighborhood in which to relocate.

So let's talk about the serious implications of this "perfectly legal real estate deal".

According to Huntsville Police Department Crime statistics there have been almost 700 arrest for crimes that have taken place in the last 4 years by individuals that say they are residents of the Downtown Rescue Mission.

Among these 17 have been protstitution related, two sex offender registrations violations, indecent exposeure, murder, robbery, burglaryu and a host of other felony and misdemeanor crimes including trespassing and public drunkenss.

Acts of prostitution from residents within the shelter appear to be widespread according to a police source.

A large number of the residents are convicted felons and have served time in prison.

There are no know criminal recrods check for residents of the Mission.

The way the Mission presently operates there is no way of knowing if convicted sex offenders, fugitives from justice or a terrorist were seeking shelter.  As a matter of fact, the Mission may be operatin as a safe haven for criminal entities.

The Mission is not under regulation from any local or state agency including state and local health agencies.