Thursday, February 24, 2000
Yates says council to blame for funding housing group
Don't look for scapegoats, he says
BY ROBERT ANGLEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A former Cincinnati councilman says the council should not make scapegoats out of administrators for giving money to a West End development group that used a taxpayer-funded program to write checks to its board members and their relatives and to repair family members' homes.
Tyrone Yates said Wednesday that council members, including himself, are to blame for presuring city staff to continue funding Genesis Redevelopment Inc. year after year.
A particular member of council may have been “heavy-handed,” Mr. Yates told the council's finance committee. “We all had a hand in what went on.”
City officials called for a FBI probe of Genesis after The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Feb. 11 that board members of the nonprofit group paid themselves and relatives more than $12,000 in 1998, among other self-dealings.
During last week's Finance Committee meeting, council members debated who was responsible for approving more than $800,000 in federal grants to Genesis since 1991 despite its record of rehabilitating its own offices, building one house and making minor repairs to 11 others while promising to provide 130 units of housing in the West End.
At that meeting, Neighborhood Services Director Cheryl Meadows, who oversees Genesis, first said she was pressured by council members, who told her not to be too hard on Genesis. She later said she was not pressured to fund the group.
Mr. Yates said Wednesday that “no one has come forward to put all of this in context.” He said the council had to approve Genesis budgets — and even if one member was pushing for Genesis, it takes a majority vote to approve something.
Councilman Phil Heimlich disagreed, saying Genesis was never singled out in budgets. He said the council just approved a lump sum that would go to neighborhood development corporations throughout the city and disbursements were made by Ms. Meadows.
When questions did arise over Genesis in December, Mr. Heimlich said, Ms. Meadows reported the group was improving.
Councilwoman Minette Cooper said she also had concerns about Genesis, which is why she supported giving Genesis $50,000 last September to hire a consultant to do an evaluation and train board members.
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