New home construction to begin in Happy Hill
Long awaited revitalization project of historic African-American
community will pull together several community agencies
Photos by Kevin Walker
Guests cheer on Cary Cain as he shovels the first bit of soil in the Happy Hill revitalixation project.
/'
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
rtu CHKomcu
About 1 CM) people attendecfthe
groundbreaking for a long-await
ed revitalization project in Happy
Hill, but those who were not at the
event took center stage.
People such as Lloyd Cuthrell.
a longtime president of the Happy
Hill Neighborhood Association,
who worked for years to make the
revitalization of Happy Hill a real
ity but did not live to see the first
step in the process come to
fruition.
Cuthrell died last November.
He was remembered at the
groundbreaking, along with the
thousands of other men and
women who for more than 100
years dreamed of a better Happy
Hill.
"He would be overjoyed," the
new president of the neighbor
hood association, Carl McLaugh
in, said of Cuthrell. "He lived for
this day."
More than 50 new homes are
expected to be built in Happy Hill,
a historic community settled by
slaves, within the next few years.
The homes will be the anchor for
sweeping changes in the neighbor
hood. which may include a federal
HOPE VI grant for Happy Hill
Gardens, (he public housing com
plex that was erected in the com
munity in the 1960s.
The project is being spear
headed by the Southside Commu
nity Development Corp. in collab
oration with Local Initiatives Sup
port Loalt
tion.
"It's a
great day
upon (which)
to build,"
Cary Cain,
president of
the Southside
CDC, told
the crowd at
the ground
break i n b ,
"and build is exactly what we plan
to do."
Cain said the CDC is not only
setting out to build new homes but
homes that are of the highest qual
ity. He promised the homes will
be so classy that they will appeal
to a cross section of families in the
city.
"We are trying to raise the bar
a little bit," he said.
Most of the new homes are
expected to have three bedrooms
and two baths, and will be avail
able to low-to-moderate income
buyers for $500 to $700 a month.
BB&T has agreed to work with
prospective home buyers for
financing purposes. The bank also
is providing construction loans for
the building project. Habitat for
Humanity also will be a major
player in the project. The group
will construct one of the first
seven homes in the project along
Alder Street, and the group says it
will build six to eight new homes
next year.
The revitalization of the com
munity could not come at a better
time. Efforts are already under
way to develop the area around it
more thoroughly. Happy Hill is
encased by Salem College. Win
ston-Salem State University and
N.C. School of the Arts, a fact that
only will enhance the communi
ty's push to change for the better,
organizers believe.
"We hope to get rid of a lot of
the negative perceptions that peo
ple have about this community,"
Cain said.
McLaughin said the communi
ty is eagerly awaiting change and
is growing excited about the pos
sibilities of a revitalized Happy
Hill.
"We always knew that this
would happen for us," he said. "Jt
was just a matter of time."
Cain
Photo by Kevin Walker
Joseph Falteto talks with Horace Rogers, an assitant of Larry Leon Hamlin's, as he leaves City Hall.
Adam's Mark
from page AI
Hamlin and Falceto then met briefly
with Alderman Vernon Robinson
present. Robinson said he was on
hand only to "help the theater festi
val."
Falceto was brought to the Win
ston-Salem Adam's Mark soon after
a black employee here filed a racial
discrimination suit against the local
Adam's Mark in late 1999. He
replaced general manager John Wise.
Falceto has said that his arrival at the
hotel had nothing to with the suit,
although he has admitted to being a
clean-up man of sorts for the chain,
working short stints at several of the
chain's 24 hotels in order to make
adjustments.
As he was leaving City Hall. Fal
ceto said he was unaware of the sta
tus of the suit filed by Telissa Ward,
who claimed she was denied a pro
motion at the local Adam's Mark
because she is black.
Falceto expressed dismay at the
NAACP's decision.
"I was very surprised by the news
last night." he siid. "We have been
having a good relationship here with
the community. ... We have worked
very hard to build a relation with our
hotel, the community and the leader
ship."
Falceto also seemed to insinuate
that the Winston-Salem Adam's
Mark should not have to suffer for
problems alleged at the hotel in Day
tona Beach.
"We are very independent." he
said. "Each hotel operates on its
own."
But Bill Tatum. president of the
Winston-Salem NAACP, says the
Winston-Salem Adam's Mark does
not have a clean track record itself in
terms of allegations of racism. Tatum
said he and George Allison, state
director of the NAACP. met with
Falceto as recently as March to dis
cuss a list of complaints received by
the local NAACP from African
American employees at the Win
ston-Salem Adam's Mark, com
plaints charging everything from
unjust treatment to being denied pro
motions because of race.
Tatum said some Winston-Salem
Adam's Mark employees are trying
to join employees from other
Adam's Mark hotels in a possible
class-action lawsuit against the
rhnin
"To say that there have not been
problems here is false." Tatum said.
Tatum says although he has had a
positive, open and cordial relation- <
ship with Falceto. he will be encour
aging local African Americans to
stay away from the hotel until the
chain settles claims against it. But
Tatum said he will not try to deter
people from attending National
Black Theatre Festival events. He
says the festival's cultural signifi
cance to the city and the nation is
much too important to jeopardize.
"We will not put any undue bur
den on Larry Leon Hamlin." Tatum
said, speaking for both the local and
national NAACP. "We are fully
aware of his activities and we are
fully supportive of the festival,
whether it is at the Adam's Mark or
not at the Adam's Mark."
The NAACP first began to con
sider a boycott of the hotel chain in
the summer of 1999 after several
African Americans staying at the
Daytona Beach. Fla., hotel claimed
that Adam's Mark employees dis
criminated against them by, among
other things, using security guards
and barricades to intimidate them
and offering them less desirable
rooms.
The NAACP moved to file a
class-action lawsuit on behalf of the
hotel guests. A few months later, the
U.S. Justice Department filed a suit
oi iis own against the Adam's Mark
chain, charging that the chain rou
tinely violated the Civil Rights Act ol
1964 by charging African Americans
more than whites for rooms anc
implementing an unwritten policy
that limited the number of nonwhitei
in Adam's Mark bars, lounges and
restaurants.
The St. Louis-based chain quick
ly moved to settle with the Justice
Department. Without admitting to
any wrongdoing, the chain agreed tc
diversity training for its more than
10,000 employees and started an
independent monitoring program
with the civil rights group Project
Equality to ensure that all Adam's
Mark guests are treated fairly.
But the NAACP claims the chain
has chosen to "stonewall" its
attempts to reach a settlement for the
original plaintiffs who got the ball
rolling initially. The chain did agree
to a settlement of more than $8 mil
lion in March 2000. at which time the
NAACP called off its initial boycott;
but a U.S. District Court in Florida
would not accept the proposed settle
ment. The NAACP appealed the rul
ing, but the organization says the
chain has lost interest in settling the
matter and has refused to meet with
the Florida attorney general and the
NAACP to try to come to some com
promise.
"The NAACP has no other
choice than to call for an all-out,
long-term, massive boycott against
the Adam's Mark chain until it pub
licly apologizes and accepts respon
sibility for its wrongdoing," National
NAACP President Kweisi Mfume
said as he announced the renewed
boycott. "That the Adam's Mark is
trying to reach a partial settlement
with the Justice Department, while
not talking to other parties to the law
suit, shows a lack of good intention
by the Adam's Mark."
From all outward indications, the
Adam's Mark and its parent compa
ny. HBE Corp., are not coming to the
table with the NAACP anytime soon.
A spokesperson for the chain says the
company is "outraged" by the
NAACP's renewed boycott.
"This action is totally unfair,
undemocratic and possibly illegal,"
It._ _????T-?,, ?=-=?
said Sharon Harvey Davis, vice pres
ident of corporate affairs for the
f chain. "Adam's Mark has a strong
> diversity record within the hospitali
I ty industry, and the NAACP's allega
tions are completely groundless."
i Harvey Davis went on to say that
1 the chain enjoys "substantial" busi
ness from African Americans.
These guests would not stay at our
hotels if they were not treated
i absolutely equally and with respect."
she said.
The Winston-Salem Adam's
Mark has especially done well in
appealing to African-American
groups. In addition to the theater fes
tival, the hotel has been the hub to
several black church and beauty con
ventions. The Urban League, the
Winston-Salem NAACP, The Chron
icle and many other black businesses
and organizations also have held
banquets at the hotel within the last
year. Falceto has been especially vig
ilant at recruiting black business at
the hotel since the Daytona Beach
accusations arose. According to
sources, many black groups have
been wooed by the hotW with hefty
incentives such as discounts and free
rooms.
Hamlin is not shy about express
ing his desire for the Adam's Mark to
send a positive message to the black
community and the thousands who
will come to Winston-Salem late this
month for the festival, a message that
would be a first step in showing the
black community that the chain is
committed to its black patrons.
When asked, Hamlin said a dona
tion to the financially-strapped festi
val could send such a message and
make celebrities and other guests less
apprehensive about staying at a hotel
that's the focus of a national boycott
by the most prestigious and oldest
civil rights organization in the nation.
"I hope that within these two
weeks, that I will be able to announce
to my guests, the celebrities, the per
forming companies and the general
public, something of some positive
magnitude that would say that this is
the first step for the Adam's Mark in
resolving this boycott," Hamlin said.
"That would be the ideal thing I
would like to happen."
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I I
INDEX
OPINION A6
SPORTS ; B I
RELIGION B6
CLASSIFIEDS Bll
HEALTH C3
ENTERTAINMENT ~ C7
CALENDAR C8
n 1,-t-i
^nuiuuin.
"If you run, you might lose.
If you don 't run, you 're
guaranteed to lose."
- Jesse Jackson
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