Letter To The Editor
Housing, An Immediate Concern
To the editor:
Housing — What does it mean to
you? If you are a middle class citizen
with a fairly adequate house and
steady job, it means a secure haven
for your family, a place where you
can retire from the pressures of the
outside world. To the poor and the
disadvantaged it means a place where
they can stay huddled together at
night trying to keep warm, a place
where the landlord keeps promising
to fix the plumbing, a haven from the
rain if they have enough pots and
buckets to catch the water, a constant
eflFort of trying to match income to
meet rent, hugh electrical and water
bills (because of hidden leaks), feed
ing a large family on little income.
Can you imagine the horrified look
on the face of Minnie White, mother
of nine, when she heard the shrieks
of her two year old daughter Mar
garet? — “Mama, mama. I’m stuck,”
screamed Margaret! Minnie ran to the
bedroom at 811 East Commerce where
she found that Margaret had fallen
through the rotten floor boards. (They
had been in the home less than a
month.) On October 11, this fall, Min
nie phoned me to tell me how she,
herself, had fallen through the kitchen
floor of this same house. I rushed over
to see her and found many boards
in this home had caved in or were
about to fall in. I could see the sky
through the living room ceiling when I
went in there to call Jack Poisson at
Legal Aid. The hall floor contains a
gaping hole several boards wide. Min
nie used her ingenuity and covered
that one with a chair. Others she
had stufi^ed with newspapers in order
to keep the cold, damp air from com
ing up into her house. In the kitchen
the sink juts out from the wall be
cause the wall boards are pulling loose
Credit Tip
Before using credit . . .
Don’t rush. Read and understand the
contract. Never sign a contract with
spaces left blank. Always make sure
you are given a copy of the contract
at the time you sign it. Keep the con
tract in a place where you can find
it later.
Be sure the contract tells you exactly
what you are buying; the purchase
price, or amount borrowed; interest
and service charge in dollars and the
simple annual rate; total amount due
and the down payment; number of
payments and the amount of each pay
ment; when the payments are made;
and trade-in allowances, if any.
This buying tip was provided by
Consumer Credit Counseling, Inc., 142
Church Avenue. Phone Barry Boneno
at 885-0041.
from the housing frame. The back
porch is a series of torn screens and
a board is vacant from the whole
length of the porch. In the bathroom
near the toilet, the wall starts quite
a bit higher up than the floor. How
can a family heat such a home? How
will they keep the pipes from freezing?
The rent of $45.00 per month was
raised to $51.00 in October (during
the prize freeze) by the realty com
pany. They said it was to cover the
plumbing repairs, but the plumbing
was broken before Minnie moved in.
The water still runs even with all the
faucets turned off. Her utility bill for
November was $36.00.
Seeking action, I invited Eric Scott
and Freeman Hill, head building in
spector, to visit Minnie’s home on
Oct. 22. Eric remarked on Minnie’s
good housekeeping, but I’m sure he
was impressed by the condition of the
floors and walls. The many broken
windows were covered with plastic in
order to keep out the exterior ele
ments. I did notice that Freeman Hill
and Eric were quite careful before
crossing any thresh-holds and watched
their steps. Mr. Hill did say that the
fuse box looked okay, whereupon I
remarked, “Hey Minnie! You’ve got a
great fuse box! It’s too bad you can’t
live in there!”
This particular house is on the
comer of Walnut and Commerce and
I went to the Redevelopment OflBce
following the visit by the Asst. City
Mgr. (sic) and Freeman Hill. Joe Bran
son and Brady Rhyne said they have
been trying to get this particular house
condemned for years but people keep
moving in. Why do the realtors keep
moving families in when they are
aware of the sub-standard conditions
existing? Perhaps it is time we tried
again to get the city council to adopt
a rental inspection system.
Minnie’s problem is only one of
many that I personally know of. How
many more exist of which I’m not even
aware? How many of our citizens are
suffering?
Minnie has been on the waiting list
for public housing for 2 years but
according to the guidelines she must
be moved into a five-bedroom home —
how impossible it all seems! How
long will she have to wait? How many
realtors are willing to rent to a wo
man with nine children? Our city is
our larger home and our citizens are
our “brothers.” What are you person
ally willing to do to alleviate such
situations? I urge you to ask the city
council to help all our citizens to
enjoy a healthier and more adequate
High Point.
-MRS. DORIS UNDSAY
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lication, or on alternate Fri
days. Contact Emily Hed
rick at 885-8214.
Multi-Purp ose Center
Getting Land For Site
The multi-purpose service center
planned by Model Cities and the City
of High Point is now in the land
acquisition stage.
The $807,700 project will house of
fices of social and medical services, a
gym with stage and dressing room fa
cilities, a reading-audio-visual room,
meeting room and classrooms, and a
kitchen.
High Point’s application for a Neigh
borhood Facilities Program grant of
$413,600 to the Department of Hous
ing and Urban Development was be
gun in April, 1970, and completed in
September, 1970. Model Cities com
mitted $197,500 to the project, while
the City of High Point contributed
$198,600.
The application for federal funds
was approved in July. Since then the
city manager’s oflSce has had the 2.3
acres of land on Taylor Avenue in
Southside surveyed and appraised.
Consumer Survey
Being Conducted
A survey to determine the buying habits of Model Neighborhood residents
is being conducted by the Model Cities Commission.
The survey, which will take a random sample of 10 percent, or 660, of the
households within the Model Neighborhood, was requested by Consumer Credit
Counseling director Barry Boneno.
Boneno and the staff of Model Cities hope to find out the residents’ pur
chasing habits, and problems resulting from their purchases. Participants will
be asked about their income, what they bought and on what payment terms,
and the selling practices used by the salesman.
Four interviewers, two from Model Cities agency staffs and two from the
community, are conducting the door-to-door research. Each carries an identi
fication card, and each is prepared to give information concerning Model Cities
and its projects.
Interviews take approximately 30 minutes each. All personal information
gathered will be kept confidential.
After all the data is in, Model Cities will evaluate the results and prepare
it for publication.
This survey is the first such one conducted by Model Cities staff members
themselves. In the past, outside research consultants were hired.
When the results are evaluated, Boneno hopes to aim his consumer counsel
ing more effectively to the Model Neighborhood.
Staff statistician Helene Jacobson and technical writer Victoria Thekke-
kandam are in charge of the survey.
Now the land, on which stands 24 of
the worse slum residences in High
Point, is being bought by the city for
the service center. Legal entangle
ments and court settlements, coupled
with the problem of finding the owner
in some cases, have held up the pur
chase of the land in recent months.
By January 1, however, the archi
tects, Mays and Parks, are scheduled
to draw up final plans for the build
ing. The structure will depend upon
which service agencies elect to make
their headquarters in the center.
After the blueprints are drawn,
which is expected to take three to
four months, bids will be accepted on
the building. Construction will begin
thereafter, hopefully by the end of
spring. It is estimated that construction
on the 34,000-square-foot facility will
take about one year.
Families uprooted by the building
will be given first priority in available
housing by the Central Relocation
Agency, which is working closely with
the project. No family will be required
to move until suitable housing at a
similar cost is found elsewhere.
The multi-purpose center is expected
to house services for 10,000 persons,
primarily residents from the Southside
and Macedonia neighborhoods. Work
on the project is under the supervision
of Jim Pennington of the city man
ager’s office.
WHATS HAPPENING is published
bimonthly by the Model Cities Com
mission of High Point, North Carolina,
William S. Bencini, Mayor; Dr. Otis E.
Tillman, Commission Chairman; Don
ald J. Forney, Director; Cecil A.
Brown, Information and Evaluation
Specialist, Offices of the agency are
located at 609 S. Main St., High Point,
N. C. 27260. Telephone 885-8214 or
882-9924.
The preparation of this magazine
and its free distribution were financially
aided and made possible through a
federal grant from the United States
Department of Housing and Urban
Development under Title I of the
Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan
Act of 1966.
Editor Emily Hedrick